LITERATURE THE CORNELL UNIVERSlTyUBBAj^^^^ 3 1 924 104 070 960 MENTOR - til — 1 1! -, 11 1 - III — f n^ i n -^ 11 It ^^^;n:^^^■a^L^aL■^^ JnL^Jl:.■J>^■.JU■J:■^■^^^^■J^:v «:^JlL^J^:■:«■^J:■V MARCH, 1921 ^y>.^^^'.'^H.'^>-'.^^.^^^w.^.v■^^^.'1^',M^^■'^H.s^^■■^■ '.■»'■■riyht. lOlll. hy The Crowell Rubh.-iiing Company. FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA o ^^h"^ Original paintine in posseasioD of Dr. Walter B, James, New York THE SILENCE BROKEN By George De Forest Brush Huntington Free Library Native American Collection CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BLACKFOOT INDIANS IN WAR REGALIA Glacier National Park THE MENTOR SERIAL NUMBER 217 GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA By GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL Mr. Grinnell is a supreme authority on the American Indian. He is a traveler, v.'riter, and editor. He has dwelt with Indians for fifty years; he is a chief in se\'LTal tribes; and mountain, lake, and glacier have been named for him. WHEN the white men first came to the western shores of the North Atlantic Ocean they found a people different in ap- pearance and in ways of life from any- thing that they had known. These people belonged to the Stone Age. They knew nothing of the use of metal, except that, occasionally, when they found pieces of native copper, they hammered them out to make ornaments, or, in rare cases, ground them down to make a cutting edge. Cutting and piercing implements — the points with which the hunter headed his arrow, or his lance — ^were of stone or bone, chipped, hammered, and ground to an edge or to a sharp point. Clothing was of skin, and the movable habitations for the most part were of skin, bark, or mats stretched over a frame of wooden poles. There were some permanent dwellings, differently constructed in different parts of the continent. The Indians have been here a long- time, so long that the tribes have come to possess physical characteris- tics remarkably alike, and the North American Indian is called one of the races of the earth — the "red race." The truth is, however, that Indians are not red skinned but brown; but they commonly painted the face with red ochre, and those that first saw them supposed that this was the color of the skin and called them "red men." MANY VARIED TRIBES Most people think that Indians are all alike and one who has been much among the Indians is some- timed asked if he speaks "Indian." As a matter of fact, more than fifty Entered ag second-class matter March 10. 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1921, by The Crowell Publishing Company. FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA distinct lin^istic stocks have been named among the Indians in North America, north of Mexico, and within a single stock there may be a dozen closely related languages, each unin- telligible to people who speak other languages of the same stock. We may understand just what this means if we remember that the various European nations, as Swedes, Eng- lish, Italian, and French, who belong to a single linguistic stock com- monly called the Indo- European, speak differ- ent languages and do not understand each other. Within a single Indian linguistic stock also, there may be languages unintelligible to related tribes. The difference between two linguistic stocks, — as, for example, Caddoan and Algon- quian — is as great as Courtesy, American Museum of Natural History New York AN OLD APACHE Making an Arrow Shaft that between Indo- European and Semitic; that is to say, as be- tween English and Hebrew. Within some of these linguistic stocks are many tribes scattered over a wide extent of territory and living under widely different conditions. Thus the Algonquins ranged from Virginia north alongthe Atlantic Coast to Labrador, and thence west as far as the Rocky Mountains. How unlike were the habits of the shell-fish eating Algon- quians of the Atlantic seacoast in Vir- ginia and those of the buffalo hunters of the high dry plains ; or those of the fur-clad Athapascans who live at the mouth of the Mackenzie River and their naked relatives of the cactus grown plains of the Southwest. As all human beings try to get a living with the least possible effort, the surroundings of any tribe necessarily affect their mode of life. The people of the far North depended for food on the fish that swam in their lakes, the moose and caribou of their forests, and the wild fowl that reared their young in the swamps. These north- ern people traveled by canoe in summer and by sledge in winter, and FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA occupied warm and comfortable dwellings of birch bark. Tribes living on the seacoast subsisted largely on fish and shell -fish, but killed deer and small animals and birds, and raised their crops. In the Southeast and cjuite generally in the occupied interior were permanent villages, often surrounded by a ring of palisades, erected to protect them from possible attacks by enemies. In the Middle West and on large rivers of the great plains, there were permanent houses built of poles set in the ground outside of which sods and earth were piled for walls and a roof, making a beehive-shaped occupied by different stocks of seden- tary Indians who lived in conuiuuiity houses without doors or windows, formerly entered by movable ladders leading up to the roof, through which was the entrance to the house. The lodge of earth which was dry, warm, ladder could be drawn up, and, once and comfortable, and large enough on the roof, the people were safe from to accommodate twenty- five or thirty people. On the great plains, and in portions of the lake re- gion, conical bark or skin -covered lodges, of the form called tipi,v,'eve common, and, where used, gave the people great freedom, for they could pack the rolled up bark in their canoes or the folded skins on their animals and move from place to place, camping at any advantageous point. Down in the Southwest are still found the towns — pueblos — Iduseum of Natural History, ARAPAHO INDIAN DANCER their Indian enemies. Some of these pueblos are still occupied, but there are great numbers of them that are now only sage-brush-covered mounds which hide all that remains of what was once an active, bust- ling, industrious com- munity. Little by little these ruins are being ex- cavated, and each one reveals some surprise about the life-history of these ancient people. Far older than this pueblo civilization is that prehistoric mode of FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA life in which the people built their stone houses on the ledges of the cliffs, often far above the reach of any enemies who might strive to attack them. These ruins may be seen in great numbers and extraordi- nary perfection in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Many tribes of Indians manufac- tured pottery, or basketry, or both, and others made vessels of birch bark. Of these pots and baskets there were varying degrees of excel- lence. The Indians had for a helper a single domestic animal, the dog. He was employed to some extent in hunting, but was chiefly useful as a beast of burden, aiding the people in transporting their possessions as they moved from place to place. Light packs were put on his back, and he also hauled the travois, which con- Coorteay, American of Natural History, New York THE BLANKET MAKER Navaho, Arizona Copyright, Lee MoorehouBo TOX-E-LOX AND A-LOM-PUM Cayuse Twins — great grandnieces of Chief Joseph, of Nez Perc6| War fame sisted of two short poles fastened together over the dog's back and dragging on the ground on either side behind the animal. On these two dragging poles w^as fixed a platform and on the platform the load the dog was to haul. INDIAN FAITH AND FEARS The Indian's life was passed in the open air and in close contact with nature. He drew his sustenance from the earth and from the wild creatures that lived upon it. He was a part of nature, and better than anything else he knew nature. A close and constantly watchful ob- server, nothing escaped his eye. He read the signs of the earth and the sky, and the movements of birds and animals, knew what these things meant, and governed his acts by what FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA