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as gathering the scanty crops of maize, pumpkins, and tobacco. Swift and stealthy of foot, the Indian followed the trail of the deer, buffalo, and other wild animals. The weapons used were bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, and clubs. The birchbark canoe which he carried from one waterway to another served him as horse, steamboat, and railroad. The Indian had no written language, but sometimes recorded battles and other

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events by means of picture writing on bark, tanned skins, or the walls of his dwellings.

4. Religion. The Indian religion was a nature and ancestor worship. He saw in every animal, plant, or object in nature a divinity, not to be loved, but to be feared and propitiated. Only

after the coming of the missionary did the idea of a Supreme Being, or "Great Spirit," enter into his religion. He looked to a life beyond the grave to be spent in the "Happy Hunting Ground." Singing and dancing were notable features in his religion, and these usually preceded, accompanied, or followed all important undertakings.

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5. Three Great Families. The Indians of our country were divided into several hundred tribes, which were again subdivided by relationship into clans. Each tribe had for its name that of some animal. The turtle, bear, and wolf were special favorites. The picture of this animal became the emblem of the tribe and was called totem.

The Indian tribes located east of the Mississippi River were divided into three great families:

(a) the Maskokis, or Mobilians, living south of the Tennessee River;

(b) the Iroquois, or Six Nations, occupying central New York, parts of North Carolina, and the country north and south of Lake Erie;

(c) the Algonquins, inhabiting the rest of the territory north of the Ohio River, and also the larger part of Canada. 6. Degrees of Civilization. The early Indians may be divided into three grades-savage, barbarous, and semi-civilized.

The savage Indians occupied the country west of Hudson Bay and west of the Rocky Mountains as far south as the northern

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part of Mexico. They did not till the soil, or settle in villages, but lived on fish and game.

The barbarous Indians inhabited all of North America south of Hudson Bay and east of the Rocky Mountains. Rudely tilling the soil, they raised such plants as maize, or "Indian corn," tobacco, pumpkins, squashes, beans, tomatoes, and sunflowers. They settled in villages consisting of houses of bark or sunburnt clay and movable tepees. (See page 16.) They' comprised chiefly the three great families living east of the Mississippi River.

These Indians played a conspicuous part in the history of the United States, for with them our people first came into contact, and with them they had first to fight.

The semi-civilized Indians lived chiefly in the mountainous country from New Mexico southward as far as Chili. They tilled and irrigated the soil and built houses and fortresses four or five stories high. Their dwellings, frequently grouped in villages, were called pueblos, and were sometimes built high up on cliffs for the sake of security against the savage Indians. 7. Mounds. Many thousands of mounds built by the prehistoric inhabitants of America are found in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. At one time it was thought that these mounds were built by a mysterious race of very superior civilization, because of the skill shown in the sculptured relics discovered in them. These thousands of relics have been carefully examined and it is now believed that the "Mound Builders" were but the ancestors of the Indians found in the country by the French and English pioneers.

FLINT-TIPPED ARROWS

PERIOD OF

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS

CHAPTER II

EUROPEAN CONDITIONS PREPARATORY TO THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

8. Early Discoveries and Explorations. This period extends from the discovery of America, 1492, to the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and includes the discoveries and explorations made by the various European nations in the New World during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

9. Causes that Led to the Discovery of America Were:(a) the belief that the earth is round;

(b) the demand for a nearer route to India;

(c) the desire to acquire wealth and territory, and

(d) the desire to spread the Catholic faith.

10. The Northmen. The descendants of the early inhabitants of Norway and Sweden were the first Europeans to set foot on

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coast in the neighborhood of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England. In this vicinity a Norse colony was founded.

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