GROUP III. COLONIAL TIMES: 1607-1763. 1. INDIAN LIFE AND REMAINS. Here thorny ways, and here falling trees, and here wild beasts lying in ambush. Either by these you might have perished, my offspring, or here by floods you might have been destroyed, my offspring, or by the uplifted hatchet in the dark outside the house. Every day these are wasting us; or deadly invisible disease might have destroyed you, my offspring. - Iroquois Book of Rites.37 Native Races of America.- Columbus, De Soto, Father Marco, Drake, and Raleigh's men, all have something to tell us of Indians. But these Indians were not all alike. They were divided into many distinct tribes, each having its own chief, its own ideas, its own language, its own manners and customs. The names of some of the more important and better-known tribes are inserted in the map, as nearly as possible in the places where they were first found. But the Indians have changed their ranges so often since the white men came, that the map cannot be exact. Life in an Indian Village of the Sacs and Foxes. - A famous chief among the Sacs and Foxes, has told us in his autobiography, how life went on in one of the villages of his people. He says: When we returned to our village in the spring, from our wintering grounds, . . . the next thing to be done was to bury our dead. . . . We would next open the caches [little concealed cellars] and take 51 out corn and other provisions, which had been put up in the fall, and then commence repairing our lodges. As soon as this is accomplished we repair the fences around our fields, and clean them off, ready for planting corn. This work is done by our women. The men, during this time, are feasting on dried venison, bear's meat, wild fowl, and corn, prepared in different ways; and recounting to each other what took place during the winter. ... Our women plant the corn, and as soon as they get done, we make a feast, and dance the crane dance, in which they join us, dressed in their best, and decorated with feathers. At this feast our young braves select the young woman they wish to have for a wife. . . When this is over, we feast again, and have our national dance. The large square in the village is swept and prepared for the purpose. The chiefs and old warriors take seats on mats which have been spread at the upper end of the square, the drummers and singers come next, and the braves and women form the sides, leaving a large space in the middle. The drums beat, and the singers commence. the square, keeping time He shows the manner he started on a warparty how he approached the enemy - he strikes, and describes the way he killed him. All join in applause. He then leaves the square, and another enters and takes his place. Such of our young men as have not been out in war parties, and killed an enemy, stand back ashamed- not being able to enter the square. . . . A warrior enters with the music. What pleasure it is to an old warrior, to SIOUX CHIEF. (After Catlin.) see his son come forward and relate his exploits. It makes him feel young, and induces him to enter the square, and [fight his battles over again]. . . . When our national dance is over, our corn-fields hoed, and every weed dug up, and our corn about knee-high, all our young men would start in a direction towards sun-down, to hunt deer and buf |