Aboriginal America Part 9

Mechanic Arts

Native Ingenuity It is surprising how much ingenuity the Indians displayed in contriving ways for accomplishing their various purposes, without any of the means or facilities which we should should have considered essential. They had no iron, and could, of course, have no good cutting tools. All the tools and implements of every kind which were used by the Indians of the eastern part of the country were formed of stone, or wood, or bone, or something of that sort, and although working with such tools was an exceedingly slow and tedious process, still the results that they finally attained were, in some cases, truly wonderful.

Some tribes, especially those that lived in the neighborhood of the great lakes, made certain tools and implements of copper, which metal, it is said, they had some means of hardening, so that it would cut wood tolerably well. But they had no iron. Accordingly, when the Europeans first came to this country, one of the things that princ.i.p.ally struck the Indians was their possession of knives. It is said that the name by which the foreigners were designated among some of the tribes was knife men. Columbus found, too, when he first landed in the West India Islands, that the natives would barter almost anything in their possession for a needle.

Manufacture of Weapons

The work upon which most of the skill and ingenuity of the Indians was displayed was the manufacture of instruments to be used in hunting and in war. The bow and arrow was the principle weapon, although they likewise used spears and clubs of various kinds. Their spears and arrows they tipped with heads formed of a stone nearly as hard as flint, which they could shape very exactly by splitting off portions of the ma.s.s in a peculiar way, by a process similar to that in which gun-flints are fashioned at the present time. These heads were fastened to the shafts of the spear or of the arrow by means of very slender thongs of hide put on green. These, in shrinking as they dried, would bind the stone to the wood in the firmest manner imaginable.

Great numbers of these arrow-heads and spear-heads have been found in mounds and in old Indian encampments, and are now preserved in museums in all parts of the country.

These weapons were much more efficient than it would be supposed possible that such rude contrivances could be. Of course, in throwing an arrow from a bow everything depends upon the strength of the arm which discharges it. But it is said that some of the western Indians could shoot an arrow swifter than a bullet could be thrown from a gun, and one of them has been known to pa.s.s entirely through the body of a buffalo--at least so it is stated on what seems to be very good authority. When De Soto landed in Florida his horse was shot under him, in an attack from the Indians, by an arrow which pa.s.sed through the covering of the saddle, and entered seven or eight inches into the animal's side.

In one case, too, when a man was killed by one of these arrows, the head of it was found imbedded in the solid part of the bone of his leg, so that it could not be pulled out again.

After all, however, the immense superiority of the European fire-arms became immediately apparent, when the comparison came to be made between the two cla.s.ses of weapons. Some very amusing accounts are given by the early explorers of the American Continent, of the astonishment of the Indians sometimes manifest when they first witnessed the effects produced by a discharge of musketry. They were not always pleased to find how immensely superior the weapons of the white man were.

Superiority of Fire-Arms

A party of French explorers under the command of a certain officer named Laudonniere, whose adventures will be narrated in full in the third volume of this series, when making an excursion in boats up a certain river in Florida, and landing from time to time to communicate with the Indians, and to trade with them, were received at one time by a chieftain in his village, who in the course of the interview proposed a trail of the muskets of the visitors against the bows and arrows of his warriors. Laudonniere gives an account of the affair in the following language: "In our discoursing with one another wee entered into speach as touching the exercise of armes. Then the chief caused a corselet to be set on end and prayed me to make a proofe of our Harguebuzes and their bowes. But this proofe, when we had made it, pleased him very little. For as soon as he knew that our Harguebuzes did easily pearce that which all the force of their bowes could not hurt he seemed to be sorie, musing, with himselfe how this thing might be done."

Curious Modes of Making Handles

One of the nicest operations with us, in the practice of the mechanical arts, is that of putting a handle to a tool in such a manner that it shall be firm and strong, and capable of standing the heavy usage to which many tools are subject. The Indians had several ingenious modes of accomplishing this purpose. Sometimes, as has been stated in another place, they made the handle of a withe, which was wound around the took, in a groove hewn in the stone for the purpose. The withe was put on when green, and by this means it could be closely fitted, and then when dry it became perfectly rigid and firm.