Courteay, American Museum of Natural History, New York THE BASKET WEAVER Apache, Arizona these signs told liim. Though a close observer, he was not a reasoner. Things were constantly happening all about him that he could not ex- plain — that were mysterious. The causes he assigned to account for these things were fantastic. He as- signed some especial power to almost every object in nature. The sun, the moon, and the stars wei'e persons. Birds and animals might transfer to him their power to do certain things, or when they uttered their cries he believed that they spoke to him — and in a language that he understood — of things that were happening at a dis- tance or that were to take place in the future. Things that he could not explain he greatly feared, or rather he feared the power that caused them. He feared the mysterious dangers that surrounded him; the arrow sent by the thunder — the lightning — the darts of disease that might be shot into him by some spirit lurking near a spring, or the under-water monsters that might seize and drag him down as he was crossing a lake. Because the Indian feared these mysterious things he prayed con- stantly that he might escape these dangers, and, in that sense, he was one of the most religious of men. He con- stantly implored the help of the un- seen powers, and made sacrifices to them to win their favor. As with most primitive people, he believed that suffering and sacrifice were likely to win the favor of the superior pow- ers, and the most acceptable sacrifice was that which a man most highly valued — his own body — and so the Indian often inflicted suffering on himself. When starting off on the warpath, each man, as he prayed for success, might offer to the higher pow- ers a strip of skin cut from his arm. A YOUNG MOTHER OF THE HILLS FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA 4 i *'J^ * THE FLOUR STONE Courtesy. AmericaD Muaeum of Natural History, New York INDIAN CHARACTER The Indian's reputation for feroc- ity comes from people who have not seen much of him. He is much hke other people in the world, — ^kindly and friendly to those he likes, and sullen and revengeful toward those he considers foes. No injury was too severe to be inflicted on an enemy, while, for a friend, he would make any sacrifice, — ^would starve and fight and die. Indian children were taught never to quarrel with their fellows, but to be always good-natured, and CAOPA BOY A little native of the Southwest not to lose temper vmder any circum- stances. In some tribes children were taught songs whose purport was that children should walk through life, side by side, with affection and helpfulness one toward another. This was the teaching, the feeling and the rule of action of an Indian camp, yet, as in every other group of people, there were differences in char- acter among the people in an Indian camp. Some were always cheerful, kind, polite, and friendly; others at times were morose. Some were harum-scarum, jokers, mischievous all their lives long, while others were serious, grave, and well-balanced. FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA people moved out; but, on the other hand, a family, or a group of indi- viduals, might determine to separate themselves from the main camp and to go off and live by themselves. If people did this, they were not inter- fered with. If fifteen or twenty or fifty men started off on the warpath under the direction of one or two leaders, any member of the party might at any time leave the party and return to his village or might go off by hini- INDIAN DEMOCRACY The government of the Indian camp was a democracy. There were chiefs, a council of chiefs, and groups of soldiers so-called — societies of men who acted as police and carried out the chief's orders; but every indi- vidual was absolutely his own master. The chiefs gave orders, but rarely attempted to enforce obedience. They advised rather than commanded. The governing force of the camp was public opinion. If the chiefs de- clared that on the morrow the camp should move to a certain place, a band of the soldiers would see that the lodges were taken down and the self. There was the greatest indi- CAOPA MAN A veteran of the tribe FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA vidual liberty and independence. Be- cause of this independence and indi- vidual liberty the Indians never could organize, or hold together for any length of time for united action. Had they been able to organize, they might very likely have been able to hold back their enemies, and it is quite probable that today the white people would still be on the east side of the Mississippi River. Many popular errors prevail as to the ways of hfe of the Indian. One, given to us in books, is that wdiich implies that the women are the labor- ers and that the men spend their time sleeping and smoking in the shade while the wives work. The fact is that the labors of an Indian camp were quite evenly di- vided between men and women, and this division was well understood. As everywhere, the woman cared for the home while the man was the pro- vider and defender. Thus, in the camp, the woman was continually occupied preparing the food, making I'eady the skins for use as clothing or for shelter, or packing up the family possessions if a move was to be made. The man, on the other hand, went off on the warpath to capture prop- erty, hunted for food in all sorts of weather, and was always ready to defend the tribe or his family. A person carrying a load on his back cannot get about quickly and fight actively; it was for this reason that the man went ahead, carrying only his arms, while the woman followed behind, leading the pack animals and perhaps herself carrying a burden. 10 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA INDIAN IDEA OF LAND RIGHTS Until the coming of Europeans, the North iVmerican continent evi- dently belonged to the people who lived on it — the Indians, and it is supposed that the white man gained possession of the continent by buying it from the Indian tribes. The first Europeans that came here and wanted to buy a piece of land naturally supposed tliat the In- dian's view about the ownership of land was the same that the white man held and that if a tribe owned the territory where it lived it could perfectly well, if the price was satis- factory, sell that territory, or a part of it. As a matter of fact, however, the Indian had no idea of oumership in land as we understand it, and could not conceive that an individual could absolutely oioi land; and therefore he could not understand scUi)i(j land. The Indian's right in a piece of land was the right of occii- 'pancy. If he had taken possession of a piece of land and was using it, it was his to occupy as long as he lived, unless he were ousted from it by some stronger person. Neverthe- less, he was no more than a life ten- ant. He possessed this right to oc- cupy the land and make such use of it as he desired, but after him his children succeeded to his rights in the land and neither he nor they could part with these rights, for the chil- dren of his children possessed the same rights — and these could not be alienated. Even to the present day, one may sometimes hear old Indians speak of 11 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA the land which they had loaned to the white people, the idea being al- ways that some day, this land must be handed back to the tribal occu- pants who had temporarily parted with their right of occupancy. The ^dew is so totally opposed to our tra- ditions and manners of thought that it is not easy for the white man to comprehend; but if not easy for the white man to understand, we can perhaps better comprehend how impossible it is for the Indian to understand the opposite view. Because we have read chiefly of the Indians of the plains who pos- sessed horses, and followed the buf- falo from place to place, we think of the Indians as nomads — wander- ers from one part of the earth to another, and with- out a settled home. This is quite a mistake. An Indian tribe usu- ally had a narrow range, and did not wander very far from their usual camping places, except when — as often they did — the men made long journeys to war. On the other hand, sometimes because of