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Title: Strange Peoples - Ethno-Geographic Reader, No. 1
Author: Starr, Frederick
Language: English
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[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN (RATZEL).]
Ethno-Geographic Reader, No. 1
STRANGE PEOPLES
BY
FREDERICK STARR
BOSTON, U.S.A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1901
Ethno-Geographic Readers.
BY FREDERICK STARR.
No. 1. STRANGE PEOPLES. 40 CENTS.
No. 2. AMERICAN INDIANS. 45 CENTS.
No. 3. HOW MEN DO. IN PREPARATION.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1901,
BY FREDERICK STARR.
Plimpton Press
H. M. Plimpton & CO., PRINTERS & BINDERS
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.
THIS BOOK
STRANGE PEOPLES
IS DEDICATED TO
WILLIAM FOSTER YOUNG
PREFACE.
The author claims no originality for the matter of this book for young
readers on _Strange Peoples_. He has culled material where he could. His
aim has been to present a series of sketches which may render the maps
in the geography more interesting and give school children a broader and
deeper sympathy with other races and peoples. Indebted to many books, he
has been under constant obligations to Verneau’s _Les Races Humaines_
and Ratzel’s _Völkerkunde_. Other books which have been helpful will be
found listed at the close of this volume.
At first the author planned to use only original or new illustrations.
It has been, however, impossible to carry out this plan. Less than one
fourth of the pictures are really new; it is believed, however, that all
are authentic and will prove instructive.
It would have been easy to make the book more interesting by the
introduction of descriptions, more detailed, of the ridiculous or
dreadful practices of some races. The purpose has, however, not been to
hold other peoples up to ridicule nor to teach morality by contrast;
there are, indeed, too many matters for criticism in our own mode of
life to warrant such a treatment. Nor would it be possible in a book for
children to present that full discussion which might be expected in a
treatise on ethnology for students. The book makes no pretence to
systematic treatment; only a few people are taken, here and there,
almost at haphazard, to illustrate the marvellous richness of the field
for study which, even now, is presented by the _Strange Peoples_ of the
globe.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA: ESKIMO 6
III. WILD INDIANS 13
IV. MEXICANS 17
V. SOUTH AMERICAN PEOPLES 26
VI. THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE: FAIR WHITES 33
VII. DARK WHITES 38
VIII. BASQUES 43
IX. FINNS 47
X. LAPPS 53
XI. TURKS 60
XII. THE PEOPLES OF ASIA 65
XIII. CHINESE 69
XIV. COREANS 76
XV. TIBETANS 81
XVI. JAPANESE 88
XVII. AINU 95
XVIII. HINDUS 101
XIX. TODAS 107
XX. ANDAMANESE: MINCOPIES 112
XXI. ARABS 118
XXII. THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA: KABYLES 123
XXIII. NEGROES 128
XXIV. NEGROIDS 134
XXV. PYGMIES 138
XXVI. BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS 143
XXVII. MALAYS 150
XXVIII. THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES 156
XXIX. MELANESIANS 163
XXX. POLYNESIANS 172
XXXI. CONCLUSION 180
LIST OF REFERENCE BOOKS 185
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Australian (Ratzel) _Frontispiece_
PAGE
1. Group of Greenland Eskimo. (Nansen.) 9
2. A Greenland Eskimo Fishing. (Nansen.) 11
3. Victorio—an Apache Warrior. (Lummis.) 14
4. Mexican Ox-cart. (From photograph.) 21
5. Mexican Water-carrier. (From photograph.) 22
6. Otomi Indian Girls, Mexico. (From photograph.) 24
7. Peruvian Antiquities. (Ratzel.) 27
8. Botocudo Indian with Lip-plug. (Tylor.) 31
9. Fish-girl of Scheveningen, Holland. (From photograph.) 35
10. Boats made from Shoes, Holland. (From drawing by Haité.) 36
11. Italian Child. (Miln.) 39
12. Basque Cart. (Verneau.) 46
13. Finns Singing. (Verneau.) 51
14. A Group of Lapps. (Verneau.) 54
15. Laplander on Snow-runners. (Verneau.) 57
16. Caravan preparing to start: Asiatic Turks. (Verneau.) 62
17. Chinese Mandarin. (Ratzel.) 71
18. Chinese Boy choosing Toys. (Doolittle.) 73
19. Corean Hat. (Lowell.) 78
20. Tibetan Lamas blowing on Shells. (Verneau.) 84
21. Mongols choosing a Lama. (Huc.) 86
22. Japanese Girl with Baby. (Arnold.) 89
23. Boys’ Festival: Japan. (Bramhall.) 92
24. Ainu—a Hairy Specimen. (Batchelor.) 96
25. Ainu Women, showing Tattooing. (From a photograph.) 97
26. Hindu Dancing girls and Musicians. (Verneau.) 103
27. Hindu Snake Charmers. (Brehm.) 105
28. Group of Todas. (Verneau.) 111
29. Andaman Mincopies. (Tylor.) 116
30. Camel and Palanquin. (From a photograph.) 120
31. Group of Kabyles: Algeria. (From a photograph.) 125
32. Making Couscous in the Desert. (From a photograph.) 127
33. Negro Smiths at Work. (Ratzel.) 131
34. Waganda Musicians. (Ratzel.) 137
35. Huts of Ashango-land Dwarfs. (Du Chaillu.) 140
36. Gora-player: Bushman. (Ratzel.) 145
37. Bushman Rock Picture. (Ratzel.) 147
38. Hottentot Kraal. (Ratzel.) 149
39. Malay Family: Java. (Verneau.) 152
40. Buffalo Cart: Java. (Ratzel.) 154
41. Krises: Java. (Ratzel.) 155
42. Philippine Negrito. (Meyer.) 158
43. Houses of Igorrotes. (Meyer.) 160
44. Head-hunting Party: Igorrotes. (Meyer.) 162
45. Fijian. (Ratzel.) 165
46. Pile-dwelling Village: New Guinea. (Ratzel.) 167
47. Canoe: New Guinea. (Ratzel.) 168
48. Tattooed New Zealander. (Verneau.) 173
49. Helmets and Idol-heads of Feathers: Hawaii. (Ratzel.) 175
50. Kingsmill Islander. (Tylor.) 179
[Illustration: MAP OF THE WORLD SHOWING LOCATION OF THE STRANGE PEOPLES
DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK]
STRANGE PEOPLES.
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
We are to read about some of the _Strange Peoples_ of the world. We
shall find many curious customs. There is an old saying,—
“Many men of many minds;
Many birds of many kinds;
Many fishes in the sea;
Many men who don’t agree.”
Peoples differ in so many ways. There are tall Patagonians and short
Bushmen. There are white peoples, and black, yellow, and brown peoples.
There are peoples whose bodies are so covered with hair as almost to be
called furry, and there are peoples whose faces even are hairless except
for eyebrows and eyelashes. There are lively peoples and there are
sluggish peoples; gay peoples and sad ones. Negroes do not think and
feel like white men, and the Chinaman thinks and feels differently from
either. All peoples have their own customs. When we speak of other
peoples as _Strange Peoples_, we must never forget that we are as
_strange_ to them as they are to us. We think it curious that the
Chinese dwarf, by bandaging, the feet of their women; they think it
strange that we do _not_. To us the Chinese face seems much too flat;
the Chinese think ours are like the face of an eagle and that they are
harsh and cruel. We think the flat, wide nose of the negro is ugly;
negroes think it far handsomer than ours. So we will remember that all
these peoples are “strange” only because they are _unlike_ us: that we
ourselves are just as strange as they are. They have as much right to
their ideas and customs as we have to ours: often indeed we might find
theirs better than our own.
We begin with North America. We then pass to South America; then to
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands in order. We shall find
that the different peoples of the world are not scattered haphazard; on
the contrary, they are quite regularly distributed by types. Thus until
lately the peoples living in America were all Indians, with red-brown
skin, straight and coarse black hair, and high and wide cheek bones.
Europe and Northern Africa (which really belongs rather to Europe than
Africa) form the land of the white peoples. South Africa—Africa
proper—is the home of negroes and negroids, with dark brown, almost
black, skin, narrow heads and faces, and woolly hair. The proper
population of Asia is yellow peoples, with round heads, slant eyes, and
straight, long, black hair. In Australia are brown peoples with curly or
bushy hair. In Oceanica are several well-marked types—the little brown
Malays, the dark, almost black, Melanesians with crinkly hair, and the
tall, well-built, fine-featured, light Polynesians. This is, in general,
the distribution of the human races. But there has been much movement.
There are now both white and blacks in America; the English whites have
crowded in upon the natives of Australia; in Asia there are white
peoples, like the Ainu and Todas, who have certainly lived there a long
time.
The different peoples are unlike in their culture. Some peoples live on
wild food, having no cultivated plants or domestic animals. They hunt
animals and catch fish; they search for birds’ eggs and honey; they grub
up roots and gather barks, leaves, fruits, seeds, and nuts for food. To
such tribes, who usually wander in little bands from place to place, the
name savage is given. The word does not mean that they are fierce and
cruel in disposition; most savage tribes, to-day living, are neither.
The Eskimo and Mincopies are savages, but they are quite kind and
gentle. When peoples settle down to cultivate the soil and build homes,
or when they raise herds of animals with which they move from time to
time for new pastures, their life is easier. To such peoples—so long as
they do _not_ know how to work iron by smelting, to write by means of
characters that represent sounds, and to make animals assist them in
tilling the ground—the name barbarian is applied. When any peoples have
learned these three great helps, they are called civilized. There are
then three great stages of culture,—savagery, barbarism, and
civilization. The Eskimo is in savagery; the American Indians are mostly
in barbarism; the Chinese are in civilization.
The way in which the life of peoples is affected by the lands in which
they live is most interesting. The Eskimo live in the cold north; there
is little wood there for construction; fuels such as are used elsewhere
are rare; no fibre-yielding plants grow there. Yet the Eskimo has made
full use of what nature gives him. He builds his house, when necessary,
of the snow itself, heats it with animal fats and oils, clothes himself
in excellent garments of skins, knows the ways of all the animals and
birds around him for their destruction, and has invented an ideal
hunter’s boat and devised a beautiful series of weapons and tools. The
way in which he has fitted himself to the place in which he lives is
wonderful. The world over we notice the same thing: man everywhere
ransacks his home-land to find out what is useful and turns it to his
needs.
Often where two different peoples live in the same district marriage
takes place between them, and mixed types arise. Where one people has
long occupied a country alone the type is very well-marked, and all look
alike. Thus in the Andaman Islands, the little Mincopies look so much
alike that a person needs to know them well to tell them apart. We,
ourselves, are a great mixture. Even in one family there may be tall and
short, light and dark, blue-eyed or brown-eyed persons. Such differences
are only found where there has been much mixing between different
peoples. In Mexico, once purely Indian, there has been since the coming
of the Spaniards much mixture, and to-day a large part of the population
is of a new type—part Indian, part Spanish. The people range in color
from almost white to dark brown according to the amount of Spanish or
Indian blood each has.
II.
THE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA: ESKIMO.
For the larger part, North America is now occupied by populations of our
own kind. The greater part of the people of Canada is of French or
English descent; the people of our own country are mainly Europeans or
of European descent. There are of course many negroes, especially in the
South, who have descended from African slaves. There are also some
Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Malays, and others. Formerly the United
States and Canada were occupied by Indians, but now there are few left,
who mostly live upon reservations. South of the United States lie Mexico
and Central America. They, too, were Indian lands when first visited by
white men. In Northern Mexico a new, mixed population live; Southern
Mexico is yet quite purely Indian. In Central America we find the mixed
Spanish-Indian in some districts, and pure Indians in others. In the
northmost part of the continent live the Eskimo. We shall speak about
the Eskimo, wild Indians, and Mexicans.
