Chapter X · (continued 2)

The Creeks.

The Creek women were short though well formed, while the warrior according to Pickett[853] was "larger than the ordinary race of Europeans, often above 6 ft. in height, but was invariably well formed, erect in his carriage, and graceful in every movement. They were proud, haughty and arrogant, brave and valiant in war." As a people they were more than usually devoted to decoration and ornament; they were fond of music and ball play was their most important game. Each Creek town had its independent government, under an elected chief who was advised by the council of the town in all important matters. Certain towns were consecrated to peace ceremonies and were known as "white towns," while others, set apart for war ceremonials, were known as "red towns." The solemn annual festival of the Creeks was the "busk" or puskita, a rejoicing over the first-fruits of the year. Each town celebrated its busk whenever the crops had come to maturity. All the worn-out clothes, household furniture, pots and pans and refuse, grain and other provisions were gathered together into a heap and consumed. After a fast, all the fires in the town were extinguished and a priest kindled a new fire from which were made all the fires in the town. A general amnesty was proclaimed, all malefactors might return to their towns and their offences were forgiven. Indeed the new fire meant the new life, physical and moral, which had to begin with the new year[854].

The Yuchi.

The Yuchi houses are grouped round a square plot of ground which is held as sacred, and here the religious ceremonies and social gatherings take place. On the edges stand four ceremonial lodges, in conformity with the four cardinal points, in which the different clan groups have assigned places. The square ground symbolises the rainbow, where in the sky-world, Sun, the mythical culture-hero, underwent the ceremonial ordeals which he handed down to the first Yuchi. The Sun, as chief of the sky-world, author of the life, the ceremonies and the culture of the people, is by far the most important figure in their religious life. Various animals in the sky-world and vegetation spirits are recognised, besides the totemic ancestral spirits, who play an important part.

According to Speck[855] "the members of each clan believe that they are relatives and, in some vague way, the descendants of certain pre-existing animals whose names and identity they now bear. The animal ancestors are accordingly totemic. In regard to the living animals, they, too, are the earthly types and descendants of the pre-existing ones, hence, since they trace their descent from the same sources as the human clans, the two are consanguinely related." Thus the members of a clan feel obliged not to do violence to the wild animals having the form or name of their tutelaries, though the flesh and fur may be obtained from the members of other clans who are under no such obligations. The different individuals of the clan inherit the protection of the clan totems at the initiatory rites, and thenceforth retain them as their protectors through life.

Public religious worship centres in the complex annual ceremony connected with the corn harvest and includes the making of new fire, clan dances impersonating totemic ancestors, dances to propitiate maleficent spirits and acknowledge the assistance of beneficent ones in the hope of a continuance of their benefits, scarification of the males for sacrifice and purification, taking an emetic as a purifier, the partaking of the first green corn of the season, and the performance of a characteristic ball game with two sticks.

Mound Builders.

The middle and lower portions of the Mississippi valley with out-lying territories exhibit archaeological evidence of a remarkable culture, higher than that of any other area north of Mexico. This culture was characterised by "well established sedentary life, extensive practice of agricultural pursuits, and construction of permanent works—domiciliary, religious, civic, defensive and mortuary, of great magnitude and much diversity of form." The people, some, if not all of whom were mound-builders, were of numerous linguistic stocks, Siouan, Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskhogean, Tunican, Chitimachan, Caddoan and others, and "these historic peoples, remnants of which are still found within the area, were doubtless preceded by other groups not of a distinct race but probably of the same or related linguistic families. This view, in recent years, has gradually taken the place of the early assumption that the mound culture belonged to a people of high cultural attainments who had been succeeded by Indian tribes. That mound building continued down to the period of European occupancy is a well established fact, and many of the burial mounds contain as original inclusions articles of European make[856]."

These general conclusions are in no way opposed to De Nadaillac's suggestion that the mounds were certainly the work of Indians, but of more civilised tribes than the present Algonquians, by whom they were driven south to Florida, and there found with their towns, council-houses, and other structures by the first white settlers[857]. It would appear, however, from F. H. Cushing's investigations, that these tribal council-houses of the Seminole Indians were a local development, growing up on the spot under conditions quite different from those prevailing in the north. Many of the vast shell-mounds, especially between Tampa and Cape Sable, are clearly of artificial structure, that is, made with definite purpose, and carried up symmetrically into large mounds comparable in dimensions with the Indian mounds of the interior. They originated with pile dwellings in shallow water, where the kitchen refuse, chiefly shells, accumulates and rises above the surface, when the building appears to stand on posts in a low mound. Then this type of structure comes to be regarded as the normal for house-building everywhere. "Through this natural series of changes in type there is a tendency to the development of mounds as sites for habitations and for the council-house of the clan or tribe, the sites being either separate mounds or single large mounds, according to circumstances. Thus the study of the living Seminole Indians and of the shell-mounds in the same vicinity ... suggests a possible origin for a custom of mound-building at one time so prevalent among the North American Indians[858]." But if this be the genesis of such structures, the custom must have spread from the shores of the Gulf inland, and not from the Ohio valley southwards to Florida.

