the Cape of Good Hope and reached Spain in 1522.1 This was the first circumnavigation of the globe. Now for the first time was it learned what Columbus had really done. Instead of reaching the shores of Asia, he had discovered a great new continent which lay in the vast seas between. In consequence, it is often spoken of as the NEW WORLD.

2. THE INDIANS, THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND

CUSTOMS.

The Red Men.-It is common to speak of the "discovery of America," but by this we mean only its discovery by the civilized people of Europe. It had been discovered, or at least peopled, by men long before, no one knows how long, nor whence these people came. Columbus named them "Indians," thinking them to be inhabitants of India, in Asia. They are also frequently called "red men," for they were of a reddish or cinnamon color. They had coarse hair, black and straight, small black eyes, and but little beard. Their cheek-bones were high and their noses prominent. In these and other respects they differed from the people of Europe.

INDIAN CHIEF.

Character of the Red Men.-The Indians occupied the whole of North and South America. They were not all alike in appearance, and they differed greatly in customs and degree of development. The island people first seen

1 The captain of this vessel was rewarded by the King of Spain with a coat of arms, on which was represented a globe with the motto, 66 You first sailed round me."

by Columbus were gentle and peaceful. This was not the case with those on the mainland, most of whom were fierce and warlike. Many of them were in the savage state; that is, they had only a few rude arts and little. organization. Others were in what is known as the barbarian state, while still others, like those of Mexico and Peru, had some degree of civilization, and possessed many arts and industries.

The Savage and Barbarian Indians.-The savage Indians lived almost entirely by hunting and fishing, and had no fixed places of habitation, but roamed from place to place with their tent-shaped wigwams or other simple dwellings. They had few utensils and little or no agriculture. Those who dwelt in the eastern half of this country were barbarians. They had fixed homes, living in villages, and cultivating the fields to some extent, though they were active hunters also. They tilled the ground with hoes, which were made of stone, bone, or other hard substance, attached to a stick. The principal plants grown by them were maize, or "Indian-corn,' pumpkins, squashes, beans, and tobacco.1

INDIAN WOMAN.

Dwellings.-The dwellings of the Indians differed greatly in character. Some tribes dwelt in wigwams, or round huts with a framework of upright poles, which were bent inward and fastened together at the top. These were covered with the skins of animals, bark, or woven

The Iroquois tribes of Central New York had a more developed agriculture. The French, who invaded their country in 1696, found fields of maize which extended a league from the villages. General Sullivan, in his invasion in 1779, found large apple and peach orchards, and abundant stores of corn, beans, and squashes.

mats. Their fires were made in clay or stone pits in the floor, and the smoke escaped through a hole in the roof. Various other forms of dwellings were used. The Iroquois tribes had houses several hundred feet long, and divided

INDIAN POTTERY.

into many apartments or residences by partitions. They were made of framework covered with bark, and sometimes held from thirty to fifty families. Some of the Southern Indians had circular dwellings with partitions made of mats and running from the outer wall to the centre. Each apartment thus made was the home of a family. Furniture and Utensils.-The dwellings had little furniture, the Indians living mostly in the open air. Mats and skins served for bedding and the ground usually for seats and tables. For cooking purposes some tribes used wooden vessels, hollowed out by burning and scraping. They filled these vessels with water and threw in stones heated in their fires till the water boiled. Then the food was dropped in to cook in the boiling water. Baskets made of willow, very closely woven, were used in the same way. Some tribes had vessels of earthenware, others of hollowed out soapstone.

INDIAN WOMAN WEAVING.

Clothing. The winter clothing of the red men was mostly made of deer-skin. In summer they wore very little clothing. On their feet they wore moccasins, or shoes made of buckskin, which were very soft and pliable and enabled them to walk noiselessly. Some tribes wove coarse cloth, out of

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1

which their clothing was made. They often wore a headdress of feathers. Beads made from sea-shells, called wampum, were worn as ornaments and also used as money. It was their custom when engaged in war to paint their faces in stripes and spots of red and other colors.

Tools. Their tools were made of stone, chipped or rubbed to the desired shape, or of bone, horn, wood, or shell. They consisted of stone axes, hoes, and other implements for domestic use, scrapers to prepare skins for use, bone needles, wooden paddles for their canoes, and some other simple implements. The only metal they possessed was copper, which they obtained from mines in the lake region and hammered into shape. It was principally used for ornamental purposes. Pipes were articles in common use. These were usually made of stone, hollowed out and pierced with a hole for the smoke to pass through, and were often curiously and skilfully carved.

or

Weapons.-Their weapons were bows and arrows, which were pointed with flint or other hard substance; tomahawks, hatchets, of sharp-edged flint with wood

en handles; and

INDIAN BOW AND ARROW.

war-clubs of hard and heavy wood. These native weapons proved of little service against the weapons of the white men, and were thrown aside as soon as the Indians were able to trade furs for knives and hatchets of iron, guns, and ammunition. It is said that some of them thought that powder was a sort of seed, and planted in the ground the first they obtained, hoping to raise a crop of this useful plant.

Modes of Travel.-The Indians possessed no horses nor beasts of burden. The horse, ox, sheep, and pig were not known in this country till brought here by the whites. They had the bison, or buffalo, but used it only for food. In winter they travelled on snow-shoes,-frames of wood covered with hide, so long and wide that they would not sink into the snow. In summer they traversed forests and plains on their noiseless moccasins. The canoe was much used for summer travel. This was a very light boat, its strong frame being covered with the thin and flexible bark of the birch-tree. It was pointed at both ends and was forced through the water by the aid of a paddle. Unlike the rower, the canoe-man faced forward.

Duties of Men and Women.-The Indian man did no work. Hunting and fighting were his only duties, and all labor in the village was left to the women, who planted and hoed the corn, made the deerskin clothing, and cooked the food. Fire was produced by twirling the end of a stick rapidly on a dry piece of wood. The men made their weapons, indulged in dances and mimic battles, and were skilled in the arts of hunting and war. It was their custom to pull out all their hair except a lock on the crown of the head. This, called the scalplock, was left in order that an enemy, if able to kill the warrior in battle, might pluck off his scalp as a trophy of victory.

Methods of Warfare.-In war the Indians were fierce and cruel. They did not favor open fighting, but preferred to practise stratagem. It was their habit to steal upon their enemies through the forest, creeping or lying in wait,