The home-land of the Eskimo is dreary. They live in Labrador, Greenland,
and the Arctic country stretching from Greenland west to Northern
Alaska. Generally, it is a land of snow and ice, where it is impossible
to raise even the most hardy plants. The people are forced to live
chiefly on animal food. Not only is the weather usually cold, but for a
large part of the year the Eskimo do not see the sun, and for the rest
of it they see the sun all the time. In some districts the swarms of
mosquitoes in the warmer part of the year are a great trouble. There are
few trees, and those are stunted; wood is precious, and drift wood is
carefully gathered to make into tools and weapons. But notwithstanding
his dreary home the Eskimo are rarely ugly and ill tempered.
They are little people with yellowish brown skin. Some Greenlanders are
of fair stature. Their faces are broad and round, with coarse features.
The eyes are small, dark, and often oblique, like the Chinese; the nose
is narrow at the root, but fat; the cheeks are round and full; the mouth
is big, with good, strong teeth. Eskimo are usually filthy and appear
much darker than they really are.
The clothing is generally made of skins with the hair left on. Men and
women dress much alike. Trousers are worn by both: a shirt or jacket
with a hood attached is much used. That worn by men is often made of
bird skins, and the feather side is worn next the body. The lower part
of the legs and the feet are encased in _kamiks_, skin socks and boots.
The little babies are carried naked in a great pouch at the back of
their outer jacket. This pouch makes a fine nest for the little
creatures, as it is lined with soft sealskin or reindeer skin.
Formerly—and perhaps sometimes now—the Eskimo mothers used to wash their
babies by licking them with their tongues.
In Greenland the Eskimo houses are usually built of stones and earth.
They are partly below ground, and only the upper part shows outside,
like a mound of dirt. To enter the house one crawls through a long and
narrow passage, also built of stones and earth, and which is also partly
below ground. The house is not large, and consists of one room. It is
lined with skins. Wide benches around the sides, covered with skins and
moss, serve as beds. Several families live crowded together in one
house. One house in East Greenland, measuring twenty-seven by fifteen
feet, contained eight families,—thirty-eight persons. The houses are so
low that a tall man cannot stand upright in one. Until lately the only
heating was by stone lamps. These were flat and hardly deeper than a
plate: oil was burned in them. They were kept burning day and night, and
above them were racks of poles on which wet clothing was dried. In the
middle part of the Eskimo land they build the quaint round-topped huts
made of blocks of snow, of which you have often seen pictures.
[Illustration: GROUP OF GREENLAND ESKIMO (NANSEN).]
The Eskimo eat the flesh of seals, whales, birds, hares, bears, dogs,
foxes, and deer. In that cold country they like _fat_ meat. Sometimes
meat and fish are eaten raw, but they may be boiled or fried. Fresh, raw
blubber is much loved. The skin of whales, seals, and halibut is
favorite food. Travellers tell astonishing stories of the quantities of
candles and oil that Eskimo eat and drink when they are supplied to
them. The supply of plant food is small: stalks of angelica, dandelion,
sorrel, berries, and seaweed are used.
The man’s great business is hunting. He has studied the habits of the
bear, deer, seal, and walrus, and has learned just how to capture or
kill them. He has invented many curious darts, harpoons, spears, bolas,
etc. The bird spears have several points projecting in different
directions from the shaft, so that if one misses, another may strike, or
several birds may be impaled at once. The bolas consists of several
pebbles attached to cords, which are knotted together at the end. These
are set to whirling and then hurled through the air at birds to entangle
them. The point of the harpoon separates from the shaft when an animal
is struck; it remains in the game while the shaft floats on the water;
the point is connected by a line to a bladder, which, floating, shows
where the animal goes, and helps to tire him out. In hurling harpoons
and darts the Eskimo uses a spear-throwing stick which enables him to
send them with more force and directness than by his hand alone.
[Illustration: A GREENLAND ESKIMO FISHING (NANSEN).]
Much of his hunting is done from his canoe or _kayak_. This is narrow,
sharp-pointed at both ends, and light. It consists of a slight framework
over which skins are tightly stretched. The opening above is but large
enough for him to get his legs and body through. When he has crept in,
he ties a collar of skin, that surrounds the opening, about his body,
below his arms, to prevent the water dashing into the _kayak_, and
paddles away. His different weapons are all fastened in their proper
places on top of the canoe, where he can seize them when wanted. The
Eskimo are wonderful boatmen and drive their _kayaks_ over the waves
like seabirds. If they tip over, they easily right themselves.
Formerly the Greenland Eskimo made long summer trips along the coast.
The clumsy, great, woman’s boat was brought out. The oldest man, the
women, children, and baggage went in it. The younger men went in their
_kayaks_. In the big boat the women rowed while the old man steered.
They often went fifty miles a day. At good spots they landed and built a
tent of thin skins. They loved these summer journeys as our boys love
their camping trips.
III.
WILD INDIANS.
There are no really wild Indians left in the United States. Formerly
there were many tribes of them, but some have disappeared, and others
have lost their old-time spirit. To-day our Indians live idly on the
reservations or work their little farms with fair industry. Sometimes a
tribe, roused by new wrongs inflicted on it by the white man, takes the
war-path; sometimes some religious idea goes from tribe to tribe
creating great excitement, like the Ghost Dance. But such outbreaks and
excitements are less and less common.
Mr. Lummis has written of the Apache warrior and described the war led
by Geronimo. It was a daring thing. There was but a handful of the
Indians. “Thirty-four men, eight well-grown boys, ninety-two women and
children”—that was all. Only forty-two who could be called fighters. On
May 17, 1885, the little band broke forth from their reservation and
headed for Mexico. It took the United States a year and a half of
useless trouble and expense to pursue them. Time after time, when it
seemed certain that the Indians were trapped, they vanished. They never
stood for a pitched battle. But anywhere, concealed behind rocks or
hidden in brush, they picked off the soldiers sent to capture them. The
forces of the United States and Mexico were both kept constantly upon
the move. When a year had passed about sixty of the Indians returned
home. Twenty warriors, with fourteen women, kept up the battle, when
they too went home. During the year and a half of fighting more than
four hundred whites and Mexicans were killed; only two of the Indian
band were destroyed. During that time Arizona and New Mexico and all the
northern part of Mexico were kept in constant terror. These Apaches were
truly “wild Indians.”
[Illustration: VICTORIO, AN APACHE WARRIOR (LUMMIS).]
The Navajo are _not_ wild Indians though they are related to the Apaches
and were formerly bold fighters. They live near the settled Pueblos and
have learned from them many things. They are a prosperous tribe,
numbering fully ten thousand. They are well-to-do, having nine thousand
cattle, one hundred and nineteen thousand horses, and one million six
hundred thousand sheep and goats. They dress well in their own way and
wear many ornaments.
A Navajo house is a simple affair. It consists of sticks or poles
stacked up so as to meet in a point above; they are then covered over
with bark, weeds, or earth, a hole being left for an entrance and one at
the top for smoke escape: an old blanket hung over the entrance hole
serves as a door. Near this hut there is often a little shelter of
boughs where the family spend most of their time on fine days. The
Navajo also build sweat houses for vapor baths. These are like the
regular hut, but have no smoke hole, and are thickly covered over with
earth. Stones are heated in a fire outside and carried into the sweat
house between sticks; water is dashed over them, and in the steam thus
made the bather sits.
The Navajo are good workers in silver and are all the time improving in
their art. They make spherical beads, bracelets, and rings of several
sorts, breast ornaments, decorations for harness and bridle, and many
other things out of coins or other silver furnished them. The Navajo
excel as weavers of blankets, though they use extremely simple looms.
The yarn is home-spun from wool taken off their own flocks; they do,
however, buy some yarn ready-made from the white man. Formerly they dyed
their yarn with dyes taken from various plants or colored earths, but
now they mostly use white men’s dyes. Their blankets are firm and
closely woven and shed water finely. They are woven in bright patterns.
All the Indians who live near the Navajo like their blankets and pay
good prices for them. The Navajo greatly like turquoise beads, but they
do not find turquoise on their reservation. For these beads and
ornaments they trade their fine blankets, and silverware, and good
ponies with the Pueblo Indians who live near the mines of this handsome
greenstone.
The Navajo are great singers and have many songs; but it is the men who
sing and not the women. They have also many interesting stories and
curious customs, but we cannot stop to tell about them. The Apaches and
Navajo are but two tribes out of the hundreds of American Indian tribes.
In another book, _American Indians_, you may read about their manners
and customs, their songs and music, their stories and worship.
IV.
MEXICANS.
Though Mexico is our next-door neighbor, life and customs are greatly
different there from our own. Three different peoples make up the
population. First, are the pure-blood Spaniards, who have been born in
the country; second, there are the _Mestizos_, mixed people, partly
Indian, partly Spanish; third, are the pure Indians, who now form about
five-twelfths of the whole population. From the City of Mexico northward
the land belongs chiefly to the mestizos; from the City of Mexico
southward Indians prevail.
We will say nothing of the Spaniards nor of the wealthy mestizos, both
of whom are like European whites generally in their life. But the poorer
mestizos in the cities and towns and the country people generally are
interesting. The dress of the country gentleman was brilliant. It was of
broadcloth or soft-dressed leather, of a buff or brown color. The
little, close-fitting jacket, cut square at the waist, was supplied with
two lines of silver or steel buttons, and embroidered with patterns in
gilt or silver thread. The trousers fitted almost as a glove fits the
hands, and there was a double row of bright buttons up the sides of the
legs and a lacing of silver cord. The shoes, which were tan or buff,
were sharp-pointed. Unfortunately this handsome costume is not common
nowadays. All mestizos, rich and poor, still use the _serape_, which is
a long and narrow blanket, usually of handsome, bright colors. In
putting it on, one corner is held with the hand at the left shoulder,
while the blanket is passed behind the back and around the body in
front; the free end is then thrown over the left shoulder and hangs down
behind. It thus holds itself in place and needs no tying or pinning.
However poor a mestizo may be, he wants a fine hat or _sombrero_.
Mexican sombreros have high, pointed crowns, and wide brims. They are
made of palm or wool. Those of wool are of various colors—gray, brown,
black, sometimes red, blue, or green. They are of all prices. They are
decorated with bands of silver or gilt tinsel, and true silver ornaments
are made in many forms for fastening to them; a fine sombrero, well made
and well decorated, may weigh several pounds and cost _many_ dollars.
The Mexicans are highly polite in manner. This is partly the result of
Spanish training, but is also partly due to the old Indian fondness for
ceremony. The movements of the hands and fingers by which they greet
each other are graceful and pretty. Friends, meeting each other, warmly
embrace. If a boy is spoken to by a gentleman he politely removes his
hat and holds it while he is being addressed and while he answers.
Should a stranger ask a little Mexican his name, with his hat off the
boy would reply, giving his name and adding, “_Servidor de usted,
señor_”—“your servant, sir.”
The houses of poor Mexicans are miserable. The walls are usually built
of great sun-dried _adobe_ bricks; there is but one room and that is
small. There are no windows and but one door; the roof is flat and the
floor is of dirt or stone. Generally there is no bed and there may be no
table, and few if any chairs or stools. There are usually some rush mats
in the corner, which are spread out upon the floor at night for sleeping
on. There are always a _brasero_ and a _metate_. The brasero is a little
kettle-shaped earthenware stove, where food is cooked over a wee fire of
charcoal. The metate is the grinding-stone, on which the woman grinds
corn-meal.
The three common foods of the Mexican poor are corn-cakes, eggs, and
beans—_tortillas_, _huevos_, and _frijoles_. The corn after being well
soaked is ground on the stone; the woman, taking the lump of wet dough,
throws it back and forth from one hand to the other, turning it as she
does so around and around. In this way she shapes a flat, thin, round
cake which she bakes upon a round pottery griddle. The eggs are usually
fried, so are the black beans, a great deal of lard being used. Often
they use no knives, forks, or spoons in eating. The corn-cakes
themselves will be used in handling the eggs and in scooping up the
beans. After thus serving as a fork and a spoon it will itself be eaten.
But rich people in Mexico have beautiful homes. The outside, on the
street, is quite plain. The house surrounds a square court or space
which is called a _patio_. Passing through a great doorway, one goes
from the street into the patio. All the rooms of the house open on the
patio, either directly or under pretty arched galleries or corridors.
The patio itself may be planted with trees and shrubs bearing sweet
flowers, and often there is a fountain at the centre, with goldfish in
the basin.