South-western Area: Material Culture.

IX. South-western Area. On account of its highly developed state and its prehistoric antecedents, the Pueblo culture appears as the type, though this is by no means uniform in the different villages. Three geographical groups may be recognised, the Hopi[859], the Zuñi[860] and the Rio Grande[861].

The culture of the whole may be characterised by: main dependence upon maize and other cultivated foods (men doing the cultivating and cloth-weaving instead of women); use of a grinding stone instead of a mortar; the art of masonry; loom or upward weaving; cultivated cotton as a textile material; pottery decorated in colour; unique style of building and the domestication of the turkey. Though the main dependence was on vegetable food there was some hunting; the eastern villages hunted bison and deer, especially Taos. Drives of rabbits and antelopes were practised, the unique hunting weapon being the curved rabbit stick. Woven robes were usual. Men wore aprons and a robe when needed. Women wore a garment reaching from shoulder to knee fastened on the right shoulder only. In addition to cloth robes some were woven of rabbit-skin and some netted with turkey feathers. Hard-soled moccasins were worn, those for women having long strips of deerskin wound round the leg. Pottery was highly developed, not only for practical use. Basketry was known but not so highly developed as among the non-Pueblo tribes. The dog was not used for transportation and there were no boats. Work in stone and wood not superior to that of other areas; some work in turquoise, but none in metal.

Transitional or Intermediate Tribes.

Many tribes appear to be transitional to the Pueblo type. Thus the Pima once lived in adobe houses, though not of Pueblo type, they developed irrigation but also made extensive use of wild plants, raised cotton, wove cloth, were indifferent potters but experts in basketry. The Mohave, Yuma, Cocopa, Maricopa and Yavapai built a square flat-roofed house of wood, had no irrigation, were not good basket-makers (except the Yavapai) but otherwise resembled the Pima. The Walapai and Havasupai were somewhat more nomadic.

The Athapascan tribes to the east show intermediate cultures. The Jicarilla and Mescalero used the Plains tipi, gathered wild vegetable food, hunted bison, had no agriculture or weaving, but dressed in skins, and had the glass-bead technique of the Plains. The western Apache differed little from these, but rarely used tipis and gave a little more attention to agriculture. In general the Apache have certain undoubted Pueblo traits, they also remind one of the Plains, the Plateaus, and, in a lean-to like shelter, of the Mackenzie area. The Navaho seem to have taken their most striking features from European influence, but their shelter is of the northern type, while costume, pottery and feeble attempts at basketry and formerly at agriculture suggest Pueblo influence[862].

The Pueblos.

Pueblo culture takes its name from the towns or villages of stone or adobe houses which form the characteristic feature of the area. These vary according to the locality, those in the north being generally of sandstone, while adobe or sun-dried brick was employed to the south. The groups of dwellings were generally compact structures of several stories, with many small rooms, built in terrace fashion, the roof of one storey forming a promenade for the storey next above. Thus from the front the structure is like a gigantic staircase, from the back a perpendicular wall. The upper houses were and still are reached by means of movable ladders and a hatchway in the roof. Mainly in the north but scattered throughout the area are the remains of dwellings built in natural recesses of cliffs, while in some places the cliff face is honeycombed with masonry to provide habitations.

Cliff Dwellings.

Although doubtless designed for purposes of hiding and defence, many of the cliff houses were near streams and fields and were occupied because they afforded shelter and were natural dwelling places; many were storage places for maize and other property: others again were places for outlook from which the fields could be watched or the approach of strangers observed. In some districts evidence of post-Spanish occupancy exists. From intensive investigation of the cliff dwellings it is evident that the inhabitants had the same material culture as that of existing Pueblo Indians, and from the ceremonial objects which have been discovered and the symbolic decoration that was employed it is equally clear that their religion was essentially similar. Moreover the various types of skulls that have been recovered are similar to those of the present population of the district. It may therefore be safely said that there is no evidence of the former general occupancy of the region by peoples other than those now classed as Pueblo Indians or their neighbours.

J. W. Fewkes points out that the district is one of arid plateaus, separated and dissected by deep cañons, frequently composed of flat-lying rock strata forming ledge-marked cliffs by the erosive action of the rare storms. "Only along the few streams heading in the mountains does permanent water exist, and along the cliff lines slabs of rock suitable for building abound; and the primitive ancients, dependent as they were on environment, naturally produced the cliff dwellings. The tendency toward this type was strengthened by intertribal relations; the cliff dwellers were probably descended from agricultural or semi-agricultural villagers who sought protection against enemies, and the control of land and water through aggregation in communities.... Locally the ancient villages of Canyon de Chelly are known as Aztec ruins, and this designation is just so far as it implies relationship with the aborigines of moderately advanced culture in Mexico and Central America, though it would be misleading if regarded as indicating essential difference between the ancient villagers and their modern descendants and neighbours still occupying the pueblos[863]."

Religion.