Another mode was to make a cleft in a young and growing stem and carefully insert the tool into is in such a manner that the two parts of the stem should closely embrace the groove of the tool, and then leave the whole until the wood should grow over the stone so as to hold it securely. The stem was then cut off and the shaft of it fashioned into the proper form.

Stone-Headed Mace

Some of the tribes had an ingenious way of fastening a round stone to the end of a long handle for the purpose of forming a mace or war-club. They would draw a piece of green hide over the stone, and bring the edges of it down round the handle, and lash it there by means of a thong of the same material wound round and round it, in a close spiral. The result was that the hide, in drying, would shrink and harden, and bind the stone in the firmest possible manner to the handle. By this means a weapon of a very formidable character was produced.

Military Ornaments

The Indians displayed a great deal of skill in making ornaments of various kinds with which to decorate their chiefs when going to war. These ornaments were made of the horns of animals, the feathers of birds, porcupine quills, and of long hair dyed of various brilliant colors. They particularly prized the feathers of eagles for these decorations, on account of the fierce and terrible courage of that bird, which they seemed to imagine imparted an expression of martial prowess to his very plumes.

For the same reason the great warriors chose for their clothing the skins of the fiercest and most formidable beasts of prey. A warrior dressed in full in these habiliments--his spear, his head-dress, his sleeves, and the borders of his garments all adorned with feathers and fringes of hair dyed of the most gaudy colors--presented sometimes a most extraordinary spectacle.

It is quite a remarkable fact that, among all Indian tribes, it was the prevailing fashion for the men to wear the finery. The women were all accustomed to dress in a very plain and unostentatious manner. It is curious to observe, too, that among all the animals inferior to man it is the male usually that monopolizes the gaudy decorations.

Hunting and Fishing

Great was the ingenuity which the Indians displayed in hunting and trapping game and in catching fish, both from the inland waters and from the sea. In hunting they depended mainly on stratagem. Indeed, their weapons were so few and the range attainable by them was so limited, that artifice and wiles became almost necessarily their main resource.

They were very ingenious, too, in contriving traps to set for wild animals. The most common mode of setting a trap was by poising one end of a log of wood, larger or smaller according to the size and strength of the animal to be taken, in such a manner that, on touching a stick to which the bait was attached, the log would fall down and crush the victim beneath it. An Indian would go forth in the morning from his wigwam, and take a great circuit through the forest, setting traps of this kind at different places along the way. He would keep his bow in his hand all the time, with an arrow ready at any moment to be adjusted to the string, and would creep along stealthily as he advanced, looking out in every direction, both on the ground and upon the trees, and noticing every indication, however slight, of any animals being near. He looked carefully for tracks, for marks of browsing upon the trees, for branches bent or broken down, and for every other sign or token which a pa.s.sing animal might leave.

Solitary Habit of the Indian

In his march through the woods on these expeditions the Indian was always alone. Even if, for any reason, two or more persons were going the same way, they did not walk together, making their observations in common, and beguiling the gloom and solitude of the forest by conversation. That would have diverted their attention and interfered with their work. So in such cases they walked at a a distance from each other, each making his own observations and keeping his own watch. It is a general law of nature, as has already been remarked, that wild animals seeking prey are silent and solitary in their habits, prowling about stealthily and avoiding their own kind while watching for their victims. In these hunting excursions the Indian himself was little else than a wild animal seeking his prey, and he was endowed by nature with the qualities that pertain to such a condition.

Summer Hunting

In summer hunting the Indian killed animals for the sake of their flesh, to be used for food, for in the summer, and especially in the latter part of it, all such animals are fat, and their flesh is in the best possible condition to be eaten. If the hunter took more than he needed at this season for his immediate wants, his wife preserved the surplus by smoking or drying it in the manner already explained.