the difficulty of securing subsistence, a tribe might start off on a long journey, but such a journey — a migration from one terri- tory to another — might be extended over many generations of time. Many of us are disposed to think of the Indian as a sort of irresponsi- ble person who acts only on the whims and emotions of the moment, but as a matter of fact the Indian is conservative, and his life is governed largely by laws and rules based on customs handed down to him from his ancestors. These customs he is very unwilling to transgress. We think of the Indian as improvi- dent, eating today all that he has, and taking no thought for the mor- row. This is another wrong idea. If the Indians were not as provident as thrifty white men, they still tried to make some provision for the future, and stored up for winter use the fruits of the earth — wild and cultivated — that they secured dur- ing the summer. They dried roots and berries and corn, and pre- served the meat or the fish that they procured in quantity, and held it over against a time of scarcity. Yet it is true that, under some special stress of circum- stances, they suffered from lack of food and sometimes even starved. The Indian is simple, honest, and — when one gets to know him — ^very likable. The most interesting thing about him is that of which at first we are least likely to think, his hu- manity — his quahty of being human. In all respects he is like the average human being. Intimate relations with the Indian ,show us that, in the savage, may be found the same good qualities that our own people possess. SHE GETS YOUR NUMBER A young Indian telephone girl at the Log Hotel, Glacier National Park 12 THE APPEAL TO THE GREAT SPIRIT CYRUS DALLIN, THE SCULPTOR. MADE THIS NOBLE STATUE OF THE , RED MAN THAT STANDS BEFORE THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS THE LAND OF HIS FATHERS ANAVAHO BOY OF TODAY. PAINTED JN NEW MEXICO BY WILLIAM R. LEIGH, THE BOY. DRESSED AS WERE HIS FATHERS. IS SEATED UPON THE RUINS OF THE ADOBE DWELLINGS OF HIS TRIBE U» INDIAN MOTHER WITH PAPOOSE. ,,. ,.3. ,S CA.rorT:E\°AL\"!E:^*H'r.OTHE. ,S WO.INO. 0. . THE PAPOOSE INTE.E.ES, ,T IS HUNG TO A CONVENIENT TREE, OUT OF HARMS WAV T i ■ 9 :,.■ ,^' ^e.-l-_. ■■:■■ / ; ■ 1 ,„ ' -^^ 1 > ^ ...-k*-^'- ■,,,'■"-/ .. ■■■'*■■ ,^-' '■>-9- ■■■■ :^ IHF^jr^ ■ ■ f '.^ '^ffwiPir A, ^^B IN NATURE'S TEMPLE INDIANS PRAYINS TO THE SREAT SPIRIT, EXPRESSED TO THEM IN THE RUSHIN6 WATERS OF THE WATERFALL THE HELIOION OF THE INDIANS. LIKE T+IAT OF OTHER SAVAGE RACES. IS WORSHIP OF NATURE AS PERSONIFIED BY GODS AND SPIRITS POCAHONTAS BY WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE THE INDIAN IN SCULPTURE- _The Indian lias been a truly native source of inspir- ation to American sculptors. More and more he is being depicted in bronze and marble, as the statues of American parks and public buildings show. "As fine a type as the Greek warrior of antiquity," one artist has said. In many instances, Indian sculpture has an historical local interest; IlkHAWK 1*0 TAFT D»ST. lUINOIS THE MEDICINE MAN BY CYRUS DALLIN IN FAiRUOUNT PARK. PHILADELPHIA SACAGAWEA BY ALICE COOPER IN CITY PARK. PORTLAND. ORKDN the Statue of Black Hawk shown above, memorializes the Indians of Illinois who were driven from their holdings. While Lorado Taft, the sculptor, has named his monumental work after the leader of the Sac and Fox tribe that fought efforts to oust him until overpowered, the statue is a composite study of the Indian of that region. It stands on an eminence near Oreg6n, Illinois, a gift of the sculptor to his native state and a tribute to its heroic first inhabitants. PAINTED Br CHARLES SCHREVVOGEL C0PVRI5HT, 1901 BY CHARLES gcHBElfVOOEL ^ HOT TRAIL PLAINS INDIANS PURSUED BY U. S. TROOPERS: MR. SCHREYVOGEL HAS PAINTED MANY FINE PICTURES OF INDIAN AND ARMY LIFE. HIS 'MY BUNKIE ■ BEING THE MOST FAMOUS THE END OF THE TRAIL THE PASSING OF THE INDIAN OF YESTERDAY. ROAMER OF THE PLAINS WARRIOR, HUNTER AND FREEMAN: THIS STATUE WAS WIDELY COM- MENTED UPON AT THE PANAMA PACIFIC EXPOSITION AT SAN FRANCISCO IT IS THE WORK OF JAMES EARLE FRASER FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA COLUMBUS CALLED THEM "INDIANS" ASIAN-AMERICAN TYPES Tun^s, Asia; Eskimo, Greenland; Blackfoot, North American Plains. Note resemblance in features, color of complexion and straight black hair CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS is re- sponsible for the name, "Indian," which we still use, though his notion that the people he met were Asiatics scarcely survived his death. So far as we know, this was the first attempt to explain the origin of the American tribes, but some two or more centuries later, English colonial writers fav- ored the idea that the Indians were descended from the lost tribes of Israel and one, Adair, has left us a splendid book on the subject. I say " splendid, " not because his case is a good one, but because he was an inves- tigator and gives us one of the best concrete early accounts of Indian life. In trying to show that the inmost tribal customs of the Indians were identical with those of ancient Israel, he quite naturally gathered the facts in great detail. This Biblical explanation was very popular among church people and appears to have been the prevailing view until well on into the nineteenth century. * * • But with the increase of geographical knowledge, especially in Europe, men began to look at the population of the world as a whole and sought to read the origins of races in their bodily characters and the manner of their distribution over the earth. Since the map of the world makes it plain that even the most primitive of peoples could have easily crossed from Asia to America through Siberia and Alaska and that the great oceans that intervene elsewhere must have been insurmountable barriers for ages, thoughtful men everywhere have been brought to see that the only true neighbors the Indians could have had were the Siberians and the other Mongoloid peoples of Asia. And, further, the comparison of these peoples with the Indian, shows that they have certain characteristics in common and different from those of other peoples. For example: straight black hair, round in cross-section, is universal among both and practically unknown elsewhere in the world. In popular speech the Indian is red, and so he frequently appeared when covered with his war paint, but in reality he is brown in skin tone, with a tendency for yellow tones to predominate over red. In some individual cases, it has proved well nigh impossible to distinguish between the body color of Japanese and Indians when side by side. In addition to these simple and ob- vious resem- blances between Mongoloid peo- ples and Indians, there are ana- tomical similari- ties in the pro- portions of the face, the teeth, etc. There are resemblances in the structures of the body, inherited jjy one generation from the other, a process which we are sure has been going on for a very long time. The fact that all Indians, whether north or south, always have straight, black hair, can only mean that they have sprung from very remote ances- tors and that their descent has remained pure. Hence, it follows that since such hair is found only among the immediate neighbors of the Indian in Asia, then these two peoples sprang from the same stock. • • • This, then, is the most generally ac- cepted explanation of the Indian. He is not a Chinaman, neither is he a Japanese. Yet, he is related to both in that a long time ago their original, common ancestry di- verged, one division crossing over into America, the other settling in China. All this is conceived to have happened as far back as the stone age so that, for all prac- tical purposes, the Indian stands as a dis- tinct race. While, of course, this last state- ment cannot be proved absolutely, it is certainly the one that best fits the facts. . . * .