Cages of birds are hung around the patio, or under the corridors, and
the little captives delight with their brilliant colors or their sweet
songs. Every one in Mexico keeps birds as pets, and you may see, even in
the houses of the very poor, mocking-birds, doves, parrots, or clarins
with their clear, whistling note.
Wherever there are real _roads_ in Mexico, there you may see the quaint
old-fashioned ox-carts with wheels often made from solid blocks of wood
cut to shape. Two oxen are generally yoked to each, but when heavy loads
are to be dragged, four, six, or even more are used at once.
[Illustration: A MEXICAN OX-CART (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
[Illustration: MEXICAN WATER-CARRIER (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
In Central Mexico water is precious, and in the cities special men make
it a business to sell water from house to house. The water-carriers of
different towns greatly differ in the form and size of the jars they use
and in the mode of carrying them. In the city of Mexico, where they are
becoming an uncommon sight, the man carries two water-jars of metal, one
in front, one behind, hanging by straps from his shoulders and cap; in
Guadalajara a number of round pottery water-jars are set into a sort of
a frame mounted on a cart or barrow; in San Luis Potosi there are four
oval jars set into a wheelbarrow with an enormous wheel; in Guanajuato
they use great slender jars nearly as tall as the man himself, with a
ring of wood at the bottom to hold them when they are set on the ground.
In the centre of every Mexican city or town of any importance is the
_plaza_ or public square. Sometimes this is surrounded by handsome
buildings and laid out with care as a garden. Among orange trees laden
with sweet blossoms and golden fruit, rose bushes, banana trees, there
wind pleasant walks with benches in the shade, where rich or poor may
rest. Usually at the centre of the plaza there is a band-stand where on
certain evenings every week fine concerts are given.
The plaza is the pleasure-spot and gathering-place of all. To it flock
venders of all kinds, with cakes, candies, fruits, sugar-cane, peanuts,
toys, etc. Some of the wares are strange, and I am sure you could not
guess them. There goes a man with a lot of pretty colored balls like wee
toy balloons; they are red, white, blue, yellow; they are chewing-gum!
There is another man with a great crumpled sheet of some whitish brown
stuff; children flock to him with their coppers, and he cuts off pieces
which they walk away munching; it is fried pigskin!
[Illustration: OTOMI INDIAN GIRLS (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
Mexicans delight in holidays, and they celebrate a great many. The 2d of
November, the day of the dead, is a great day. For several days
beforehand thousands of strange toys have been offered for sale. Some
are skulls made of sugar or clay; there are skeletons of various sizes
and materials, corpses, funeral processions, grave monuments. These are
all called “deaths.” When the day of the dead comes children expect to
receive these strange presents. When they rise in the morning their
first cry is, “Papa, mamma, give me my death.” There is a great
excitement the day before Easter. All down the streets may be seen
figures of Judas hung up above the heads of the passers. In the big
cities there will be hundreds of them of all sizes and shapes. They are
made of cardboard and paper, and have fireworks inside. At a certain
hour they are all set on fire, and burn and explode at a great rate,
much to the delight of the boys and girls. But these are only two of
many occasions during each year to which little Mexicans look forward
with delight.
We have spoken only of the mestizos. The Indians are also interesting.
There are many tribes, all with their own customs, and many with their
old languages still in use. In the State of Oaxaca alone there are
fifteen languages still spoken. Among the many Mexican Indian tribes
perhaps the Aztecs, Otomis, Tarascans, Zapotecs, and Mayas are the best
known.
V.
SOUTH AMERICAN PEOPLES.
South America, like North America, was occupied by Indians at the time
of the discovery. The tribes differed in appearance, language, and
customs, but all were true American Indians. To be sure, some tribes
were dark, others light; some were tall, others short; some were true
savages, while others were almost civilized.
Probably the most advanced tribes lived along the Pacific border. In
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili many relics of ancient art
and many ruins of old buildings are found. Here and there east of the
mountains similar evidences of culture are found, but they are less
known. Best known of all are those of Peru.
The ancient Indians of Peru were industrious and hard workers. Their
rulers, the Incas, were called “the children of the sun.” The old
Peruvians had important towns and cities. They diligently cultivated
their fields and irrigated them by great systems of canals. They wove
capital cotton cloth, from which they made good clothing. Their cloth
was often decorated with pretty inwoven designs in colored threads. They
tamed and bred the llama, and trained it for a pack animal. They could
not write, but kept accounts by knotted cords called _quipus_.
Differently colored cords were used for different things, and knots of
varying sizes stood for varying numbers. Thus an owner of llamas might
use a white cord for males, a reddish cord for females, and a yellow
cord for young. A simple knot might stand for _one_, and larger knots
might mean _five_, _ten_, or _twenty_. In this way the herder might keep
exact account of his animals.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN ANTIQUITIES (RATZEL).]
The old Peruvians were great potters and thousands of their old water
vessels and food dishes, which were buried with the dead, have been dug
up. These had curious forms and were often adorned with colored
patterns. Some of these jars were shaped like human faces, human
figures, or animals. Sometimes they were “whistling jars,” which were so
made that they whistled when water was poured in or out of them. The old
Peruvians were skilled in working copper, silver, and gold, and made
many ornaments and figures in these metals.
They disposed of their dead carefully, and many of the dried bodies, or
“mummies” have been found in the ancient graves. The dead were folded
into a sitting position and bound; they were then wrapped about with
fine cloths. After the last wrapping was in place, it was painted, a
false face was marked on the cloth or placed over the proper place, and
imitation ear ornaments were hung at the sides of the head. Many objects
were buried with the dead,—vessels of food and drink, and the objects
they had used in life,—with a woman, cotton, spindle, and work-basket;
with a man, weapons and ornaments. The old Peruvians built fine public
buildings, and temples of stone and some ruins of such buildings still
remain.
After the discovery of America two nations chiefly gained possession of
South America—Spain and Portugal. Portugal secured what is now Brazil;
Spain gained almost all the rest. The Spaniard settled chiefly where the
native tribes had already been living a quiet and settled life. In those
districts, just as in Mexico, there was much mixture between the two
peoples, and to-day there is a large _mestizo_ population, whose mode of
life has been influenced by that of Spain. In Peru, Brazil, Chili, and
the Argentine Republic we find lands which are making progress, and in
whose beautiful cities are fine buildings, handsome parks, and artistic
statuary. It is a great mistake to think of any of the South American
countries as uncivilized.
Still, even in countries like Peru and Chili, centres of old and
interesting settled life, there are plenty of pure-blood Indians to-day.
These still keep up much of their old life and customs. And when,
instead of looking at the old culture centres, we examine the tribes
which were truly _wild_ at the time of the conquest, we find little
change. On the eastern slope of the Andes, in the valleys of those
streams which unite to form the Amazon, in the dense forests which
border that mighty river itself, are many truly savage tribes to-day—or,
when not savage, in low barbarism. Some of these tribes use the blow-gun
in hunting. This is a tube, eight or ten feet long, made from a cane or
bored out of wood. It is carefully straightened and smoothed on the
inside. The shaft of the little arrow used with this is slender and ends
in a sharp point; a tuft of cottony material, which just fits the bore
of the blow-gun, is wrapped about the upper end of the arrow and
fastened. When the arrow is placed in the blow-gun, this is raised to
the lips, and a sharp puff of air from the mouth sends the little weapon
on its way. These arrows go a long distance and with great force; as
they make no noise they are especially good for bird-hunting. The arrows
not only kill by their sharpness, but by poison, which is put on their
tips. Several of these Indian tribes know how to make deadly poisons,
chiefly from plants.
Many of these wild tribes delight in bright feathers. They make
necklaces, head-dresses, arm-rings, bracelets, leg-bands, aprons, and
capes from them. Not that a single tribe makes all of these many
ornaments; some will use the feathers in one way, others in another.
Among the tribes of Brazil, the Botocudo are famous for the ornaments
they wear in their lips and ears. These ornaments are mere disks or
plugs of wood, which are inserted in holes pierced in the ears and lower
lip. Some Botocudo lip plugs are three inches in diameter. Such a lip
ornament holds the lip out almost like a shelf.
[Illustration: BOTOCUDO INDIAN WITH LIP PLUG (TYLOR).]
In eastern Ecuador and on the eastern slope of the Andes, near the
Amazonian headwaters, are several tribes who cut off the heads of slain
enemies as trophies. Best known of these tribes are the Mundurucus and
Jivaros. The Mundurucus, after cutting off the heads, paint the faces,
comb the hair, add feather ornaments, and then so dry the head that it
retains its natural size and form. The heads that are kept by the
Jivaros are even more curious. After they have been cut off the bones of
the skull are removed piecemeal from below. The heads are then shrunken
by means of astringent fluids, smoke, and pressure, until they are no
larger than the fist. The features retain their form, but everything is
reduced in size. It is hard to believe, when seeing one of these, that
it could ever have been a full-sized human head. Believing that the
spirit of the dead man will curse them and thus harm them, the Jivaros
sew the lips of the trophy together with cords.
In Guiana some of the Indians make beautiful baskets of split cane. The
splints are sometimes stained black or brown, and thus pretty patterns
are woven in color. These patterns look like simple geometrical
designs—diamonds, meanders, etc.—but often they are really pictures of
snakes, monkeys, or human beings. These tribes use _cassava_ for making
bread. The roots or tubers, when first dug, are poisonous and unfit for
food. These are first grated on a board set with sharp bits of stone.
The shredded or grated pulp is then packed into a great tube of
basketwork closed at the bottom. This is hung to a beam and a pole is
passed through a loop at the lower end. By turning this pole the basket
tube is twisted, and the cassava pulp is squeezed so tightly that the
poisonous sap runs out, leaving the wholesome flour.
VI.
THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE: FAIR WHITES.
Europe is the continent of white peoples. While there are white peoples
in other continents, they are there as invaders. But even among the
whites of Europe itself there are differences. Most of the Northern
peoples, like the Swedes, Dutch, Russians, Germans, are light peoples,
with delicate skin, light hair, blue eyes, and rather long heads. They
are mostly tall in stature. The Southern peoples are dark—Spaniards,
Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, are all brunettes. They are shorter, more
slender, with dark skin, dark eyes, and black hair. In the region
between these two types of European whites there are peoples of medium
stature, rather stout, somewhat dark, with broad, round heads. Mr.
Ripley names these three kinds of Europeans—Teutonic, Mediterranean, and
Alpine peoples. We will speak simply of light whites and dark whites.
All the Europeans we have named speak languages that are much alike,
belonging to a group of languages to which the name Aryan is given.
There are, however, some peoples of Europe who do _not_ speak Aryan
languages. Such are the Basques, Finns, Lapps, and Turks.
All the fair whites are so like ourselves that it will hardly do to call
them _Strange Peoples_. Yet we would find many curious things even in
those who are most like ourselves, as the Hollanders. You know something
about little Holland? It is a low, flat country, and much of it was
formerly under the sea. The industrious Hollanders have built great
dikes or walls to keep the sea back, and, by pumping out the water,
reclaimed the land. A rich and fertile land it is, intersected by a
network of little canals. Everywhere you go in Holland you see
windmills. Because the country _is_ so low and flat, there are no rapid
streams to furnish water-power for mills, so they must use the wind. At
some places, like Zaandam, hundreds may be seen at once. With us
windmills are simply for pumping water, but in Holland they do many
kinds of work. Some are flouring mills, others are sawmills for cutting
timber, others run oil presses, etc.
[Illustration: FISH-GIRL OF SCHEVENINGEN, HOLLAND (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The fishing towns of Holland are interesting. Every traveller wants to
see Vollendam and Scheveningen and the hamlets on the Island of Marken.