In these summer excursions the Indian often went in his canoe, following the streams or the sh.o.r.es of a lake or pond, and landing here and there in secluded places, to go in among the thickets and set his traps, or examine those set the day before. Generally he was alone in his canoe. If, however, he had a companion, they both preserved the same silence and caution as when on the land. Each would, in his own part of the canoe, ply his paddle, watching the sh.o.r.es of the stream and the trees which overhung the bank, as the boat went on, and looking earnestly into every hidden recess. Thus they would glide on without a word. On such excursions they deemed it necessary that silence, vigilant and constant circ.u.mspection, and a readiness that was never off its guard to spring forward in an instant, whenever an emergency might arise requiring sudden action, should be maintained without any intermission; for besides the danger that by inattention they might miss their game, their own personal safety was at stake. A wild beast might at any moment spring upon them from a thicket, or a shower of arrows from a party of human enemies come whistling through the air from some un.o.bserved ambuscade.

All their faculties were thus kept, on these excursions, in a state of close and constant tension, and being engaged as they were, for a great portion of their time, in these pursuits, they acquired the habit of being silent, grave, watchful and cunning, in all their demeanor.

Night Hunting

Among some tribes a practice prevailed of hunting deer in a very singular way, and one in which there must sometimes have been produced a very striking and picturesque effect. The method was by fascinating the deer, as it were, by means of a bright fire made to float down at night on a solitary stream. The fire was built upon the bow of a canoe--a small platform covered with sand having first been made there to serve as a fire-place. Behind the fire a thick screen, made of the branches of evergreen trees, was placed, and behind this screen the hunter was concealed, armed with his bow and arrow, and ready for instantaneous action.

The deer, seeing this bright light upon the water, would come down to the brink and gaze at it, under the influence of a sort of fascination, by which he was spell-bound, as it were, and held motionless on the sh.o.r.e until the boat came near enough for the hunter to transfix him with his arrow.

Snow Shoes

The snow shoe which the hunter used in winter was substantially a flat piece of basket work, of an oval form, which formed a broad extension of the sole of his moccasin, and prevented his foot from sinking beneath the surface of the snow, whether it was the light, powdery drift of a fresh fall that he was walking upon, or the damp, heavy ma.s.s into which the beams of the sun transform the old snow of the woods and fields in the spring.

A snow shoe, such as the Indians used, is made as follows: First, a strip of flexible wood is bent into an oval from for the outside frame. Two bars are then carried across from side to side and lashed to their places by thongs of green hide. These bars serve the double purpose of bracing the outer rim and keeping it to its form, and also as points of support for the heel and toes. The interstices of the frame thus made are then filled by stretching a skin over them and sewing it to the outer rim, or by weaving in, over the intervening s.p.a.ce, a sort of basket-work of thongs.

When the shoe is to be put on, the toe is slipped under a strap attached to the front bar and is fastened there. The heel is not fastened, but rises from the shoe when the foot is lifted, so that the shoe is raised and moved by the toe alone. Indeed, the heel of the snow shoe is not raised at all in the act of walking. The toe only is lifted, and the heel is dragged along upon the snow till the toe is put down again. Of course, it is only a very inconvenient and shuffling kind of walking that can be performed in this way, but it is much better than sinking at every step two or three feet into the snow.

Adventures in the Woods

Of course the Indians, in their excursions in the forests, were sometimes themselves attacked by wild beast that had been made fierce by hunger or had become excited in other ways. The forests which they traversed were inhabited by bears, wolves, wild cats, and other ferocious beasts of prey, that often, when hungry, would attack men. And even the more gentle and peaceable animals, such as the buffalo and the moose, during certain seasons and in certain states of excitement, sometimes became formidable. The Indian was generally prepared for these encounters, and, notwithstanding the inferiority of his weapons, he almost always came off victorious from them.

A story is related of a young Indian who had been setting traps in the woods and was returning home, when suddenly he saw among the trees a large moose coming toward him with a very threatening air. He had nothing with him but a knife--one probably made of stone. He retreated behind a tree; the moose advanced. He watched his opportunity and fell behind another tree--the moose advancing all the time and tearing up the ground with his hoofs, evidently in a state of great excitement. The Indian contrived, while dodging about from one tree to another, to get out his knife and cut a pole. He also pulled off one of his moccasins and drew out the string which tied it. By means of this string he lashed his knife to the end of his pole, thus forming a rude sort of spear.