* * The prevailing view is, then, that the Indian came here from Asia, a simple wandering hunter, split up into many tribal groups, each of which proceeded to work out its own solution as best it could. — Dr. Clark Wissler, American Museum of Natural History 29 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA TWO HUNDRED KINDS OF INDIAN THERE are over 200 different Indian tribes and languages. In North Amer- ica alone, there are no less than 56 original language stocks, and, in each stock, many tribes. The following from Mr. Grinnell tells us something about the lead- ing Indian stocks — what they were like, how they lived and where they lived. ALGONQUIAN FAMILY This family occupies more territory than any other North American stock. Its various tribes controlled land from North Carolina up to Labrador and from there west- ward through British America as far as the Rocky Moun- tains. Many of the tribes speak- ing Algonquian languages did not recognize their relationship and were often at war with each other. Their big- gest fights, however, were with the famed Iroquois Indians whose territory lay east of the Great Lakes and on the St. Law- rence River. The encroachments of Euro- pean settlers forced the iVlgonquians west as it did other Indians, so that tribe crowded on tribe and there was a general confusion of tongues and Indian races in the far West. The Algonquians stand high in intelligence, physique and manly qualities. Of the west- ern Algonquians the most familiar are the Arapaho, the Blackfeet, and the Cheyenne, each of whom has some tradition of a migration from an eastern home. THE CADDOAN FAMILY The best known tribe of Caddoan stock is the Pawnee, famous among book readers as having given a fine hero to the last vol- ume of Cooper's "Leather Stocking Tales." The family comprises a great group of tribes living west of the Missouri River and ranging from what is now North Dakota Courtesy. American Mua a of Natural Hiatory, IN A HOPl Southwestern south almost to the Gulf of Mexico. They came to the land where the Whites found them by migration from the Southwest, and their wanderings ended there. They lived in permanent houses made of earth or thatched with grass, and cultivated the soil. They were in the midst of the range of buffalo; elk, deer, antelope and turkeys abounded, and there were fish in the streams — so they lived well and easily. They made pot- t ery of clay, spoons and dishes formed from the horns of buffalo and mountain sheep, knives from flint and bone, and piercing imple- ments fromhorn, hoof and stone. The tribal names most familiar to us — Pawnee and Arikara — are derived from the word Pariki or Ariki, a horn; and refer to their old method of dress- ing the hair so that it stood up on either side of the head like two horns. The Pawnee were never hostile to the whites, though they T\arred at times with the Dakota and Chej'enne. They were home-loving and domestic — and extremely skilful in various ways. They performed feats of jugglery, some of which have never been explained. THE SIOUAN FAMILY The Siouan Family stock included a great number of tribes whose original home was on the Atlantic Coast, but who within a few hundred years moved westward until they finally reached the plains and the Rocky Mountains. Those we know best are the Sioux — a French-Canadian abbre- viation of the Chippewa word Nadowessi, which means "snake." and hence "enemy." The best known, perhaps, of this family — because of the Indian wars of forty or fifty years ago — are the Dakota. The white settlers had much trouble with the VILLAGE United States 30 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA Dakotas and the United States Govern- ment was kept busy during tlie 60's and 70's trying to keep them in order. In 1862 there was an uprising of Indians in which 700 white settlers and 100 soldiers lost their lives. In 1867 these Sioux were moved out to southwest Dakota and a few years after came the expedition to the Black Hills under General Custer, and there followed a succession of hostilities that lasted for a number of years. The great tragic incident of these campaigns was the wiping out of the old Seventh Cavalry and the killing of General George A. Custer on the Little Big Horn (River) June 2.5, 1876. Sitting Bull was the political leader of the Sioux in this murderous engagement. The Indians of this family have been divided into eight groups, of which the Dakota-Assiniboin is the most northern. Other groups include the Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Iowa, Winnebago, and the Crows. The various divisions of the Siouan family occupy territories that are entirely differ- ent and they have just as different methods of living. ATHAPASCAN FAMILY It is a far cry from where the Mackenzie River pours into the Arctic Ocean south to the parched deserts of Mexico and Arizona — from where live the Loucheux, the north- ernmost of the Athapascans, to the south- ernmost, the Apaches of the desert. In the northernmost section the fur-clad Athapas- cans live very much like their neighbors, the Eskimo. They spread their nets in the lakes and follow the caribou, the moose and, in ancient times, the musk-ox. In winter they travel on sledges drawn by dogs. Very different is the life of the Atha- pascan of the south — the Navajos, and the Apaches, the people of the desert. For many generations the Apaches made war on their neighbors, the simple, agricultural Pueblos, who, not being warriors, pro- tected themselves by their watchfulness and by building homes way up in high places among the rocks, inaccessible to attack. The Navajos have long been renowned as blanket weavers, but it is thought that they borrowed that art from the Pueblos, who have, from time immemorial, woven cloth from cotton. The Apaches were very troublesome raiders in our south- western coimtry for years and our troops had much difficulty in cornering them and bringing them in. Now the Apaches have made great progress toward civilization, while the Navajos possess cattle, horses, great herds of sheep and goats, and have long been self-supporting. THE MUSKOGI FAMILY Among the tribes of this stock whose names are most familiar to us are the Creeks, Chocta, Chikasa, and Seminole. The Creeks gave us trouble a century ago, and tlie long struggle we had with the Seminoles in Florida is well remembered. Many of the Indians of Muskogi stock adapted themselves to civilization with sur- prising readiness, and for two or three gen- erations past people of this stock have been known as the "Five Civilized Tribes." \Yhen they moved from their ancestral Courtesy. American Museum of Natural History, New York THIS IS HOW APACHES LIVE AND WORK 31 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA homes and settled together in Indian ter- ritory they continued the confederacy which had anciently existed, formed a gov- ernment for themselves, and adopted civil- ized pursuits which brought them prosper- ity and general respect. In modern times the blood of the Five Civilized Tribes has become more or less changed by intermar- riage with whites and with negroes. People of this stock were among the first met by the Span- iards who entered Florida and en- deavored to pene- trate what is now the United States from the South. Panfilo de Nar- vaez met the Apa- lachee of Western Florida in 1528, and twelve or thir- teen years later, De Soto passed through practical- ly the whole of the territory occupied by the Muskogis. The people of these tribes have a tradition that they came from some point west of the Mississippi River in what would be now Texas or Oklahoma. They are thought to be descendants of some of those early dwellers in the Mississippi valley who buUt the great mounds there. All these tribes support themselves very largely by agriculture and raise great crops of corn, beans, squash and tobacco. They have a highly developed religious system and also an extensive oral literature. IROQUOIAN FAMILY The first explorers in the North found the Iroquois along the St. Lawrence River, and their range included part of Canada, most of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and a portion of Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The Five Nations — later Six Nations — so famous in the early history of the East were Iroquois, and their bravery and skill in war, and shrewdness in politics and statecraft gave them tremendous influence not only with A POW wow AMONG THE BLACKFEET Three Guns White Calf is the Orator the native population, but also with the English and French. Physically they were a splendid people, possessing a tremendous energy, bitter and cruel in war, but among