THE BOY’S BOOK
OF
INDIANS
AND THE
WILD WEST
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED
BY
GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY,
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
BROWN MOOSE
A CELEBRATED
MOHAWK CHIEF
WHEN the white man discovered America, he found a great, primeval wilderness of fertile valleys, highmountains and deep forests. Tall trees had grown for centuries and their towering tops, reaching up tothe blue sky, shut out the sunlight from the gloom of the forest solitude. In the deep recesses of this wildernessthe red man, or Indian, lived in wild freedom. Skilled in woodcraft and the art of savagewarfare, he was lord and master of this vast domain, now called the United States.
TOMAHAWK
Although divided into numerous tribes or families, each speaking a different language,the Indians were, in traits of character and general appearance, very much alike. In war theywere courageous, but at the same time intelligently cautious. Treacherous and deceitful totheir foes, they preferred to slay an enemy by a secret rather than an open blow. Brave andsuccessful a warrior as the Indian was, he excelled even more when he became a hunter. Tobe victor over the beast in the chase and hunt meant to the Indian plenty to eat and stoutclothing to wear, so he developed remarkable skill in using his chief weapon, the bow and arrow.
Before the white man came to America the Indians were clad almost entirely in the skinsof animals which they themselves cured and dressed to perfection, fastening various piecestogether with the tendons and tough strips of skin very much as we sew to-day. Thesegarments, gayly ornamented with shells and colored stones, made very useful and picturesqueclothing.
The Indian boy was taught from early childhood to believe that his highestattainment was to be a brave warrior and a great hunter, and to look with scornupon any other work. So upon the Indian women fell the task of tilling the soil.For this reason farming never became a real industry among them and they wereamply satisfied to grow maize, or Indian corn, from which they made manykinds of dishes and bread. A very rich and fertile soil furthered their ambitions,for with but little attention to farming they reaped abundant crops.
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