The men and women in these towns are kind-hearted, simple people, who
are proud of their own village and think their own dress finer than that
of other towns. Each of these fishing villages has its characteristic
costume. The men of the Island of Marken wear a close-fitting jacket
which ends at the waist and great, baggy, knee pants. Marken women wear
round, white caps, fitting the head closely, with an open-work border,
and a bright waist, with striped sleeves, over the front of which is a
square of handsomely embroidered cloth. Little girls all through Holland
dress exactly like women. But for her child face you would take the
little girl from Scheveningen to be a grown person. She wears a dainty
white cap pinned on with two great round-headed pins. Her ample dress
quite reaches the ground; her white apron is neatly tied, and her purple
shawl, tightly wrapped about her shoulders, is demurely crossed, and the
ends are tucked under her apron strings. She wears the common wooden
shoes of the country. A crowd of boys running in such shoes over the
hard paved roads makes a great clattering. On Sunday the wooden shoes of
men and boys are usually fresh whitened; if their owners enter a house,
they leave the shoes outside the door. I am sure you cannot guess what
little Dutch boys do with old wooden shoes. They make capital little
fishing boats out of them, which they sail on the canal. The real big
fishing boats are really shaped very much like shoes too.
[Illustration: BOATS MADE FROM SHOES, HOLLAND (HAITÉ).]
Edam cheese is one of Holland’s famous products. The people are
wonderfully careful in making it. They take great care of the cows; when
the weather is wet or the flies troublesome, they put blankets over them
to protect them. The stables where they keep them are as clean as soap
and water will make them; the stalls are made of handsomely planed wood,
and there is a window at each one to let in light and to give the cows a
chance to look out on the green meadows. The cheeses are made of cream
and are pressed in clean, white, earthenware moulds, into the shape and
size of cannon balls. They are then colored and sent to market. The
greatest cheese market of Holland is at Alkmaar. Scores of boatfuls are
there unloaded every market day. The market is at the water’s edge. The
cheeses are colored orange or red, and are oiled and wiped till they
shine. They are stacked in piles like cannon balls.
Among famous Dutch towns is Delft, where they make a beautiful white
porcelain with blue designs, which is a favorite everywhere: then there
is Schiedam, where they make “Schnapps,” or gin, which is as famous
probably as the Delft ware, but not so praiseworthy; then there is
Haarlem, famous for its flower gardens, its tulips and begonias; at
Leiden there is a noble old university and a museum where one may see
objects made and used by all the Strange Peoples we shall study and many
more. Holland has had many great artists, and their works are preserved
in the art galleries at Rotterdam, Leiden, The Hague, Haarlem, and
Amsterdam. Holland was once the great commercial and naval nation of the
world: that day is past, but her ships still sail all seas; the little
kingdom is still a centre of intelligence, industry, and education, and
the thrifty and wealthy Dutch are a worthy example of the Fair Whites.
VII.
DARK WHITES.
Among the dark whites of Europe the Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, and
Greeks are conspicuous. In speech they are kin to each other, and to the
fair whites. How different they are otherwise! They are handsomer in
face, more lithe and graceful in body, more quickly aroused, more
changeable in purpose, than the fair whites. Their faces, their
gestures, their movements, more emphatically betray their emotions. They
live more in the present than the somewhat sober and sombre northern
peoples.
Just now people are apt to forget how much _we_ owe to the dark whites.
They have done _much_ for the world. Greece taught Europe to think,
developed an art and architecture which impressed the world, formed a
literature and theatre that have never been surpassed; Rome taught
mankind government and law; Italy has produced the greatest paintings;
Spain discovered the New World. These are a few of the achievements of
the dark whites. Nor are they idle now; in Greece and Italy to-day, in
Spain and Portugal, art, invention, literature, and science are making
rapid progress.
[Illustration: ITALIAN CHILD (MILN).]
Every one has seen Italians. Those who come to us are mostly poor, and
badly represent their people. They are dark skinned, dark brown or black
eyed, black and curly haired, and have fine and regular features. They
are, perhaps, the handsomest of European peoples. They love the company
of others in their work and play. They delight in bright colors, and the
women fasten bright kerchiefs about their dark hair, fold a brilliant
cloth across the breast, and hang gaudy earrings in their ears. The
Italian language is sweet and lively, and the people who speak it are
impulsive and sunny in disposition, though easily angered, and quick to
resent an injury.
Perhaps old Rome was the greatest city the world has known. The Roman
people ruled the known nations, and their armies and governors were in
all lands. Fine roads connected the city with every part of the Empire,
and fragments of these roads still exist though almost two thousand
years have passed. Rome was a centre to which flocked the painters,
sculptors, poets, and orators of the world; there they produced their
great works. At Rome were grand temples, great public buildings, the
mighty Coliseum where public games were held. Ruins of these famous
structures are still visited, and show the ancient grandeur of the dark
whites of by-gone days.
Not far from Rome are ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, towns where many
of the Romans had their country homes. In the year 79, more than
eighteen hundred years ago, Vesuvius burst forth in a terrible eruption
and destroyed the two cities. Pompeii was buried under a sheet of
“ashes,” while Herculaneum was overflowed by streams of lava. For
centuries no one knew that underneath these layers of “ashes” and lava a
great part of the two cities lay undestroyed. Recently, by digging away
the covering, they have discovered many curious and interesting things.
House walls, paintings, tools, weapons, ornaments, all remain to tell us
how the ancient Romans worked and lived.
But later Rome was also great. It was the central city of Christendom,
the seat of the Pope’s power, the location of the Vatican. For this
reason it was the place where master minds dealt with great problems,
where great architects designed wonderful cathedrals, where painters
produced the famous pictures of the world. Nor is Rome small to-day. She
is no longer the mistress of the world; the temporal power of the church
has been lessened; but modern Rome is still the capital of a great
nation, a centre of enlightenment, a hive of industry; a shrine to which
the lovers of art and beauty make their pilgrimage.
Even the poorest and meanest in Italy love music, painting, and
statuary. Everywhere in public places one sees sculptures in fine
marble. Such works in our own land would run some risk of injury or
destruction, but in Italy no one thinks of harming them. The Italians
all love music, and most of them know how to play some instrument.
Italian mosaics and cameos are famous. At Florence particularly the
making of mosaics is important. Mosaics are pictures made by fitting
together wee bits of stones, enamels, or glasses of bright colors. A
pair of cuff buttons or a brooch may bear a spray of flowers, which
looks like delicate painting, but is really made by the fitting together
of these bits of stone. Cameos are cut from shell or onyx. Many sea
shells are composed of layers of different colors of shelly matter. Onyx
is a stone which is layered with different colors. A cameo is a piece of
carving cut in such materials so that the different colored layers give
different parts of the design. The work is beautiful and delicate.
Perhaps the finest cameo cutting is done at Naples.
The Italian enjoys games. Several kinds of ball games are favorites with
him. He delights in throwing dice and other games of chance. Boys are
fond of _morra_. There are two players: at a given signal each extends
one hand with a certain number of fingers stretched out; at the same
moment each calls how many fingers he thinks both will have out. If
either guesses right, he wins. This is a very old game, and was played
in the time of Rome’s imperial grandeur.
The gayest time of the year for young and old is the Carnival. Every one
is on the streets. They wear masks and are hideously dressed—like
clowns, deformed and distorted beings, devils, animals. They make a
great din and play all kinds of pranks. They throw flowers and paper cut
to bits on one another and sprinkle passers-by with water. Men, women,
and children all take part in this wild fun. The more ignorant Italians
are superstitious. They fear witchcraft and the evil eye, and most of
the lower class carry some lucky stone or other object to protect them
against such dangers.
VIII.
BASQUES.
On both sides of the Pyrenees Mountains, in France and in Spain, there
dwells a people which does not speak an Aryan language, the Basques.
Many writers who have studied the Basque language have wondered how it
came to exist alone in the midst of so many languages that have no
relation to it.
The people who speak this language are called French Basques or Spanish
Basques according to which side of the Pyrenees is their home. They
differ somewhat. The Spanish Basques are usually short,
clear-complexioned, with rather long and narrow heads and brown or black
hair. The French Basques are frequently quite tall, have much broader
heads, and sometimes light hair. Neither French nor Spanish Basques are
pure in blood, being much mixed with their neighbors. Still, it is said
that a Basque can generally be known by his face. The upper, forward
part of his head is wide and bulging, while his face is long, narrow,
and ends in a pointed chin.
The Basques are famous for their good health, their fine forms, and
their quick and graceful movements. They are industrious, hard workers.
In the uplands the men are shepherds, in the lowlands farmers and
herders, and on the coast fishermen and sailors. In the cities they work
at the docks, loading and unloading vessels. Women work at this hard
work just the same as men. Formerly the men engaged much in piracy.
Basque women are much employed as nurses in Spanish families.
They are a gay and happy people. Men play tennis, and women play
skittles. Formerly they had many dances; one only of these is still
kept. It is danced by men only, and though the steps are difficult, the
dance is slow and grave. They delight in poetry and are able to compose
rapidly. Verneau says: “One may say that in the land of the Basques
every mountaineer is born a poet, but the poetry is made up on the spur
of the moment. In the midst of the delights of a feast, some one at the
table rises. All noise ceases. Complete silence is made about him. He
sings; the stanzas follow one another without effort and without
fatigue. His song is grave and measured; both the air and words are made
at the moment.”
The Basques, especially those living in the mountains, are proud, happy,
and independent. They are easily angered and quick to fight. They love
their old life and customs and dislike changes. They still use many
old-fashioned things such as the clumsy ox-cart, with great, solid
wooden wheels and heavy wooden axle. The old dress has disappeared in
many places, but is picturesque. Men wear rather loose and baggy
trousers, a close-fitting vest, a sort of blouse or jacket that reaches
only to the waist, a wide, white collar turned down over the neck of the
blouse, and a loose necktie with streaming ends. They wear a loose cap
jauntily on the head. Men and women both delight in bright colors.
Their food is simple, but they are always ready to share it with guests.
Strangers are welcome to the best the family has, which is generally
corn bread and cider, with bean soup and boiled cabbage. They celebrate
Christmas by killing a pig, the flesh of which gives the family a feast
for a long time.
[Illustration: BASQUE CART (VERNEAU).]
They are proud of their strange and difficult language, which _they_
call _Euskaric_. They call themselves _Euskaldanac_, which means “the
speakers,” just as if other people using a different speech did not know
how to speak at all.
The Basques have produced some famous men. The great sailor Magellan,
who circumnavigated the globe and discovered the Philippines in 1535,
was a Basque. So were Ignacio de Loyola and Francis Xavier, who founded
the _Society of Jesus_ or the _Jesuits_. Within recent years many of the
Basques have left their old home and gone to seek fortunes in new lands.
In all more than two hundred thousand have migrated, some to Havana and
Mexico, but many more to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.
IX.
FINNS.
Finland, forming part of the Russian Empire, is bordered on the south
and west by the Baltic Sea (Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia) and stretches
as a narrow band almost north and south. There has been much discussion
as to just what and who the Finns are. Some writers think them true
white Europeans related to the long-headed, fair whites; others believe
them Mongolians who have moved from Asia into Europe, where they have
changed their color and appearance—partly by marrying with fair whites
and partly by the influence of climate and other conditions—but who
retain their old Asiatic language.
Whichever is right, the Finns are an interesting people. There are about
one million and a half of pure blood dwelling in Finland. There are two
quite unlike types,—the Tavastland and Karelian Finns. The Tavastland
Finns are rather tall and large built, with a large and broad head, a
long and large face, light skin, light hair, and large and light eyes.
They are rather quiet, a little morose though kindly, and have a great
love for their old life and customs. The Karelian Finns are darker, with
dark brown or black hair and dark eyes. They were quite tall, but less
strongly built than the Tavastland Finns; they have a longer head and
smaller head and face; they are more lively, gay, and enterprising. It
is the Karelians who more nearly resemble the Finns of Asia, Ostiaks,
and Samoyeds. Both kinds of Finns, though differing in appearance, speak
one language, which is not Aryan, and is related to the languages of
Northern Asia. The Lapps, Turks, and some other peoples of Southeastern
Europe speak tongues related to the Finnish.
In the cities and towns of Finland the people are much like their
Swedish, German, and Russian neighbors. But in the small towns and
villages and in the country they retain many old and curious customs.
There they live in old-fashioned houses or even older-fashioned tents.
The houses, built of logs, had low, broad, two-pitched roofs and
consisted of a single room; there was one door and some small windows.