their own people kindly, friendly, and help- ful. It was the Iroquois who, before the coming of the whites in the north, about the middle of the sixteenth century, en- deavored to establish the famous league which is known by their name and which was the first ex- pression of a league intended to put an end to all war. It was a predecessor of our League of Nations . All the Iroquois lived in perma- nent villages, in large houses, and they cultivated crops. The Five Nations were the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Ononda- ga, and Seneca, and to them was added later a sixth, the Tusca- rora. The famous Hurons were Iroquois. Among the Iro- quois, descent was in the female line, and the women in the Iroquois settlements wielded a power and influence much greater than the men. They were the tribe's counselors and some- times its chiefs. The half-breed children to- day of an Indian father and white mother are called by the Senecas "whites" and may not share in the tribal annuities or in the public affairs of the nation. On the other hand the children of a white father and an Indian mother are considered Indians and have all the rights and privileges of the Indians. In marriages between Indians of the different tribes the same rule holds, the child belonging to the tribe of its mother and not to that of its father. The Iroquois that dwelt in Tennessee and in North Carolina lived essentially as did their northern relatives. They were farm- ers, built large houses, and fortified their villages — and were notably successful in agriculture. 32 FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA WHAT'S IN AN INDIAN NAME? INDIAN names are picture-names — Lone Tree, Gray Wolf, Laughing Water, Ghost-that-lies-in-tlie- Woods. The In- dian's pictorial method of naming his off- spring is one of the most characteristic things he does. The name may spring from a whim or a creed, from a totem or an ad- venture; the christen- ing may occur when the child is young or when he is full grown. Often it commemorates something that hap- pened to the papoose when he was still in swaddling clothes. When he is older he may take a new cogno- men. Or perhaps he struggles along through childhood and youth with no name at all — just called the son of somebody, until one momentous day he has an accident or performs a deed that catches the imagination of his fel- lows and wins him a regular name of his own. If you were a Sioux and couldn't think what to call your first-born, and nothing occurred to give a suggestion, you would probably name him "Chaska." If your first child were a girl, you would christen her "Winona" — the "Mary" of Indian senti- ment. Until late years there were no fam- ily names among the Sioux. Government agents virtually founded families by invent- ing patronymics. Formerly, in a family of brothers and sisters, none bore the name of the father. Officials charged with enrolling Uncle Sam's foster children created sur- names from paternal Christian names. The son of Shave Head is now identified as Charles Shave Head. John Boar's Face and Mary Red Thunder are his cousins. An Indian that has a horse of ruddy hue is often called Red Horse. Yellow Magpie probably looked on a strange bird. Bow- fast-to-his-body assuredly indicates pre- paredness, and Dust Maker — extreme speed. Once there was a lad, upstanding and brave, who was called Jumping Badger. CHIEF RAIN-IN-THE-FACE A mighty warrior of As he grew older and became a fearless and crafty fighter, his father summoned his friends to take part in the formal ceremony of transferring his name to his son, his pride and hope. The father's name was Sitting Bull. The heir to the name wrote himself into American history as the ruthless chief of the Dakotas who led his band of warriors against Gen- eral Custer in the bat- tle of Little Big Horn in 1879, and was killed by Government police while resisting arrest a number of years later. James McLaughlin, former United States Indian Inspector, relates the incident that gave Rain-in-the- Face his famous appel- lation. The story goes that the baby was placed by his mother in the shade of a tree, "while she got ready the mid-day meal of her lord. The boy baby was strapped to a the noble Sioux nation board, his Small body embedded in the fuzz of cat-tails and wound about with the skin of a deer. As he looked at the sky and com- muned with the spirits of the other world, the thunder-bird settled in the limb of a nearby tree and a shower fell. The mother, engaged in her domestic work, forgot the child for a moment, and a neighbor ran in to tell her that it had rained in the face of her baby. The mother seized the strapped youngster and bore him into the tent, chattering endearments, and wiped the moisture from the face of the little round-eyed baby with the palm of her brown hand. The father of the child looked up from his reclining-place, and said: 'It is a sign. Let him be called Rain-in-the- Face.' The soft syllables in which the name of the child was pronounced sounded good to the mother, and the father, proud of his inventive inspiration, proclaimed the boy's name and made a feast. Thus, it was thatjso trivial a thing as a summer shower gave to a chief of the Sioux his name." 33 THE MENTOR INDIAN LIFE THROUGH THE LENS FOR a quarter of a century, Edward Curtis, student and photographer, has been recording tlie life and history of the American Indian. As a youth lie began to make photographs that-were bits of real life transcribed to the plate. Curtis used to spend his holidays roaming the picturesque Puget Sound country with his camera as com- panion. His negatives portrayed the squat natives of the Pacific Coast, or their taller, more prepossessing brothers on the other side of the mountains. As he came to under- stand their primitive ways, the young man often found himself sit- ting by their fires, join- ing in their adventures, and sleeping under their lodge poles. Every- where he went he gath- ered fragments of Indian lore and studied the Indian nature. His own mind, sensitive as a negative to impressions and details, stored up knowledge that, augmented year by year, became the basis of the great work he is now engaged in. To this calm-eyed wanderer with the magic box, the Indians of the Sound, of the coast islands and the plains, betrayed mysteries of the ritual dance, of family life and secret fraternity. And always Curtis made pictures — and more pictures. In his shop in Seattle, where he was established as a portrait photographer, he sold prints of these spiritual, beautifully handled pictures of the Indian in camp and on the trail. Magazine reproductions brought him in- quiries from men of affairs. Theodore Roosevelt was one that early recognized the extraordinary worth of what Curtis was doing for America. "He has done what no other man ever has done; what no other man could do," he said. In 1898 Mr. Roosevelt interested the late J. Pierpont Morgan in this unique picture chronicle. As a result, a fund of $75,000 EDWARD S. CURTIS 34 was placed at Curtis' disposal to finance a permanent memorial of the American In- dian, based on the Curtis photographs and his written story. Since that time Mr. Curtis has spent a great part of his days "in the field," braving winter's storms and summer's heat, living in crude villages, tramp- ing rough and some- times perilous trails, with the single aim of "picturing all features of the Indian life and environment — types of the young and the old, with their habitations, industries, ceremonies, games, and everyday customs . . . showing what actually exists or has recently existed (for many of the subjects have already passed forever)." The publishers' plans call for twenty luxuri- ous volumes of text and twenty portfolios of photogravures to be issued under the title, "The North American Indian." Eleven vol- umes have already appeared and one is just ready. Mr. Curtis has an ardent admirer in Mr. George Bird Grinnell, who declares that he has "never seen pictures relating to Indians which for fidelity to nature, combined with artistic feeling, can compare with these pic- tures by Curtis. Today they are of high scientific and artistic value. What will thej^ be a hundred years from now, when the Indians shall have utterly vanished from