Ideas about although explorers had coasted along the eastern shores of North North America in 1600 America, and also along the western shores as far as what is now Search for the Northwest Passage Canada and all the northwestern part of what is now the United Explorers hoped to find a strait through this land, and whenever a mariner came to the wide mouth of a river, he would say to Although Raleigh saw farther into SASSAFRAS the future of America than most other men, he was not the only interest in one interested in the New World. Valuable woods and dyestuffs Increased had been found; sassafras had been discovered, and sassafras was the New the fashionable medicine of the day, the remedy that would cure World all diseases. Merchants began to feel that there were as good opportunities for gain in America as elsewhere in the world. Other books than Hakluyt's were written to show that it was worth while to plant colonies. One strong reason for making settlements in America was that by founding colonies England might have a larger share in the American fisheries. Great quantities of fish were caught off the shores of Newfoundland. Many more Frenchmen than Englishmen had taken advantage of this fact; but if only there were colonies near the fishing grounds, the English fishermen could be protected from their enemies, and the colonists could salt and dry fish and have it ready to send home to England. SUMMARY. CODFISH (The most important of the American fishes) France, England, and Spain all claimed a share in the New World, but in 1600 there were only two permanent colonies, Saint Augustine in Florida, and Santa Fé in New Mexico. Both were Spanish. Raleigh believed that America would become a second home of the English nation. He planted two colonies on Roanoke Island, but both failed. England's defeat of the Armada enabled her to plant colonies without fear of Spain. In 1600 the shape of North America was unknown. The continent was thought to be much narrower than it is. It was also believed that a passage led through it to the Pacific. England was feeling interested in the Newfoundland fisheries, and merchants were finding that there were opportunities for gain in the New World. The different Indian tribes SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Raleigh writes a letter to Queen Elizabeth, asking for help to found a colony. What Raleigh would think of America to-day. IV THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS FOR many centuries before Columbus came to America the country was inhabited by a coppercolored people whom he called Indians, because he supposed that he was on. the coast of India. There were many different tribes, and each tribe had a name, but for their race as a whole they had no other name than a word meaning "Men," or "Real Men." The Indians of the northwest never had any settled homes, but roamed about from place to place and lived on fish and game. Those of the southwest lived in fortresses of stone, often built four or five stories high up the face of a cliff, and each of them large enough to make a dwelling for two or three They lived partly by the chase, and partly on The Indians who dwelt in villages some wams times built long houses large enough for Long houses many families, with a division for each family. and wigSometimes they made wigwams. For these they drove poles into the ground in a circle and fastened the tops together for a framework. Then they spread over this framework the bark of trees, or skins fastened together with the sinews of animals. Sometimes, like the people who lived in England in the early days, they wove slender twigs back and forth among the poles. The fire was on the ground in the middle of the wigwam, and the smoke made its way out as best it could. SQUAW CARRYING A Each family had its own wigwam. The husband, or brave, must protect his wife and children from their foes, and he must procure whatever meat and fish were used. The wife, or squaw, must provide the vegetables. She must not only cook them, but she must plant the seed and give them whatever care was needed while they were growing. A brave would work to make bows and arrows, but he would not hoe the corn, If his family moved, he would stalk on ahead with his weapons, while his wife followed as best she could with the household goods. The Indian family A STONE This seems at the first glance like a most unfair division of labor. but it must be remembered that when the brave fished, he The brave had something more to do than to bait his hook and drop it into the water. He must make his hook before he could bait it, and he must make his line from the fibrous bark of some tree. If he needed a pole, he must cut it, not with a sharp steel hatchet, but with a dull stone knife and he must also make the knife. His boat was either a birch-bark canoe, or a "dug-out," which was hollowed out of the trunk of a tree. Making a boat, as well as almost all other work that the Indians did, was long, slow, and wearisome. The household goods of the Indians were few. There was per MAKING A CANOE WAS SLOW AND WEARISOME WORK haps a basket or two, some skins to sleep on, a bowl made of clay hardened in the fire, and not much else. If there was a baby, or The papoose papoose, in the household, it was not allowed to lie on the ground or creep about as white babies do. An Indian mother would have thought it very careless to treat her precious child in such a fashion. The Indian baby was carefully wrapped in the softest of skins and tied to a framework of wicker or wood. Then baby and framework were stood up in any safe place, or swung to the |