Each pueblo contains at least one kiva, either wholly or partly underground, entered by means of a ladder and hatchway, forming a sacred chamber for the transaction of civil or religious affairs, and also a club for the men. In some villages each totemic clan has its own kiva. The Indians are eminently a religious people and much time is devoted to complicated rites to ensure a supply of rain, their main concern, and the growth of crops. Among the Hopi from four to sixteen days in every month are employed by one society or another in the carrying out of religious rites. The secret portions of these complicated ceremonies take place in the kiva, while the so-called "dances" are performed in the open.

The clan ancestors may be impersonated by masked men, called katcinas, the name being also applied to the religious dramas in which they appear[864].

Snake Dances.

In reference to J. Walter Fewkes' account of the "Tusayan Snake Ceremonies," it is pointed out that "the Pueblo Indians adore a plurality of deities, to which various potencies are ascribed. These zoic deities, or beast gods, are worshipped by means of ceremonies which are sometimes highly elaborate; and, so far as practicable, the mystic zoic potency is represented in the ceremony by a living animal of similar species or by an artificial symbol. Prominent among the animate representatives of the zoic pantheon throughout the arid region is the serpent, especially the venomous and hence mysteriously potent rattlesnake. To the primitive mind there is intimate association, too, between the swift-striking and deadly viper and the lightning, with its attendant rain and thunder; there is intimate association, too, between the moisture-loving reptile of the subdeserts and the life-giving storms and freshets; and so the native rattlesnake plays an important rôle in the ceremonies, especially in the invocations for rain, which characterize the entire arid region[865]."

Fewkes pursues the same fruitful line of thought in his monograph on The Feather Symbol in Ancient Hopi Designs[866], showing how amongst the Tusayan Pueblos, although they have left no written records, there survives an elaborate paleography, the feather motif in the pottery found in the old ruins, which is in fact "a picture writing often highly symbolic and complicated," revealing certain phases of Hopi thought in remote times. "Thus we come back to a belief, taught by other reasoning, that ornamentation of ancient pottery was something higher than simple effort to beautify ceramic wares. The ruling motive was a religious one, for in their system everything was under the same sway. Esthetic and religious feelings were not differentiated, the one implied the other, and to elaborately decorate a vessel without introducing a religious symbol was to the ancient potter an impossibility[867]."

Physical Type.

Social Life.

Physically the Pueblo Indians are of short stature, with long, low head, delicate face and dark skin. They are muscular and of great endurance, able to carry heavy burdens up steep and difficult trails, and to walk or even run great distances. It is said to be no uncommon thing for a Hopi to run 40 miles over a burning desert to his cornfield, hoe his corn, and return home within 24 hours. Distances of 140 miles are frequently made within 36 hours[868]. In disposition they are mild and peaceable, industrious, and extraordinarily conservative, a trait shown in the fidelity with which they retain and perpetuate their ancient customs[869]. Labour is more evenly divided than among most Indian tribes. The men help the women with the heavier work of house-building, they collect the fuel, weave blankets and make moccasins, occupations usually regarded as women's work. The women carry the water, and make the pottery for which the region is famous[870].

A. L. Kroeber has made a careful study of Zuñi sociology[871] and come to the conclusion that the family is fundamental and the clan secondary, though kinship terms are applied to clan mates in a random fashion, and even the true kinship terms are applied loosely. In view of the obvious preëminence of the woman, who receives the husband into her and her mother's house, it is worthy of note that she and her children recognise her husband's relatives as their kin as fully as he adopts hers. The Zuñi are not a woman-ruled people. As regards government, women neither claim nor have any voice whatever, nor are there women priests, nor fraternity officers. Even within the house, so long as a man is a legitimate inmate thereof, he is master of it and of its affairs. They are a monogamous people. Divorce is more easy than marriage, and most men and women of middle age have been married to several partners. Marriage in the mother's clan is forbidden; in the father's clan, disapproved. The phratries have no social significance, there is no central clan house, no recognised head, no meeting, council or any organisation, nor does the clan as such ever act as a body. The clans have little connection with the religious societies or fraternities. There are no totemic tabus nor is there worship of the clan totem. People are reckoned as belonging to the father's clan almost as much as to that of the mother. If one of the family of a person who belongs to a fraternity falls sick the fraternity is called in to cure the patient, who is subsequently received into its ranks. The Zuñi fraternity is largely a body of religious physicians, membership is voluntary and not limited by sex. At Hopi we hear of rain-making more than of doctoring, more of "priests" than of "theurgists." The religious functions of the Zuñi are most marked in the ceremonies of the Ko-tikkyanne, the "god-society" or "masked-dancer society," and it is with these that the kivas are associated. They are almost wholly concerned with rain. Only men can become members and entrance is compulsory. Kroeber believes that "the truest understanding of Zuñi life, other than its purely practical manifestation, can be had by setting the ettowe ['fetish'] as a centre. Around these, priesthoods, fraternities, clan organisation, as well as most esoteric thinking and sacred tradition, group themselves; while, in turn, kivas, dances, and acts of public worship can be construed as but the outward means of expression of the inner activities that radiate around the nucleus of the physical fetishes and the ideas attached to them[872]."

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