the face of the earth? To accom- plish his work the artist has exchanged ease, comfort and home life for the hard- est kind of work, the wearing toil of travel, and finally the heart-breaking struggle of winning over to his purpose primitive men." Mr. Curtis has put the nation in his debt by chronicling by pen and picture the man- ners of America's first settlers. His photo- history of the North American Indian is, in form and spirit, the most enduring contribu- tion made to the ethnology of the continent. — Ruth Kedzie Wood THE MENTOK AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE— WHAT ? WHAT skall we do with our ex-presi- dents? This question comes up regularly in the United States fol- lowing presidential elections. History shows that some of the ablest national leaders have left the White House impoverished by their devotion to public affairs. From time to time efforts have been made to pro- vide the retiring executive with a pension or some other form of income. These plans, however, have never passed the stage of discussion. Five of our 27 presidents have died in office. The average life of the rest, after quitting the presidential chair, was 13 years. Two only held office after leaving the White House — John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson; the former became a senator from Massachusetts, the latter a senator from Tennessee nine years after ending his term as president. John Tyler became a member of the Confederate Congress, but died before it convened. Grover Cleveland was the only president to return to the White House after retire- ment. Andrew Jack- son, Martin Van Bu- ren, and Roosevelt sought to and failed. Martin Van Buren lived the longest of any ex-president — 31 years. John Adams and James Madison lived 25 and 27 years respectively. John Adams lived long enough to see his son, John Quincy Adams, elected to the highest office; the son had been in office 15 months when his father died, July 4, 1826, at 90 years of age. Thomas Jefferson died the same day; he had been president 17 years before. Benjamin Harrison's grandfather, "Tip- pecanoe" Harrison, died in 1841, one month after he was inaugurated. Misfortune seemed to follow General Grant from the moment he stepped out of CopjTieht, Keystone View Co. . N. Y. THE MAIN PORTAL OF THE V/HITE HOUSE Washington, D. C. the office — financial losses, illness and death. Following is a record of ex-presidents: Washington served as commander-in- chief of the army in 1797. Adams practised law at Quincj^ Mass. Jefferson refused a third term and de- voted the remainder of his life to educa- tional work. Madison became a gentleman farmer and was a delegate to a constitutional conference. Monroe became a regent of the Uni- versity of Virginia, but suffered great finan- cial distress and was enabled to die in peace only after Congress had voted him a gift. John Quincy Adams served in the House of Representatives after being President. Andrew Jackson lived in retirement. Martin Van Buren failed in his effort for renomination in 1848 four years after ending his term. Polk retired to his home at Nashville, Tenn. Taylor died in office. Fillmore failed to win renomination in 1856 and retired. Pierce retired after failing to win renomi- nation. Buchanan re- tired. Lincoln was assassinated in office. Johnson completed his term in 1869 and was elected senator in 1875. Hayes occupied himself with educa- tional work until his death. Garfield was assassinated in office. Arthur failed to win renomination and re- tired. Cleveland practised law in New York City; was re- elected in 1892, and lectured at Princeton Uni^'ersity after com- pleting his second term. Harrison prac- tised law, wrote and served as a commissioner in the Venezuela boundary dispute settlement. McKinley was assassinated in office. Roosevelt hunted in Africa, wrote, traveled, explored and par- ticipated in public affairs until his death. Taft became a member of the faculty at Yale University. — Guy Pearce 35 THE MENTOR NEW FACES FOR OLD THE use of masks in the ancient tlieater has recently been recalled in vivid fashion by the artistic success of Mr. W. T. Benda's remarkable modeled faces. Mr. Benda is primarily an illustrator. His name and his work are familiar to us through frequent appearance in books and maga- zines. He came to America from Po- land, and quickly made his mark, as we may say, with brush and crayon. His studio is above the green rectangle of Gramercy Park, in one of the storied sections of old New York. A visitor from The Mentor, chanc- ing to call on Mr. Benda not long ago, discovered, hanging on ornamental screens and against Chinese wall cover- ings, a variety of masks, some weird and dragon-like, some of a distract- ing beauty, all exe- cuted by an artist's practised hand. The Mentor scented a serious-minded re- vival of an age-old craft, but Mr. Benda laughed at the suggestion. "I made the first mask several years ago, when I was asked to a bal masque and needed a disguise. Just for fun I made my own mask, out of paper, and after an informal method of my own. I wore the mask to the party and it was so different and characteristic that all my friends commented on it and wanted me to work out the idea further. So I ex- perimented with my new plaything, and this" — with a gesture — "is the result. These are my paper children." He took one of the masks from the wall — the face of a maiden fair. "And here is the germ from which they spring." He pro- duced from a cabinet some bits of paste- board, cut and glued, with strips of brown paper put on in knowing layers. "Here is the base, the frame of the face. The fea- tures are built of paper laid on in varying Copyright, Keystone Vi MR. BENDA'S "eALLERY OF MASKS' depths, and cut and trimmed with a sharp blade. Afterwards they are tinted and properly preserved on the inside with lac- cjuer. When a headdress is painted, or contrived from bits of lace and silk, the effect is really life-like." To demonstrate the truth of the last statement, the artist put on a silk robe and adjusted the mask of the Beauti- ful Lady. A sim- pering gait and deli- cate movement of the head completed the illusion. When he donned the face of the Foolish One, the transformation was equally divert- ing. A mask of parchment color, decorated in Orien- tal designs, sug- gested the Chinese theater. Mr. Benda's orig- inality and skill as an artist serve him so well in the con- struction and decor- ation of these facial facsimiles that his fame bids fair to reach across the con- tinent and to foreign shores, as the creator of a new art. Yet it is an art that Greek tragedians were acquainted with long before the time of Christ. The most celebrated Roman actor of his time, Roscius by name, who taught Cicero the art of "oratory, had a squint. Some say that was the reason he adopted the Greek mask. There was out- cry against the innovation because it was thought illegitimate to seek artificial aids to the expression of emotion. But Roscius an- swered the uproar by giving orders for a whole set of tragic masks, and wearing them regularly. After awhile the people got accustomed to the idea, and it became a fixed custom for Roman actors to assume female faces when acting female parts. Dis- guise by means of cosmetics, or "make-up," was not perfected then as now. A grotesque, large-mouthed type of mask was used by 36 THE MENTOR Copyright, Keystone View Co.. N. Y. MAKING THE PASTEBOARD FRAME actors who played the characters of slaves, old men, comedians. Natural types were used to represent women and young men. Weak-voiced actors sometimes had masks fitted with metal mouth-pieces to increase the carrying power of their words. Masks have been used in Japan for un- numbered centuries. Sometimes they are of immense size. Special designs, such as the Koinshu (a large mask, red nose, yel- low eyes, hair covered head), are reserved for one traditional group of dancers. In rites of sacred import masks are made of white silk or paper painted with colored ink. This is the kind worn by temple priests, so that their breath will not pollute the sacred offerings. Travelers in Polynesia and Alaska wit- ness strange dances performed by natives whose faces are covered by the heads of animals and uncanny creatures that have