Chapter VII: The Aborigines (3)

This marked progress in a tropical country beyond what was attained by the Indian tribes in the temperate and cold portions of the continent seems to be an exception to the general rule that intellectual progress is stimulated by changeable climatic conditions, and reaches the highest development in cold, temperate climates. Apparently the degree of stimulation needed for the Caucasian and the Indian differs, and the latter thrives best where the obstacles to be overcome are least. This is in harmony with the oft-repeated statement that the Indian is but a child. The struggle which would discourage the boy is but zest to the man. Among the Indians themselves, however, we find an exception to the rule suggested in the fact that the Iroquois or the Six Nations of New York, in their tribal organization and alliances of offence and defence probably surpassed even the Aztecs and Mayas. In physical strength and endurance, and in mental powers, so far as government and oratory are concerned, the Iroquois probably surpassed all other Indians; but in architecture, art, picture-writing, etc., they were far the inferiors of the Mexican and Central American Indians. Thus, intellectual strength and vigour seem to have been most markedly a product of the colder and more changeable climate, while the highest attainment in architecture, etc., was reached at the south.

It is in the temperate region also that the best results have been reached in attempting to civilize the Indians. This, however, cannot be claimed as a result of climate simply, since the aid that has been extended to them in Canada and the United States is far different from the influence exerted on their relatives at the south by men of Spanish blood. The results of the efforts of Canada and the United States to civilize the Indian and make him worthy of citizenship, although costly and slow in reaching the desired end, are full of promise. By the methods referred to in the last few pages a strong effort is being made to counteract the harsh treatment the Indians received during the earlier years of French and English aggression, and to give them a fair chance to advance. One important result of the present firm control is the total cessation of intertribal warfare. Seemingly the aborigines throughout North America, with the exception--and it is hoped this is but temporary--of the Alaskan Eskimos and the still uncared-for Indian tribes of Alaska and Canada, should increase in numbers as well as in enlightenment. In reference to numbers, the enumerations that have been made in recent years, although not exact, seem to indicate a diminution in the rate of decrease, if not a positive advance. In the case of most of the Indian tribes north of Mexico the change from a free life, passed to a large extent in tents or temporary homes, to an inactive, sedentary existence, mostly on reservations, and the influences of house-life without a knowledge of sanitary conditions was a most severe one. The adverse results of this change, it is probable, are not yet past, but the rate of decrease in numbers resulting from it appears to be diminishing. Aside from the comparative suddenness with which the Indian has been forced to change his ways of thinking and living, it must be confessed that there is something inherent in his mental qualities that makes him unduly resistant to progress. As a race it is not to be hoped that he can ever be placed on really equal terms with the white man.

The total aboriginal population of North America in 1900, as nearly as it is now practicable to ascertain, is shown in the following table:

{ Canada, Arctic coast 1,000
Eskimos. { Newfoundland (Labrador coast) 800
{ United States, Alaska (1890) 14,000
----------
Total Eskimo population, about 15,800

{ Canada 99,010
{ United States, exclusive of Alaska 270,544
Indians. { " " Alaska 15,500
{ Mexico (1895) 5,000,000
{ Central America (largely estimated) 1,600,000
---------
Total Indian population, about 6,985,054
---------
Total aboriginal population, about 7,000,800

In this enumeration no account is taken of the Indians of the West Indies, for the reason, so far as can be learned, that there are few, if any, of pure blood remaining.

LITERATURE

Vast stores of information concerning the aborigines of America
have been published by the Bureau of American Ethnology,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; the Peabody Museum
of Archaeology, Cambridge, Mass.; the American Museum of Natural
History, New York, N. Y.; the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago,
Ill.; and in the _American Archaeologist_, a monthly magazine now
printed by Putnam's Sons, New York.

Readily accessible books relating to the Eskimos of Alaska are:

DALL, W. H. _Alaska and its Resources._ Lee & Shepard, Boston,
1870.

PETROFF, IVAN. _Reports on the Population, Resources, etc., of
Alaska._ In the reports of the tenth and eleventh censuses of
the United States.

The condition of the Indians in the United States during the
past half century is recorded in the annual reports on Indian
affairs published by the Department of the Interior,
Washington, D. C. Similar information concerning the natives of
Canada may be found in the reports on Indian affairs issued by
the Canadian Government at Ottawa.

Of the numerous books on ethnology in which the relation of the
aborigines of America to other peoples is discussed, perhaps
the most useful to the general reader is A. H. Keane's _Man
Past and Present_, printed at the University Press, Cambridge,
England.

Of the many attractive books of travel in which the Indians of
Mexico and Central America and the ruins, etc., of the same
region are described, the most readily accessible are: John L.
Stephens's _Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_, 2 vols., and his
_Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan_,
2 vols., published by Harper & Brothers, New York, 1867-'68;
and W. H. Holmes's _Archaeological Studies among the Ancient
Cities of Mexico_, published by the Field Columbian Museum,
Chicago, 1897.