Only recently have they used glass in the windows. The furniture is
simple. Clothing and other articles are hung on pegs against the wall or
over poles which are supported by hooks from the roof. Big, ring-shaped
loaves of rye bread are hung up on these poles also. Outside the house
are several small buildings used as store-rooms for treasures and the
sweat-bath house.
The old tents are now rarely seen. They were circular, and their
framework was made by setting poles in the ground so that their upper
ends met; branches were worked in to fill the spaces between these and
form walls, and moss and turf were tightly packed in to fill all
openings. A doorway was left and a smoke hole.
The sweat-bath house is found everywhere. It is large enough to
accommodate a good many bathers at once. Two sets of wide benches run
around the inside of the house, one higher than the other: these are for
the bathers to sit or lie upon. They reach the higher benches or
platforms by means of a short ladder. In one corner of this sweat-house
is a dome-shaped oven or fireplace built of stones. This is heated very
hot, and then dippers of water are thrown upon the hot stones, until the
steam fills the whole building. The bathers bask in the vapor, rub and
strike themselves with bunches of birch twigs, and then dash cold water
over themselves. They delight in these vapor baths, and every one—men,
women, and children—takes them. _We_ would not enjoy it much, for there
is much smoke mixed with the steam. Similar vapor baths are used in
Russia, and recently “Russian baths” have come much into use among
ourselves.
Like many other northern peoples the Finns make many articles from birch
bark. Boxes, vessels, carrying sacks, and even shoes are made from it.
The climate of Finland is rather bad; winters are long and severe. The
people raise some plants, but their agriculture is simple and
old-fashioned. They burn over the space to be planted, work the ashes
and soil with crude tools, and plant the seed. Their crops sometimes
fail and terrible famines result. At such times they have made bread
from bark and roots crushed between rude grinding stones. Such bread is
called _famine bread_.
[Illustration: FINNS SINGING (VERNEAU).]
The Finns love song and poetry. It is said that every village has one
poet, or more, and that he prepares a new song whenever aught of
importance occurs. Besides these new songs they have many ancient songs,
of which they never tire. When they sing the songs of the olden time,
two men seat themselves face to face upon a bench, join hands, and rock
backward and forward in time to the song. First one sings a line or
passage, and then the other repeats the same, and so they continue,
rocking back and forth and singing the whole night through. Sometimes a
third man plays upon the _kantele_, while the others sing. This kantele
is somewhat like a zither; it has a flat sounding-body upon which are
strung from three to eight strings of different lengths. It is usually
picked with the fingers like a guitar. It is said that the first kantele
was made of fish-bones, though it is not easy to see how that could be.
Until less than a hundred years ago, although these old songs were much
loved, no one had written them down. They were learned by heart from
father to son, and thus kept alive through the centuries. A man named
Lönnrot became interested in them and copied many of them from the
mouths of the singers. In 1825 he printed a book of them, and later he
gathered and published still more. To this book of songs he gave the
name of the _Kalevala_. It is one of the great poems of the world, and
it tells of the life and doings and beliefs of the Finns of the old, old
time. The style of the _Kalevala_ is lively and quite unlike most
English poetry. In _Hiawatha_, Longfellow copies this style; so when you
read _Hiawatha_ again, remember that it is like the old Finnish songs.
The Finns are very fond of the _Kalevala_ and their other ancient songs.
They are jealous, too, of their old customs, and dislike to see them
pass away. They have some societies the purpose of which is to keep
alive a knowledge of the past of Finland. But though the Finns love
Finland and its old life, they are not to-day an independent nation.
They were invaded long ago by Sweden, and later on by Russia. For a time
Finland was a half-independent kingdom under Russian control, but lately
its power has been again reduced, and it is part of Russia itself.
What we have said of the Finns is true of the country people. In the
cities things are much the same as in other European cities. In
Helsingfors we should find one of the great universities of Europe, and
many educated and distinguished men Finns by birth and language.
X.
LAPPS.
In the northmost part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Finland live the
Lapps. There are probably not more than ten or twelve thousand, all
told. They have had much contact with the Finns, and speak a language
related to Finnish. In many customs they resemble them. This is not
strange, as the land they live in is much the same.
[Illustration: A GROUP OF LAPPS (VERNEAU).]
But while all Finns are tall, the Lapps are short. Most of the men fall
below five feet. Little and thin, they are yet strong and quick in their
movements. Their skin is dark, their hair black and straight. Their
heads are big and broad, and they have good foreheads and projecting
cheek bones. Their eyes often seem to slant downward at their outer
corners. While they are really dark skinned, they are not nearly so much
so as they appear, for they are usually filthy. When their faces are
washed, some of the women have quite fair skin and rosy cheeks. Life is
hard among the Lapps, but they often live to be old—sometimes even to
one hundred years or more.
Those Lapps who live farthest away from the Finns, Russians, and Swedes
still wear the old style of dress. In winter their garments are made of
reindeer hide: the hair, which is left on, is worn next the body. Both
men and women wear big mittens of skin. They have caps on their heads,
and fishermen and herders may be distinguished by the style of these.
Fishermen’s caps are pointed, while those of herders are square. In
going out over the snow in winter, Lapps have long, narrow runners of
wood fastened to their feet, and carry a pole in their hand. These
runners are five feet or more in length, and only a few inches wide, and
on them—aided by their poles—the Lapps glide along finely over the hard
snow.
Some Lapps are constantly wandering. Others settle down in quite
permanent homes. The wanderers build tents similar in shape to those of
our Sioux Indians and of the Finns. A lot of poles are set up in a
circle with their upper ends meeting. This framework is covered with a
cloth or with turfs. The settled Lapps live in houses, the framework of
which consists of posts set upright and poles lashed across. Small
storehouses for food are built near by, and these are set up on four
posts to keep the contents out of reach of dogs and other animals.
When they greet each other, the Lapps rub noses together. This mode of
kissing is found also among other northern peoples, like the Samoyeds in
Asia and the Eskimos in America. Mothers cradle their babies in a sort
of trough hollowed out of a piece of wood. This they carry on their
backs when they journey, and hang on a tree or set into a snowbank when
they work.
Of course every one thinks of reindeer when Laplanders are mentioned.
And it is not strange, because reindeer are useful indeed to these
little people. They furnish three useful things,—milk, meat, and skins.
The reindeer are kept in herds and form almost the only wealth of their
owners. Some herds number perhaps a thousand reindeer. These herds must
be constantly watched. Men, women, and children all help in the work,
and the many dogs kept by the Lapps are chiefly helpful in guarding the
herds. The women do the milking, and each of the reindeer cows is milked
twice a day. They give little milk, hardly more than a cupful at a
milking, but it is rich and thick and can be thinned with a good deal of
water. Some of the milk is drunk fresh, and from the rest the women make
a kind of cheese. When they wish to milk a reindeer, they approach the
animal carefully, throw a lasso over its head and wind this around the
snout so as to hold the animal quiet. The reindeer are also much used to
carry burdens and to drag sledges.
[Illustration: LAPLANDER ON SNOW-RUNNERS (VERNEAU).]
Besides the flesh and milk of the reindeer the Laplanders eat its blood,
which is boiled down into a sort of pudding. The meat which is not eaten
fresh is dried and stored away. Fish are dried and smoked. Birds and
their eggs are much eaten. Bread, much like the “famine bread” of the
Finns, is made from roots and barks. Soup is made of pine bark mixed
with fat and flour or meal.
The Laplanders who live in settled houses depend upon hunting during the
fall and fishing during the summer. They hunt reindeer, squirrels, and
birds. Wild reindeer they take chiefly by pitfalls: they dig a hole, or
trench, in the path over which the reindeer is likely to pass, and
carefully cover it with branches, earth, and grass. When the animals
have fallen in, they are easily killed. Lapps are fond of the eggs of
water birds, and to secure them they build nests for the birds in trees
near the water, and then rob them after the eggs have been laid.
The Laplanders are great believers in spirits. To summon these they use
drums or tambourines, consisting of a ring of wood over which a membrane
is tightly stretched. This has jingling objects fastened to it which
make a noise when the instrument is beaten or rattled. Upon the membrane
are rudely painted, curious figures, usually in red. Thus the sun,
animals, and human beings are pictured, and are believed to help the
drummer. The Lapps greatly fear their god of storms. He is believed to
drive the storms forth from his cave with a club and to bring them back
with a shovel. They fear him most at the season when the young reindeer
are born, and then pray to him not to let loose the storms, lest the
little creatures perish. Through their sorcerers they secure from this
god, storm strings with three knots tied in them. Each of these knots
represents a storm. If one knot is untied, a little storm is let loose;
if two are untied, a greater one; if three, there is a fearful tempest.
These strings are used against enemies or those who have tried to do
them harm. The neighbors of the little Lapps think these can do them
much harm with their wind strings and other magic, and they dread and
hate them.
XI.
TURKS.
With the Turks we pass from the peoples of Europe to those of Asia, for
the European Osmanli Turks are only the most settled branch of a large
group of peoples, most of whom lead wandering lives and live in Central
and Northern Asia. All speak almost the same language. Formerly there
was a great Turkish Empire, which stretched from the borders of China to
the Caspian Sea. The present peoples of the Turkic group live within
this area and in European Turkey. Among the most important of these
peoples are the Yakuts, Turkomans, Uzbegs, Nogais, Cossacks, and
Osmanli,—the latter being the Turks of European Turkey.
We shall speak only of the Yakuts, Turkomans, and Osmanli. The Yakuts
occupy an area along both banks of the Lena River and extending west
from it. They are wanderers and raise herds of cattle and horses. They
live chiefly on the produce of their herds, eating horse flesh
especially, and making much cheese. Like many of their neighbors they
are fond of _koumyss_, a drink prepared by fermenting mare’s milk. Those
living farthest north, near the delta of the Lena River, also hunt small
animals for food. These wandering herders, living in tents, are not
quarrelsome; they respect age, and the old men control affairs and
determine the time for moving camp. Women are well treated by their
husbands, but one man may have several wives. In such cases, the wives
live each in a separate tent, and these tents are placed about the tent
of the husband. Men pay the father of their wives, for these, with
cattle and horses. When a man among the Yakuts dies, they dress him in
his best clothing and place in the grave with him his knife, a flint and
steel, some tinder, and a little food. The burial is always under a
tree, and two graves are dug. In one the man is buried with his head
turned toward the west. The man’s favorite horse is brought in his
finest harness and loaded with presents: a fat mare is also brought.
These are both killed and buried in the second grave that they may
accompany their master.
[Illustration: CARAVAN PREPARING TO START: ASIATIC TURKS (VERNEAU).]
The Turkomans, who live in Southern Turkestan and adjoining regions, are
probably more like the ancient Turks in appearance, than any of the
other Turkic tribes of the present. They are somewhat tall, with a
broad, rounded head, broad face, prominent cheek bones, little slant
eyes, a low nose, rather thick lips, and projecting ears. Their skin is
yellowish, their hair is coarse and black, and they have little beard.
They delight in bright clothing, and the women wear much jewelry. It is
said that they wear so many jingling ornaments, that a party of passing
women make a noise almost like the tinkling of bells. The Turkomans live
in large, round, wall tents: the light framework of poles is covered
with great pieces of felt. This felt is beaten by the women from sheep’s
wool and camel’s hair. They are comfortable within. The floor is often
covered with fine rugs or skins, and handsome woven stuffs are hung upon
the wall or thrown over the sitting places. These fine articles are
partly woven by the women and partly stolen from passing caravans—for
the Turkomans are dreadful pillagers. Until very lately they were also
slave-hunters and stole many Persian women to sell as slaves. The
Russian government has almost put an end to this trade. The Turkomans
raise horses, sheep, and camels. They eat the flesh of these animals and
drink their fresh milk. Unlike the Yakuts, they do not care for koumyss.
When an important man among the Turkomans dies, they raise a heap of
stones over his grave. If he was a very pious man, they pay great
respect to his grave and consider it a holy spot. A man who is ill or in
trouble may visit this grave to pray there; if he has an animal that
suffers from some disease, he leads it around the grave to cure it. Such
ideas about a pious man’s grave prevail in all Mohammedan countries. All
the peoples of the Turkic group are Mussulmans, though you would never
think it from the way in which Yakut and Turkoman women go about
unveiled.