symbolic importance. In a chief's house, in an Alaskan Indian village, rows of garishly painted and elaborately carved head-pieces hang on the wall for the use of dancers that gather to take part in super- stitious ceremonials. Many tribes of American Indians keep alive dances in which the participants wear masks of legendary design, handed down from one generation to another. A stocky brown-skin of the Northwest, that does nothing more ferocious during the rest of his days than go fishing or hunting, be- comes at the annual feast an outlandish creature with furry coat and terrifying head-covering, who, in company with other fantastic beings, goes through steps and motions consecrated to religion and super- stition. On the plains of Dakota, and in the Southwest, Indian mummers, assuming the heads of bufi^alo, perform a dance that is a prayer to the God of the Chase. The myth dances of the Pueblo Indians are performed in underground lodges, "jealously guarded from profane eyes. . . . The War Captain's men keep watch at every road so that no outsider can glimpse the masked dancers impersonating gods." The Eagle Dance, and similar animal dances, frequently de- mand exhausting and exhaustive mimicry. All the dancers wear head-dresses, realisti- cally painted and carved. "The Zunis of New Mexico," says an author, describing these ancient people, founders of the oldest town in America, "have nearly two hundred gods and myth- ological characters that are impersonated by distinctively masked and costumed dancers." Masks had no part on the American stage before the season of 1920, when they were effectively used by a young woman dancer in a super-spectacle produced in New York. Mr. Benda has recently completed a set of character masks for a London review. The Polish artist's creations have shown us how delightful an accessory they may be to the art of the pantomimist. Copyright. KeyBtone View Co.. N. Y. THE ARTIST MASKED 37 THE MENTOR PHANTOMS THAT HELP AND HARM SEEING things, not as they are, but as they seem to be, is a common experi- ence on the desert. The word mirage comes from the French "to gaze" — mirer. Across the quivering sands, when the sun is high, the traveler behokls the horizon as a green shore, laved by thirst - quenching waters, and shaded by lofty palms. Fic- tion writers have utilized the situation times without number. Their readers read- ily react to the emotion of wayworn, pant- ing human creatures deluded by these taunting mockeries. History is full of sensational episodes in which a mirage has appeared to confound warriors and explorers. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his army was de- ceived by the sight of a great pool of water in which villages and cool shadows were re- flected. When approached, the borders of the lake retreated and vanished, and the groups of trees and sheltering huts dissolved into air. Monge, "one of the learned men attached to the expedition," offered the parched troops a plausible explanation of the illusion, based on his scientific knowl- edge of optics, but the sun-beaten soldiers railed at Nature's ironic jest, especially as the refreshing vision continued to appear all during their march across a scorching plain. In a laboratory at Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, Baltimore, an apparatus has been constructed to make clear the phenomenon of the mirage. A number of sanded boards, mounted on tripods, are so arranged in relation to a slanting mirror that a reflec- tion of the sky meets the level of the sur- face. In front of the mirror a pasteboard range of peaks is mounted so as to come between the light from the sky and the sanded plain. Heat like that of the desert is produced by a row of gas jets. As the heat intensifies, the observer, direct- ing his eye on a line slightly above the surface, perceives the image of a shining body of water (the still blue of the sky) and a row of mountains turned upside down. I Mounfo/ns The physical cause is simple. The rays of light from the hotter, and consequently thinner atmosphere near the surface, pass to the cooler, denser air above. The optical principle involved is one of refraction and reflection (bending rays and throwing back rays). Rays of light from a distant scene or object, placed in the denser medium, a little above the level of the earth, and com- ing in a direction nearly parallel to the earth's surface, meet the rarer medium at a wide angle. Instead of passing into the rarer medium they are reflected back to the dense medium of the upper laj'cr of air. The common surface of the two mediums acts as a mirror. The picture of faraway hills or trees or buildings is seen inverted, just as we see an image topside down on the sur- face of a lake. The spectacle of a mirage at sea is haunt- ing and vmforgettable. There is a ghostly tale that comes down to us from Colonial days of a ship whose clear image was seen floating in space after a violent storm. The vessel was due in New York on the follow- ing day, but it never came to port. Natives of southern Spain frequently see the peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains suspended like snowy pendants above the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean. Most dumbfounding of these narratives is the statement of a traveler that he saw from the highest summit of the Canary Islands a "looming" upright mirage of the Alleghany Mountains in North America, three thousand miles awaj'. A remarkable latter-day mirage was the one seen by Robert E. Peary, in June, 1906, while exploring in the Far North. He was so sure that the vision was earthly that he named the "distant land above the ice horizon," Crocker Land. In 1915, Donald B. MacMillan and members of his Expedi- tion set out to determine whether or not Peary had actually seen a far-off coast or an atmospheric illusion. In his book, "In Search of a New Land," Mr. MacMillan fye JPI|^ ARTIFICIAL MIRAGE With this apparatus, constructed by Professor R. W. Wood, of Johns Hopkins University, mirage effects are artificially produced 38 THE MENTOR A MIRAGE IN THE DESERT gives the following description of the fan- tasy that lured him to the Arctic. "April 21st was a beautiful day; all mist was gone, the clear blue of the sky extend- ing down to the very horizon. . . . Great heavens, what a land! Hills, valleys, snow- capped peaks extending through at least 120 degrees of the horizon! ... As we pro- ceeded, it gradually changed its appearance and varied in extent with the swinging around of the sun, finally at night disap- pearing altogether. "The 27th, on which day we marched from igloo No. 5 to No. 3, offered the same perfect weather and perfect going, all leads being frozen. Throughout the day the mirage of the sea ice, resembling in every particular an immense land, seemed to be mocking us. It seemed so near and so easily attainable, if we would only turn back." On another day the explorer's diary car- ried the record, "The day was exception- ally clear, not a cloud or a trace of mist; if land could ever be seen, it could be now. Yes, there it was; it could be seen even without a glass, extending from southwest true to north-northeast. Our powerful glasses, however, brought out more clearly the dark background in contrast with the white, the whole resembling hills, valleys, and snow-capped peaks." Here was a notable instance of the magnified "loom- ing" reflection that sometimes arises where currents of warm air pass over snow fields or icy waters. A familiar apparition off the southern coast of Italy is the Fata Morgana. In medieval romance, the fata, or fairy. Mor- gana was the sister of King Arthur, and to her witchery the Italians of Naples and Sicily ascribe the mirage frequently seen in the Strait of Messina. "Fata Morgana," we are told, "is of frecjuent occurrence in the polar regions in the vicinity of distant floating ice rafts. Scott and ^lawson noted this form of mirage on the ice field of the great Antarctic continent where crevasses or cracks appear in the ice. Warm air, ris- ing from these cracks into cold air, raises points of ice only a foot or two high into battlements with castellated towers." A mirage renowned in the annals of ex- plorers revealed to Captain Robert Scott and his companions, in the Antarctic, an extent of coast line, seventy miles long, that they had no other means of seeing. This instance is proof that the phenomenon is not always a delusion and a snare, but may assist in determining such definite and substantial matters as geography and ex- ploration. 