THE AMERICAN INDIAN

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HEN Columbus discovered America in 1492, he supposed he had reached the Indias, and that the savages with whom he came in contact on the shore were inhabitants of that country, so he gave them the name of Indians. Thus by mistake were the primitive inhabitants of the New World named.

The family of the Huron Iroquois occupied the territory now comprising the State of Ohio, and they were divided into numerous tribes. The origin and early history of the Indians are wrapped in as much obscurity, or even more, than that of the Mound Builders. The most reasonable conclusion that can be reached concerning their origin is that they are the direct offspring of the Mound Builders.

The most potent argument that has been advanced against the unity of the Mound Builders and Indians is based upon the assumption that the Indians knew nothing concerning the monuments left by the Mound Builders. The erroneous assumption is the result of imperfect and limited knowledge of the known Indian tribes. It is very probable that the commingling

of the two races of Mound Builders, after the decline of the more peaceful nation of the south, and their subjugation by the warlike, and restless nations of the north, that a race was produced differing somewhat from either of the older nations. It would also be reasonable to conclude that the method of warfare practiced by the conquerors would be substituted in a large degree, for the methods of the conquered. Those in the south, usually, if not always, waged a defensive warfare, as can be seen by their numerous defensive works. Those in the north waged an offensive warfare, attacking their enemy in his fortified cities, or drawing him from them by strategy and meeting him in the open field, or surprising him in ambush.

The abandonment of fortified positions is what we would expect from the offspring of two such nations. The manners and customs of the Indian tribes are not very different from those of the Mound Builders. Their weapons were the same, their houses were built in the same way, and they smoked the same pipe. Many of the known Indian tribes, not more than two centuries ago, built extensive earthworks. It was quite common for them to build a wall of earth around the wigwams, and when closely pressed, and flight impossible, they constructed parapets around their camps, but when over

powered, if flight was possible, they sought safety by fleeing.

There was a tradition among the Delawares, translated and reduced to writing more than a century ago, which, while it is far from being conclusive as to any theory, may throw some light upon the origin of the early Indians.

The tradition is that their tribe, in migrating from the west toward the east, came to a great river. The country beyond the river was occupied by a people called the Allegwi or Fallegwi who had many towns. They gave the Delawares permission to pass through their territory; but when a part of the tribe had crossed the river, the Allegwi attacked and routed them with great slaughter. Enraged at this treachery, the Delawares formed an alliance with the Iroquois who had in the meantime come to the same river farther up. The combined forces crossed and drove back the Allegwi. For many years warfare continued with varying results, but gradually the combined forces gained ground. The Allegwi built large and strong forts which they stubbornly defended, but were sooner or later compelled to abandon. Finally the invaders triumphed and the native tribe fled southward, the Delawares passed on to the sea while the Iroquois remained west of the moun

tains. It is said that the Iroquois have a simi lar legend.

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The Indian had no fixed habitation. might, in his pursuit of game, lose his wigwam, but he never became lost himself. The tribes shifted from place to place, never staying in the same locality any considerable length of time. Of the tribes living in Ohio, the Wyandots were the most peaceful and most highly civilized. The Mohawks, Shawnees and Delawares were numerous and powerful. Senecas, Onanadagos, Congas, Oneidas, Chipewas, Otawas, Tuscarawas and Potawatamies also roamed through the forests of Ohio.

A great injustice has been done by the historian, to the American Indian. The bad traits of his character have been carefully preserved and given prominence on account of the cruelties inflicted upon the whites by the red men. Their virtues, and they had many, are seldom referred to, and the Indian's environment is never considered. The provocations of Europeans should be taken into account. If the early historian had taken as great care in recording the provocations of the whites, and the methods employed by the various jealous European nations to incite the savage to violence and cruelty, we would find very often that the motive lay deeply hidden in the recesses of the minds of

some Europeans. This extreme cruelty very frequently originated with civilized man who was better acquainted with barbarism than the savage himself. When the lessons of peace were taught him by the Moravians, he was peaceful; when taught by the French court, that he was being robbed of his hunting ground by the English settlers, and made drunk by their intoxicants, he became ferocious.

The Indians, uninfluenced by any outside causes, were usually peaceful and hospitable. The popular conception of the character of the Indian is based upon a few of his traits, and they, his most ignoble ones. Pretended histories of frontier life, novels and romances, usually give undue prominence to his acts of cruelty and treachery; he is pictured as a hunter, warrior and vagabond. But few, if any, tribes, spent their entire time in hunting, and none of them spent any considerable time in war. It is true, he roamed about from place to place, but he was a nomad, not a vagabond. He possessed the same faculties that civilized men possess, was influenced by the same passions, and cherished the same hopes of a future life. His only book was nature. And from its varied pages he absorbed its beauty and its eloquence. He preferred a wigwam to a village, and the solitude of the forest to a wigwam. Solitary and alone, he