The Osmanli are the true Turks of Europe. Probably you would expect to
see only Turks in Turkey. That would be a great error, for really only
about one-tenth the population of Turkey is made up of Turks. There are
many Armenians and Bulgarians, besides Greeks and others. The Osmanli
Turks do not look like Mongolians, but their language and real blood
relationship are with the yellow Asians, rather than with the white
Europeans. It is not strange, however, that they present so mixed a
type; Turks have long married with white slaves, and there is much
Caucasian blood—both European and Asian—in their veins.
Constantinople is one of the most beautiful cities of the globe, and is
probably the most important Mohammedan city. The _mosques_, or places of
worship, are everywhere and recognizable by their pretty minarets.
Friday and not Sunday is the day of service. Daily prayers are required,
and the hours for prayer are called by the _muezzim_. When the call is
heard, no matter what he may be doing, a good Mohammedan stops his
occupation, spreads his prayer cloth, faces the sacred city of Mecca,
and goes through his prayers.
The Turk is _not_ industrious and lacks energy; he enjoys ease and
amusement. Perhaps a part of this is due to his being a fatalist; he
believes that what will happen, _must_ happen; that he cannot in any way
change the course of events. So _why_ should he hurry and worry? He _is_
fond of trading, but even there is not in haste. In the bazaars the
seller and buyer haggle a long time over the prices. The one never asks
the price he expects to get, but one much larger; the other never
expects to pay the price first asked, but one much lower. Mohammedans
who can afford to keep them may marry four wives; they often own many
female slaves beside. These wives and slaves live in a special part of
the house called the harem, where no visitors except women enter. When
Turkish women go upon the street they are closely veiled, and none of
their face except the eyes can be seen. Mohammedanism permits polygamy,
but it forbids wine-drinking. While not all Turks obey this command,
they are usually temperate, and drunkenness is rare.
XII.
THE PEOPLES OF ASIA.
There has been much question as to _where_ man first lived. Some believe
that the first men were white and lived in Europe and North Africa;
others think the negroes of Africa are the oldest men; a few have argued
that the American Indian was the original race; most, however, have
thought that Asia was man’s first home. Whether this is so or not, Asia
to-day contains a swarming population composed of many peoples,
differing much in appearance, dress, life, and customs.
The Asian peoples belong chiefly to the Mongolic or yellow race. It is a
well-marked type. Medium stature, broad and round head, flat face, with
nose rather low, broad and high cheek bones, hair coarse and straight
and jet black, skin yellowish, dark eyes apparently set slantwise in the
face, are its characters. The yellow race includes the Chinese,
Japanese, Coreans, the peoples of Indo-China, and most of the wandering
tribes of Siberia. There are probably more of this race than of any
other on the globe; next to them in numbers is the white race; then the
negroes; then the island peoples; last and least, the American Indians.
Asia may justly be called the continent of yellow peoples. But it would
be a mistake to think that no other peoples but Mongolic peoples live
there. In almost every part of the great continent are peoples of white
or Caucasic types. Thus, in the far northeast of Asia we have the
curious Ghilyaks; in Japan, the Ainu; in China, various mountain tribes;
in Southeastern Asia, similar peoples; in India, the Todas. All these
tribes are white, bearded, with hairy bodies, rather long heads, and
straight eyes. These tribes are small in numbers, rather quiet and
timid, with little energy, and quite unlike European whites. They
usually live in mountainous, out-of-the-way places, and it almost seems
as if they are the scattered fragments of an ancient, white population,
who occupied much of Asia before the yellow race was important, and who
have been crowded back and almost destroyed by it.
In India, Persia, and other parts of Western Asia, are many white
peoples who are like true European whites in their Aryan languages and
in their forms and features. In Western Asia there are, and long have
been, many dark white populations who are vigorous and active, with
features much more European than Mongolian. These dark whites speak
languages related to each other, but not Aryan. To these peoples,
including the old Hebrews, and the modern Arabs, and many other ancient
and modern peoples, the name Semites is applied. So you see that in Asia
there are not only the yellow, Mongolian peoples, but three different
kinds of whites,—the ancient feeble race, the Aryans, and the Semites.
Nowhere do we find more interesting ruins telling of past grandeur than
in Asia. We think of Rome as old; of Greece as older; but in Mesopotamia
are ruins far older than those of Greece and Rome. There are the ruins
of Nineveh and Babylon, so often mentioned in the Bible. Both are old,
but lately explorers have found yet older ruins dating back six or seven
thousand years. And these are not ruins of small and unimportant places,
but of grand cities, whose people were already civilized, with fixed
laws, curious religions, and many arts and industries. Nowhere in the
world have ruins of older cities been found, and it is believed that the
people who built them were yellow Mongolians.
In Asia most of the great religions were born. The oldest religious
systems of which we know were those of Mesopotamia. In India Buddhism
began. Buddha was a teacher who felt that the old religion of India,
Brahmanism, was wrong. So he taught a new religion. There are more
believers in Buddhism to-day than in any other religion. It is the chief
religion of China, Japan, Tibet, Southeastern Asia, and Ceylon; but in
India itself, where Buddha lived and taught, the people are _not_
Buddhists. In China there arose a great teacher, Confucius. He taught no
religion, but to-day there are Confucian temples all through China.
Judaism, the worship of Jehovah by the Jews, began in Asia. There, too,
in Judæa also, Christianity was born. Christ dwelt and taught there, and
there the first Christian churches were founded. But just as Buddha’s
land is not Buddhist, so Palestine to-day is not Christian. It is a part
of the Mohammedan world. Mohammedanism, too, is Asiatic, beginning in
Arabia almost thirteen hundred years ago. Perhaps the original home of
man, Asia has certainly been the first seat of civilization, and the
cradle of religions.
XIII.
CHINESE.
Perhaps four hundred and twenty million people dwell in the Chinese
Empire and are called Chinese. They are not, however, all _true_
Chinese. When the Chinese (or their ancestors) moved eastward into what
is now China, four thousand or more years ago, they found many different
tribes living there. Some of these were driven forth to seek new homes;
many remained and have mixed and mingled with the Chinese.
So many Chinese now live in our country that you all know how they look
and dress. The Chinese in America are mostly from the poorest and
meanest class, and most of them come from Canton. Most of those here are
laundrymen, but in some of our larger cities there are merchants and
restaurant keepers, and in California hundreds of them are gardeners.
They quickly learn our ways of doing, and many are employed in
cigar-making, shirt-making, and railroad-building. They work hard and
save their money, as they want sometime to go home to their own country.
Chinamen who die here are buried only for a little time: later the bones
are gathered and sent home to be buried in China.
The Chinese who come here are short or of medium stature. In the
interior and north of China they are taller. They have yellow skin,
black straight hair, and black eyes. Their eyes appear to slant or be
set crookedly, the inner corners being lower than the outer; they are
really almost as straight as our own, and the appearance is due to a
fold of skin at the inner corner. The long queue that hangs down the
Chinaman’s back is not composed entirely of hair; it is pieced out below
with cord or strings braided in. This style of wearing the hair is _not_
truly Chinese. Formerly the Chinese wore their hair in a knot on top of
the head, but at the time of the Manchu Conquest, two hundred and fifty
or so years ago, they were compelled to wear the hair in the Manchu
fashion. For a Chinaman to cut off his queue would be almost the same as
declaring himself unloyal to his Manchu rulers.
[Illustration: CHINESE MANDARIN (RATZEL).]
Chinamen usually have three names. The family name, which we place last,
they place first. Thus _Li Hung Chang_, the great Chinese viceroy,
belongs to the _Li_ family. Few of the Chinese laundrymen in this
country have their true names on their signs. The _Li_ family is one of
the largest in China, but it is also generally poor and despised. Most
of our Chinese laundrymen are _Lis_, and are related to Li Hung Chang.
In writing, the Chinese use a brush, which they dip into ink. A single
character represents a word, though many Chinese words are written with
compound characters, one part of which gives the sound, and the other
part pictures the meaning. In Chinese many sounds have several different
meanings. If the character with which the sound is written stood alone,
it would not be clear which meaning was intended. Chinese books are
printed on thin paper, which is folded back and forth like a screen or
fan and then stitched at the back; this makes the pages double. The
Chinese book begins at what we would consider the back and goes through
to what we would call the front. The print goes from the top of the page
down, in vertical columns, and the first column is the one to the right
hand.
To be able to write well is considered of the greatest importance in
China. The Chinese respect learning also, and no man can hold office in
China unless he is educated and has passed his examinations. From the
time when a boy begins study he must keep it up for many years, if he
hopes for a government position. Often he is a middle-aged or old man
before he succeeds in passing all the necessary examinations. To be able
to write beautifully, to be able to compose a poem upon any given
subject, and to know the writings of Confucius and the other old
philosophers are the things the Chinaman must learn. The great
examinations at the Capital are attended by thousands from every part of
the Empire. The man who stands first is sure to have an important
governorship given to him at once.
[Illustration: CHINESE BOY CHOOSING TOYS (DOOLITTLE).]
There are many curious customs regarding Chinese children. One takes
place when a little boy is one year old. A great bamboo sieve, such as
farmers use, is placed upon the table. Upon it are spread many
articles—money-scales, shears, a measure, a mirror, a pencil, ink,
paper, inkstone, books, the counting-board, objects of gold or silver,
fruits, etc. The baby, all dressed in his best clothes, is then set in
the midst of the objects, on the sieve. His parents and friends watch
anxiously to see which of the articles he will grasp. They believe it
will show what he will do when he is a man. If he takes the money-scales
or the gold or silver, he will become a rich merchant; if he takes the
book or pencil, he will be a great scholar, and so on.
Chinese money consists chiefly of round brass coins with a square hole
in the middle. It takes from eight to sixteen of them to make one cent
of ours. They are called “cash” and are often strung on strings for
convenient carrying. Many hundreds of years ago the ancient Chinese used
clothing and tools for money. When they began to make metal coins they
made these in the shape of shirts, knives, and spades, and called them
shirt money, knife money, and spade money.
In eating the Chinese do not use knives and forks, but a pair of slender
sticks called “chopsticks.” These are both taken in one hand, and are
used to pick up bits of meat or vegetables from the soup or to lift
boiled rice or dumplings to the mouth. For eating soup they use little
flat-bottomed spoons of chinaware, which will not fall over when set
down on the table. In making tea the cup or bowl for each person stands
on the table with tea leaves in it; it sets into a little ring-shaped
saucer and has a little cover over it like a saucer turned bottom
upward. The servant lifts the cover and pours boiling water upon the
leaves and then replaces the cover to let the tea steep. The cover may
be used to stir the tea for cooling it, and when held in proper position
prevents the tea leaves from getting into the mouth of the person who is
drinking.
But how many things are left that we cannot speak of! The busy work in
the fields, the preparation of tea, the rearing of silkworms and making
of silk, the trades, the government, the love and respect for parents,
the respect for the graves of ancestors, the religious ideas, the life
and teachings of Confucius—these things would need many books like this.
XIV.
COREANS.
Corea is often called the Hermit Nation, because it has wanted to keep
foreigners away. In this respect it is what China, Japan, and Tibet have
sometimes been; all of them have followed at times policies of
exclusion. Still, Corea has had a good deal of contact with other
nations; she has learned many things from China and has passed on much
that she learned to Japan. Sometimes, too, Corea has been subject to
China, sometimes to Japan.
The dress of Corea, while somewhat like that of China, and that of
Japan, is still quite peculiar. The common people are all dressed in
bluish white stuffs. Rich people dress in silks of the most gorgeous
colors—blue, crimson, scarlet, orange. The chief garment worn by men is
a long, loose gown that hangs from the neck quite to the ground. This is
bound around, high above the waist, with a stiff, broad belt. No buttons
are used in the fastening of garments, but strips of colored ribbons.
