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Indians' Mode of Living

Transcribed from the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF WHITESIDE COUNTY, IL
Originally published 1885
Chapman Bros.
Chicago, IL


Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com


THE INDIANS’ MODE OF LIVING

The art of hunting not only supplied the Indian with food, but,like that of war, was a means of gratifying his love of distinction. The male children, as soon as they acquired sufficient age and strength, were furnished with a bow and arrow, and taught to shoot birds and other small game. Success in killing large animals required years of careful study and practice, and the art was as sedulously inculcated in the minds of the rising generation as are elements of reading, writing and arithmetic in, the common schools of civilized communities. The mazes of the forest and the dense tall grass of the prairies were the objects of the most searching scrutiny, and revealed at a glance the animal that made any visible traces, the direction it was pursuing and the tie that had elapsed since it had passed. In a forest country he selected the valleys, because they were most frequently the resort of game. The most easily taken, perhaps, of all the animals of the chase was the deer. It is endowed with a curiosity which prompts it to stop in its flight and look back at the approaching hunter, who always avails himself of this opportunity to let fly the fatal arrow.


Their general councils were composed of the chiefs and old men. When in council, they usually sat in concentric circles around the speaker, and each individual, notwithstanding the fiery passions that burned within, preserved an exterior as immovable as though cast in bronze. Before commencing business a person appeared with the sacred pipe, and another with fire to kindle it. After being lighted it was presented to heaven, then to the earth, then to the presiding spirit, and lastly to the several councilors, each of whom took a whiff. These formalities were observed with as close exactness as state etiquette in civilized courts.


The dwellings of the Indians were of the simplest and rudest character. On some pleasant spot by the bank of a stream, or near an ever-running spring, they raised their groups of wigwams, constructed of the bark of trees, and easily taken down and removed to another spot. The dwelling-places of the chiefs were sometimes more spacious, and constructed with greater care, but of the same materials. Skins taken in the chase served them for repose.


Though principally dependent upon hunting and fishing, the uncertain supply from these sources led them to cultivate small patches of corn. Every family did everything necessary within itself, commerce, or an exchange of articles, being almost unknown to them. In case of dispute and dissension, each Indian relied upon himself for retaliation; blood for blood was the rule, and the relatives of the slain man were bound to obtain bloody revenge for his death. This principle gave rise, as a matter of course, to innumerable and bitter feuds, and wars of extermination, when such were possible. War, indeed, rather than peace, was the Indian’s glory and delight - war, not conducted as in civilization, but where individual skill, endurance, gallantry and cruelty were prime requisites. For such a purpose as revenge the Indian would make great sacrifices, and display a patience and perseverance truly heroic; but when the excitement was over he sank back into a listless, unoccupied, well-nigh useless savage. During the intervals of his more exciting pursuits, the Indian employed his time in decorating his person with all the refinement of paint and feathers, and in the manufacture of his arms and canoes. These were constructed of brk, and so light that they could easily be carried on the shoulder from stream to stream. His amusements were the war dance, athletic games, the narration of his exploits and listening to the oratory of the chiefs; but during long periods of such existence he remained in a state of torpor, gazing listlessly upon the trees of the forest and the clouds that sailed above them; and this vacancy imprinted habitual gravity, and even melancholy, upon his general deportment.


The main labor and drudgery of Indian communities fell upon the women The planting, tending and gathering of the crops, making mats and baskets, carrying burdens, - in fact, all things of the kind were performed by them, thus making their condition but little better than slaves. Marriage was merely a matter of bargain and sale, the husband giving presents to the father of the bride. In general they had but few children. They were subjected to many and severe attacks of sickness, and at times famine and pestilence swept away whole tribes, small-pox being especially destructive.


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