All the time while he was making these preparations the moose was hotly pursuing him, and he could only keep out of his way by running from one tree to another, by which means, however, he could only gain a moment's shelter at a time.

When at length the weapon was completed he attacked the moose in his turn, aiming his thrusts at the animals' throat, and still seeking shelter behind a tree after every blow. At length, after a long contest, during which many wounds were given, the moose became exhausted with his frantic exertions and his loss of blood, and he was finally killed When afterwards the friends of the Indian came with him to the place, to secure the carca.s.s, they found the gra.s.s and the underbrush trampled down and covered with blood for a great distance around.

Fishing

The Indians evinced a great deal of ingenuity in their contrivances for fishing. They could make a sort of twine by twisting together the fibers of a certain kind of bark, and with this they could make nets. In setting these nets they used pieces of wood for floats, and stones for sinkers. In the winter they would sometimes set these nets beneath the ice by making a row of holes in the ice along the line where they wised the net to be placed, and then they would contrive by some means to pa.s.s the net underneath from one hole to another, till it extended the whole length of the line, and when in this position the stones would carry it down to the bottom.

Sometimes in the summer they used to take fish by shooting them with an arrow while they were swimming in the water, they themselves standing on the bank and watching till they saw the fish come sufficiently near. In such cases a string was attached to the arrow, by means of which the fish could be drawn to the land and the arrow also recovered. Any young reader of this book, who may feel disposed to ascertain practically what degree of difficulty attends this mode of fishing, may easily make the experiment by heating a large fish-hook in the fire, in order to take out the temper, and then carefully straightening it and inserting it into the end of his arrow, and shooting at any fishes which he may see swimming near the sh.o.r.e. Before he succeed in hitting many of them, he will have to learn something about the refraction of light, as affecting the apparent position of objects seen under water, which boys are not all supposed to understand.

It is astonishing to what perfection of workmanship some of the Indians attained in the fabrication of their bows and arrows. The bows were formed of various materials, and sometimes, as, for example, when they were made of substances like horn, they were spliced and strengthened in a very ingenious manner. A western traveler saw one a few years since in the hands of a chief which was worth the price of two horse, and he actually bought two horses, at twenty-five dollars a piece, to give in exchange for the bow. The string was made of the sinews of a deer.

The arrows, too, were very nicely made. There were two kinds, one for hunting and one for war. A good quiver would contain a hundred arrows, and an expert hunter could, if necessary, draw and shoot fifteen or twenty in a minute, running all the time at the top of his speed, either toward or from his enemy or his game.

Sometimes, instead of shooting the fish with arrows, the Indians speared them through the ice. In this latter case they would first make a hole in the ice, and then lie down upon their faces over it, so as to look into the water. They would then cover their heads with a mat or with evergreen boughs, in order to protect their eyes from the glare of the sun, and in this way they could see almost or quite to the bottom. They would then put down through the hole a little fish on the end of a pointed stick for bait. They would hold this stick in the left hand, and with the right they would hold the spear, and when the fish came to the bait, with a sudden and very dexterous thrust of the spear they would impale him.

They had a very ingenious sort of spear which they used on this and on other occasions. it had several p.r.o.ngs, and each p.r.o.ng was armed with a sharp point made of bone or of horn, and dexterously fastened to the wood in such a manner that it could be thrust into the fish, and yet so slightly fastened that when the fish struggled to escape, the point would come off and remain sticking in his flesh. There was a cord attached to the point, which pa.s.sed up into the hand of the fisherman. Thus, when the fish was pierced and attempted to swim away, the fisherman could control his motions by the line, just as an angler does at the present day, and so finally, when he became exhausted, bring him to the land. This was the nearest approach to our contrivance of a fish-hook which they were able to accomplish. Some of these spear-heads were very nicely made, and were barbed by means of a second point delicately lashed to the princ.i.p.al one at the proper angle. Sometimes these points were made of thorns.