The socks and shoes of the Coreans are like those of the Chinese, except
that the shoe soles are thick-set with nail-heads. Nowadays these
hob-nailed shoes are worn at all times, but formerly they were probably
used only in winter to prevent slipping on ice and snow. About this the
Coreans tell a story: long ago there was war between China and Corea,
and the Chinese sent an army of eight hundred thousand soldiers; Corea’s
army numbered but five thousand. It was in the midst of winter. The two
armies met at a river, which was frozen solid, and the battle took place
upon the ice. The Chinese wore their smooth-soled shoes, while the
Coreans wore hob-nailed ones. When they fought on the ice the Chinese
slipped helplessly, while the Coreans were able to fight well. The
result was a great victory for the Coreans who, since then, have worn
their hob-nailed shoes constantly in memory of their success.
But the most curious part of Corean dress is the hat. There are many
different kinds. There are hats for young and hats for old, hats for
out-doors and hats for the house, hats for people of different
occupations. The commonest out-door hat is round, square-topped, and
with the wide, flat, brim halfway up the crown. The hats worn at the
royal court are like high skull-caps, with wide flaps or wings
projecting at the sides. The straw hats worn by drovers and people in
mourning are shaped like the top of a parasol and measure two feet and a
half across.
[Illustration: COREAN HAT (LOWELL).]
Until lately people in Corea carried wooden blocks to show who they
were. These blocks were carried by boys of fifteen and all older
persons. They were called “name-tablets,” and were made of pear-wood or
mahogany. They were about two inches long and a half inch wide. There
was writing upon both sides. At the top on one side was the name of the
ward where the boy lived; below it were the words “leisure-fellow,”
meaning that he was not a servant; then came the boy’s name, and lastly
his date of birth. On the other side was the date on which the tablet
was issued, and the seal of the officer who gave it. When a boy was
older his “name-tablet” was of box-wood; still later—after he had passed
an examination—his tablet was cut from black horn; when finally he took
highest honors, it was made of ivory. Poor people, of the lowest class,
also carried tablets, but of a different sort; upon these the bearer was
_described_.
In Corea there is much cold weather with ice and snow. Much clothing is
needed for warmth, and several garments of one sort may be worn one over
another. In the houses they have _kangs_ for warmth at night. Under the
house, or under a certain part of it, there is built a sort of oven or
furnace; above this is a floor of stones and, perhaps, earth upon which
oiled paper is smoothly spread. A fire is built in the furnace and the
sleepers stretch themselves upon the heated floor. It is not a
satisfactory mode of heating, but is used not only among the Coreans but
also among their Tatar neighbors.
Everywhere in Corea, Japan, China, and Tibet the people are Buddhists.
But in all these countries we find also much worship of demons or bad
spirits. Nowhere is there more of this than in Corea. They believe that
there are spirits everywhere, some good, some bad. They are afraid of
these bad spirits and do many things to ward off their mischief. Upon
the roof of the king’s palace are a lot of ugly figures of bronze that
resemble pigs and monkeys. All are different, but all are as terrible as
their makers could shape. These are intended to frighten bad spirits
away. No one but the king may have just these guardian animals; other
important persons have two pictures fastened at the door; at the doors
of the poor are hung a bunch of rice straw, and a bit of old rag. The
two pictures represent two great generals, one a Chinese and the other a
Corean, who were such valiant fighters against demons that their very
pictures scare them. As for the things on the poor man’s door, it is
believed that the spirits will stop to eat the grains of rice, and that
they will think the rag the man’s clothing and will do their harm to it
without entering the house.
Among the Coreans the tiger is much admired and much feared. They
believe that bad men and evil spirits can turn themselves into tigers,
and they have many strange stories of these tiger-men magicians. Thus
they say that once a man was travelling through a lonely and desolate
region. Toward evening he was surprised to come upon a fine house.
Entering and asking shelter he found an old man living alone there. He
felt sure things were wrong and that the old man was a tiger-magician.
He was right; it was the king of all the tiger-magicians. If he had
shown his fear he would have been torn to pieces, but he pretended to be
brave. When the old man asked him who he was and where he was going, he
boldly declared he was hunting for tiger-magicians, of whom he meant to
kill two hundred, that he might carry their skins to the king. When the
old man—who you remember was king of the tiger-magicians—heard this bold
talk he was terribly scared. Secretly he called his subjects together
and told them of their danger. They advised him to kill two hundred
tiger-magicians who were in jail and give their skins to the hunter,
begging him to spare the rest. The traveller gladly accepted, and taking
the skins sold them for much money. This man had a cowardly neighbor who
heard the story and determined to try the same trick. When he reached
the tiger-king’s palace, however, he got scared, the tigers knew his
fraud, and falling upon him they killed him.
XV.
TIBETANS.
Few countries are naturally so difficult of access as Tibet. It is a
lofty plateau. To reach it from any side frightful mountains must be
passed. Not only is the country itself difficult to reach, but the
Tibetans do not like strangers. They do everything in their power to
keep white men out of the country. Few travellers of our race have ever
been to the heart of Tibet. Recently the American traveller, W. W.
Rockhill, has visited that country and written interestingly of it, and
later Walter Savage Landor claims to have had exciting adventures there.
But the journey that is best known and has been most talked of was made
more than fifty years ago by two French missionaries named Huc and
Gabet.
Starting from China these gentlemen traversed Mongolia and Tatary and
penetrated to the sacred Tibetan city of Lhassa. They returned to China
over a different route. It was a fearful journey. The road led along the
side of vast cliffs, over raging torrents where the bridges were
composed of chains hung from bank to bank with boards laid crosswise of
them, through snowdrifts, and over sheets of glacier ice.
The people of Tibet vary in stature, color, hair, and other characters,
but all are Mongolic and all speak Tibetan. Some of the tribes are
nomads—either herders or pillagers; others are settled and live by
agriculture, notwithstanding the climate. In Lhassa itself they are
tradespeople and traders. They are good weavers and make excellent
woollen stuffs. They are skilled goldsmiths, and their fine wares go to
decorate the temples and monasteries. They make the finest incense in
the world.
The most important thing in Tibet is religion. Their religion, which is
called Lamaism, is a sort of Buddhism peculiar to Tibet. Tibet might be
called a _theocracy_, or a land where a god rules. For the ruler of
Tibet, called the _Dalai-lama_, is considered no common man, but a real
god on earth. Many centuries ago, in India, there lived a man named
Gautama or Sakyi-muni. He was wise and good, and the new religion which
he taught was a great improvement upon the Brahmanism of India. On
account of his wisdom and goodness, he was called Buddha, but he never
claimed to be himself a god. Since his death, however, many millions of
people in many lands have worshipped him as a god.
All Buddhists believe that there may be many Buddhas—that Gautama was
one Buddha, and that there were others before him and will be others
hereafter. In Tibet, however, they think that there are always Buddhas
on earth, and that when one Buddha dies his spirit at once enters the
body of some little babe, who becomes a Buddha in his place. The
Dalai-lama is the greatest of living Buddhas. There are many others in
different parts of Tibet and Tatary, all of whom are worshipped as gods.
The Dalai-lama lives in Lhassa, the sacred city, in a beautiful palace,
and has many priests to serve him. He is the all-powerful being in the
land.
[Illustration: TIBETAN LAMAS BLOWING ON SHELLS (VERNEAU).]
But he does not trouble himself about governing his people. He appoints
a _nomekhan_ to rule for him. The nomekhan has four _kalons_ who are
appointed to assist him. These four appoint all the other officers, most
of whom are lamas or priests. Really the lamas control everything in
Tibet. Generally they live together in great buildings called
lamaseries. These are to be seen everywhere in the land, and are often
perched upon the summits of lofty mountains, from which they overlook
the country for miles around. Some lamaseries contain but a few priests,
others contain many thousands. The lamas are at once known from the
people by their dress.
The lamas receive support from the common people, and when it is not
brought to them, they go to gather it. Huc met two lamas on horseback
gathering gifts of butter from the shepherds. “Their course is this:
they present themselves at the entrance of each tent and thrice sound a
marine conch.[1] Thereupon some member of the family brings out a small
roll of butter, which, without saying a word, he deposits in a bag
suspended from the saddle of each lama’s horse. The lamas never once
alight, but content themselves with riding up to each tent, and
announcing their presence to the inmates by the sound of the shell.”
Footnote 1:
A shell used as a trumpet.
When a Dalai-lama dies, search is made for the new one. Prayers are said
in all the lamaseries, processions are made, incense is burned. Even the
common people everywhere pray. There are certain signs by which a baby
shows that the spirit of a lama has entered him. All parents who think
their baby the one send word to Lhassa and bring their babies there. All
are carefully examined, and the three who best show the signs of being
Buddha are taken. After fasting for six days, the priests who decide the
matter take a golden urn containing three little fish of gold, upon each
of which is engraved the name of one of the three babies. The urn is
shaken and one of the fish is drawn. The baby whose name is engraved on
it becomes the Dalai-lama. To the unlucky babies before they are sent
home a present of five hundred ounces of silver is given.
[Illustration: MONGOLS CHOOSING A LAMA (HUC).]
Every day near sunset in Lhassa, all the men, women, and children stop
whatever they may be doing and gather in the public squares of the city.
There, grouped by sex and age, they kneel and chant their evening
prayer. This prayer would seem to us curious, for it asks for nothing.
The commonest prayer is—_om mani padme hum_, which means “the jewel in
the lotus.” By the jewel they mean divine power. The lotus is a
water-lily. The prayer is about the same thing as calling on the name of
God. This prayer they repeat over and over again.
To write this prayer where it will be seen is a good act. One may see it
everywhere. It is printed on the flags that fly above the buildings.
Pious rich men pay lamas to go through the country and chisel these
sacred words on rocks and cliffs.
Tibet is the land of prayer wheels. Prayer wheels contain the prayer
written many times: every time the wheel is turned, so many prayers are
supposed to have been said. Prayer wheels are of all sizes. The
commonest stand near lamaseries, and are set to turning with the hand.
Some lazy lamas, however, find it too much work to turn the wheels
themselves and so arrange them that they are turned by wind or water.
On the twenty-fifth of each month pious lamas “send horses to weary
travellers.” On the roads there are many hardships, and travellers often
become weary and perish. To help them the lamas send them horses, and
the way they do it is this. Going to some lofty summit where the wind
blows heavily, they throw strips of paper bearing pictures of horses
into the air, and the wind carries them away. The lamas believe that by
this sacrifice of paper horses they supply real ones to the needy
travellers.
XVI.
JAPANESE.
It is a great mistake to think of the Chinese and Japanese as much
alike; they are really vastly different. The Japanese is smaller, more
delicately built, quicker, and more lively than the Chinese; he delights
in novelties and borrows them from everywhere and from everybody. The
Chinese language consists chiefly of words of one syllable; the Japanese
have many long words of many syllables. While unlike in body,
disposition, and language, the Chinese and Japanese are alike in many
customs, arts, and ideas. For long centuries the Japanese borrowed much
from China, or from Corea, which had learned from China. The Japanese
owe their writing, the cultivation of tea, silk raising and weaving,
lacquer work, porcelain, metal working, and many religious ideas to
China. But lately, in their hurry to borrow all sorts of things from the
European and American whites, they have become ashamed of many of their
Chinese ideas and customs.
[Illustration: JAPANESE GIRL WITH BABY (ARNOLD).]
On the seventh day of a Japanese baby’s life, the little head is shaved
clean except for a tuft on the nape of the neck. From that time on, the
head is shaved until the boy goes to school, but tufts are left here and
there, according to the fancy of the mother. After a boy begins school,
his hair is left to grow. Japanese children have many sports and games,
but they are quiet and gentle in them all. The older children carry
their baby brothers and sisters strapped firmly on their backs. There
are many interesting things for Japanese children to see on the streets.