39 THE OPEN LETTER For years we have been told that "the only good Indian is a dead one." We have ac- cepted it as a fact, for the statement usually came from someone that claimed to know the Indian. But no one living knows more about the American Indian than Mr. Grinnell, and he tells us that the Redman is "simple, honest, and, when one gets to know him, very likeable." Mr. Grinnell has lived in close association with Indians for half a century, so his state- ments concerning their character may be taken as gospel truth. Mr. Grinnell was, for a number of years, chief of the Piegan Blackfeet. His Blackfoot name is "Fisher Hat" ; and the Chey- ennes gave him a name mean- ing "Bird" ; the Pawnees called him "White Wolf," and the Gros Ventres named him "Gray Clothes." He began his life in the West as a naturalist, with General Custer in the Black Hills, and afterwards with Lud- low in Yellowstone Park. He was editor of Forest and Stream for years, and has written many books on Indian life. It is worth something, therefore, to have his assurance that the Indian is, in all re- spects, much like the average human being, and has many of the same good qualities. On the strength of Mr. Grinnell's statement, let us sponge out the old cynical comment on Indian character. • • • It is a custom nowadays to quote the Indian office of the Interior Department to the effect that our Indian population is growing. There are statements to that effect in the "Handbook of Indian Tribes" issued by the Bureau of Ethnology in Washington. When I asked Mr. Grinnell if this was true, he said that he did not think so. "The Indian Bureau," he says, "counts the mixed bloods as Indians, and, in that way, makes a showing of a station- ary, or slightly increased, Indian popula- tion. As a matter of fact, the Indians — by which I mean the full-blooded Indians — are steadily growing less, I think. THE COMING OF THE WHrTE MAN Statue Group by Herman Mac Neil, m City Park Portland. Oregon "James Mooney, in the Handbook, esti- mates the total number of Indians in North America north of Mexico at the time of the discovery, as 1,150,000. I have never been able to bring myself to believe that they were so few, and do not believe so now. "In 1910 the census showed that, in Canada, there were more than 110,000 Indians and, in the United States, 320,000, includ- ing the mixed bloods. Of these mixed bloods there are many. An authority estimated in 1879 that there were then 40,000. :. I suppose that number has very considerably increased, for the mixed bloods are prolific and adaptable. "On the other hand, it must be said that, in many tribes, the Indians have passed through the difficult transition from a life that was wandering to one that is sedentary — from one where flesh meat was the chief support, to one where vegetable food is the main subsistence; or, in other words, from the life of a hunter to that of a farmer. "The Northern Cfiey- ennes have for a dozen or twenty years been nearly stationary. There was a gain of five or six or ten a year for several years, and then along came the influenza, which caused sixty or seventy unusual deaths in one winter. These people, however, are more or less at a distance from settlements and their blood has not mingled to any great extent with that of the whites. There are among them very few half-breeds." From what Mr. Grinnell tells us it seems, then, that if "Mr. Lo" is coming back in numbers, it is only by virtue of intermar- riage with the sisters or the daughters of his "pale-faced brother." The tribes of the pure-blood Redman remain about the same or are slowly passing away. The fate of the Indian in the United States is absorption into the white race; and the ultimate American, when he emerges from the melting pot, will have in his veins a strain of original American blood. 40 Discoverers of a New World HARDLY a year passes that these famous men, Mr. John Burroughs, J\Ir. Henry Ford, Mr. H. S. Firestone and Mr. Thomas A. Edison, do not take a camping trip to the great outdoors to get close to Nature, and forget their business worries. Nature is one of the subjects that fas- cinates everyone — yet tlie average person knows little or nothing about it. The knowledge of any big, vital subject makes it a precious possession. The country about you would be far more interesting if }'ou had a knowledge of the li^-ing wild things: could know the birds bA' name, their habits, their peculiarities; for all the species are different. Man}'of thebirdsare rapidly becoming extinct, and it is a duty as wellasajoytoknowthem. Afull knowl- edge of the wild flowers that you see in }-our walks is an accomplishment more than worth wdiile. The same is true of the trees — while CA^ery species of little animal and insect and butterfly lives a life full of wonderful secrets. You can gain an intimate knowledge of the tens of thousands of interesting subjects, and )-ou will enjoy the greatest pleasure in learning about them. The children wdll read the volumes with pleasure too ■ — the)' are so delightfully written. The Most Interesting Information in the World the most i^lcrc^;lin,c: information in tlie world. It is most autliori- i\"c nuulc it the niust bL-auliiuHy illustrated series of volumes that has L-\er been published. There arc hundreds of beautiful color plates and tlioiisands of half-tones illustrating the subjects in all their splendijr. The seasriu will iot f Interest to }'ou. It will give us pleasure to Send this booklet free tu an)' of The Mentor readers thai ask h.)r it. \\q urge that you send a post card today to make sure of getting 3""Lir copy free. DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. GARDEN CITY, N. Y. K. sUR-'.-- I '1 VM«i.'MiJii'KJMiVM-'MJk^MJi&M.\\ ■hMuiiiiii'i' Poor at twenty; Rich at forty; Internationally famous at fifty You are invited to have FREE a booklet that tells what few great books make a man think straight and talk well POOR, friendless, with no education. Benjamin Frank- lin walked through the streets of Philadelphia alone. Yet at forty he was independent; at fifty his company was eagerly sought by the leaders of two continents. What was the secret of such phenomenal success? His se- cret was nothing more than this: Every day of his life he added a part of some other man's knowledge to his own. He picked the few really great mind-building books and read them systematically a few minutes every day. Are yoa bigger today than yesterday? You have so few minutes in the day for reading; so few days in a busy life. Will you spend them all with the gossip of the newspapers? Or will you. like Franklin, start now to make the great thinkers of the world your servants? Will you increase your own brain power by adding their brain power to it? What are the few great books — biographies, his- tories, novels, dramas, poems, books of science and travel, philosophy and re- ligion, that have in them the power to make of their read- ers men who can think clearly and talk interestingly? This question, so vital to you, is answered in the free booklet pictured below. You can have a copy of it for the asking. In it Dr. Charles W. Eliot, who was for forty years presi- dent of Harvard University, gives his own plan of reading. In it are described the contents, plan and purpose of Dr. Eliot's Five-Foot Shelf of Books The pleasant path to a liberal education Every well-informed man and woman should know about this famous library. The free book tells about it — how Dr. Eliot has put into his Five-Foot Shelf *'the essentials of a liberal education"; how he has so arranged it that even "fifteen minutes a day" are enough; how, in pleasant mo- ments of spare time, by using the reading courses Dr. Eliot has provided for you, you can get the knowledge of literature and life that every university strives to give. Every reader of The Mentor is invited to send for this Free Booklet that gives Dr. Eliot's ow^n plan of reading p. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY 415 West Thirteenth St., New York