There is the sand painter; he sweeps a space clean and then opens
several bags of different colored sand; he sprinkles handfuls of it here
and there on the ground until he has made a pretty picture. There is the
man who moulds and blows rice paste into all sorts of queer shapes,
while the little buyers look on with delight; his sweet stuff is shaped
into rabbits, foxes, monkeys, flowers, jinrikishas, fans, umbrellas,
etc. There is the man who sells sugared peas, candied beans, and other
sweets; he beats a drum and sings a song as he walks, so as to attract a
crowd of children, and when he stops he tells a story, or does some
trick, to amuse them. Then there is the little old woman of the batter
cakes; she carries a little earthenware stove with a fire of charcoal in
it; this she hangs at one end of a pole balanced upon her shoulder, and
at the other end hang a griddle, ladles, cake turners, a jar of batter,
and a sauce of salt and beans to eat with the cakes; the children pay
five cents, and the old lady sets everything down, whereupon the
children have great fun making their own cakes and eating them on the
street.
Japanese children are ever gay and happy, but there are two days in the
year of especial joy. The third day of the third month is _the Dolls’
Festival_. This is the day for the little girls. At that time dolls and
all sorts of toy tools, implements, vessels, and dishes are for sale.
The Japanese are fond of dolls, and in some families they have dolls
that have been kept more than two hundred years. In some families they
will have dozens or scores of dolls. Among these there is always one
that represents the Emperor, another the Empress, and others the
courtiers. At the time of the festival all these dolls are carefully
arranged on a stepped platform. The Emperor and Empress are given the
seats of honor, and the rest are grouped around them. With these are
arranged all the toy objects. The fifth day of the fifth month is the
Boys’ Festival. Then they are selling bows and arrows and other toy
weapons everywhere. Everywhere they hang out great paper fishes, shaped
like carp, and brightly painted. These are hung to tall bamboo poles of
which there is one set in front of every house where they have a boy in
the family. One fish is hung for each boy, and it is a gay sight to see
the hundreds of bright fish waving and tossing in the wind. The reason
why the carp is represented is because it swims _up_ the river against
the current; so it is hoped “the sturdy boy, overcoming all obstacles,
will make his way in the world and rise to fame and fortune.”
[Illustration: BOYS’ FESTIVAL: JAPAN (BRAMHALL).]
Japanese houses consist of a light framework supporting a heavy thatched
or tiled roof. The sides of the house are wooden slides, which are
usually removed in the daytime, leaving the sides open. In cold weather,
slides consisting of frames covered with paper can be fitted in to form
walls. The house is divided into rooms by sliding screens of paper,
which can be easily removed so as to join two, three, or more rooms into
one. There are no tables or chairs. The floors are covered with thick
mats. At night quilts are brought in and laid down for beds; in the
morning these are rolled up and stored away.
Japanese gardens are curious and beautiful. They may be small, and
frequently they contain no flowers. Sometimes a pretty landscape is
built of rocks and water: there are little mountains and hills, valleys,
streams, waterfalls, lakes. Wonderful in such gardens are the dwarfed
trees. They may be pine trees, fifty or one hundred years old,
flourishing and perfect in form, but not more than a foot in height.
While Japanese gardens frequently contain none, the people are
wonderfully fond of flowers. Among the favorites are the chrysanthemum,
plum blossoms, and cherry blossoms. When these are in bloom every one
goes to the places where they grow and delight in their beauty. These
flower picnics are looked forward to for months. The cherry and plum
trees are covered: “You see no leaves—only one great filmy mass of
petals. Japanese chrysanthemums are wonderful; there are many strange or
beautiful varieties. At one place in Tokyo, these flowers are wrought
into all sorts of curious compositions—men and gods, boats, bridges,
castles, etc.”
The Japanese love to hear stories. There are fairy stories for the
little people and tales of adventure and history for the larger ones.
There are men whose business is story telling. Some of these wander
about until they find a good spot, when they will stop and begin the
tale; a crowd soon gathers to listen. Others are hired to tell their
stories in a story-telling house, where people gather every evening,
just as at the theatre.
We have said so much about amusements and festivals that you may think
the Japanese are always playing. No indeed, they are hard workers. They
cultivate their fields industriously; they have many trades; they are
great traders; they are fine artists. Their silk weaving, their metal
work, their lacquer work, and their porcelains are famous.
In these last years Japan has made great changes. She has borrowed so
much from the whites that they have little left to teach her. To-day she
has all our great inventions—telegraphs and telephones, electric lights
and railroads; and in borrowing so much that is new she has lost and is
losing much—very much—of the happy old life.
XVII.
AINU.
Before the Japanese entered what is now Japan that country was occupied
by the Ainu, among the most interesting people of the world. There are
not many of them. In Yezo, the northern island of Japan, there are about
seventeen thousand, and in the island of Saghalien, formerly Japanese,
but now Russian, there are others. They are not like the Japanese, but
are considered whites, not Mongolians. The men measure about five feet
four inches; the women not more than five feet two inches. Their color
is flesh, with a tinge of red or yellow; their eyes are large and do not
appear to slant like those of the yellow peoples; their hair is abundant
and tangled and they have much beard. Their body is very hairy. They are
filthy and rarely wash themselves.
The women tattoo, beginning in girlhood. The patterns are cut in the
flesh with a razor and soot is rubbed into the lines; to render the
color permanent, water in which ash-tree bark has been steeped is rubbed
over the part tattooed. The tattooing first done is at the centre of the
upper lip; later the lower lip. The marks are added to from time to time
until they cover the upper lip and reach from ear to ear. Such women
appear to have a great moustache. After marriage a woman’s forehead may
be tattooed, also patterns may be made up the backs of the hands and on
the arms, and rings may be tattooed around her fingers.
[Illustration: AINU: A HAIRY SPECIMEN (BATCHELOR).]
Ainu clothing is generally made of elm bark, and that worn by men and
women is much alike. The bark is stripped from the tree in spring, when
it is full of sap. It is soaked in water to separate the inner and outer
bark. Fibres are secured from the inner bark, which can be woven like
thread into cloth. The men’s garments of this fibre cloth are adorned
with patterns embroidered with colored threads; those of women are
generally plain.
[Illustration: AINU WOMEN: SHOWING TATTOOING (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The Ainu house is rectangular, with a rather frail support and a
substantial thatched roof. The roof is built first; then the chief posts
of the walls are set and the roof is lifted up and put on them. Ainu
houses grow as the family grows. A young married couple build a small
house; as they have children a new and larger house is built behind the
old one, which remains as a sort of hall; when the family is still
larger and richer, the hall is torn down and a larger house is built
behind the second one, which now becomes a hall or porch to it. There
are two windows and one door in these houses. The windows are on the
south and east sides, while the door is at the west end. The east end of
the house and its window are sacred; people must not throw things
through this window nor spit out of it. Sometimes the men worship the
rising sun as they see it through this east window.
The Ainu are hunters and have ingenious ways of capturing or killing
animals. In hunting deer they use a little squeaking whistle, the sound
of which attracts the animals. They set bows, with arrows on the
stretched cord, near trails over which deer and bears pass; in passing,
the animal strikes a cord which lets loose a trigger, and the arrow
flies. They also set a trap consisting of a stout bow, which, when
sprung, shuts two boards tightly together; the foot of the animal is
caught between these and held fast. Formerly the Ainu used poisoned
arrows in hunting. These had a broad, hollowed point, in which a little
of the poisonous paste was stuck. The poison was made from the root of
aconite mixed with tobacco, peppers, and poisoned spiders. These, and
other substances, were carefully mixed into a gummy paste. At present
the Japanese government forbids the Yezo Ainu to use these poisoned
arrows.
The bear hunt is looked forward to with anxiety. It is in the spring
while snow is yet on the ground. Before starting the hunters pray to
their gods for help and direction. Dogs accompany them. When a den is
found, there is great excitement. They try to draw the animal out by
teasing him with long poles. If he will not come out, one of the men
draws his knife, enters the den, and faces the bear. The animal pushes
him aside, when the hunter pricks him from behind with his knife. The
angry animal then rushes forth, growling and snarling. The hunters and
dogs waiting outside soon despatch him, though frequently some one is
hurt or killed. The hunters then sit down near the dead bear and say all
kinds of pretty things to him, pretending that they are sorry to have
killed him, and asking his forgiveness. They then skin him, cut up the
meat, carry it home, and have a feast.
At Ainu feasts the men always become dreadfully drunk from drinking rice
wine. When he drinks, the Ainu uses a little stick to lift his moustache
and keep it from the wine. These moustache lifters are made for the
purpose and are frequently neatly carved.
Sometimes Ainu hunters secure a little bear cub, which they carry
carefully home. It is fed with the best of food, and treated as a great
pet. When it is so big as to be rough and troublesome, they put it in a
cage. When it is quite grown, a bear feast is planned. Many guests are
invited. The men eat millet-cakes and drink rice wine. After feasting
for some time two men noose the bear with ropes and drag him around; the
whole company then worry and tease the poor creature, finally choking
him, after which they eat him.
The Ainu have many gods. In praying to them they use _inao_. These are
little sticks which are so whittled with knives that curls of shavings
hang from them. There are several ways of cutting these, and they are
believed to please the gods. They are stuck up in the ground and left
where prayers are made. Ainu men spend much time whittling these inao.
XVIII.
HINDUS.
The Hindus are but one of the many peoples living in India. They are
considered a Caucasic, white people, though their skin is a dark brown
and they have black hair and eyes. Their language belongs to the Aryan
family, to which most European languages belong.
The dress of the Hindus is too well known to need description. Hindu
women are fond of jewelry, and wear rings, arm-rings, ankle rings,
earrings, and nose rings of many kinds and made of gold, silver, or
brass. The Hindus bear marks stamped upon themselves. Thus a round spot
in the middle of the forehead, horizontal lines across the forehead, or
perpendicular lines from the root of the nose to the top of the
forehead, show to which of the great religious sects the man belongs.
These marks are made fresh every morning.
The Hindus are divided into four _castes_, or classes. These are named
Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. There is a yet lower
population called Pariahs. The Brahmans are the highest; they are
priests or religious men; everybody must yield to them. The Kshatriyas
come second, and are soldiers or warriors. The Vaisyas are the traders,
or merchant class. The Sudras are the lowest, and are the people who
have trades, or are laborers. The Hindus say that these different
classes of men came from the body of Brahma, their great god; that the
Brahmans came from his mouth; the Kshatriyas from his arm; the Vaisyas
from his thigh; and the Sudras from his feet. As for the poor Pariahs,
they do not seem to have come from Brahma, and no one has anything to do
with them. Each of these castes was so much higher than the next one
that they might not even be touched by them without being defiled and
needing to be purified. People of different castes might not drink from
the same vessel or eat from the same dish. One writer says: “I saw a
high-caste Hindu dash an earthen jar of milk upon the ground and break
it to atoms, merely because the shadow of a Pariah had fallen upon it as
he passed.” Under English government many of these notions in India are
passing away. The Pariah’s lot, however, is perhaps as hard as ever.
Many trades are practised in India, some of them most skilfully.
Whatever trade a man follows will be that of his son after him, as it
was that of his father before him. Hindus are fine weavers, and some of
their muslins are delicate and costly. They are glass-makers, potters,
carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, brass founders, shell workers,
shoemakers, barbers. These trades are carried on in the open streets;
the men carry tools with them, and when they secure an order they set up
their outfit and fall to work. Among pretty things sold in India are
figures in clay representing all sorts of tradesmen at work.
[Illustration: HINDU DANCING GIRLS AND MUSICIANS (VERNEAU).]
Hindus tame and train elephants as beasts of burden. The native princes,
in particular, use them. A palanquin in which the prince sits is mounted
on the elephant’s back. These royal elephants are gorgeously decked out,
and the palanquin is brilliant with metals and precious stones.
Elephants are also employed in caravans and in the exciting tiger hunts.
The Hindus love amusements. They are fond of music and have many curious
instruments. Dancing girls dance for the amusement of guests at feasts
given in the homes of the wealthy. They usually take their own musicians
with them; one of these plays upon a little drum, the other on a kind of
guitar. Street exhibitions are frequent. Parties of acrobats go about
performing feats. Everyone has heard of the Hindu jugglers. Mr. Ward
describes some tricks he saw done. Thus, the juggler spreads a cloth on
the ground: in a moment a movement is seen under it: the cloth is raised
and under it are pineapples growing. The juggler picks the fruit and
presents it to the spectators to show that it is real. Again, he takes a
large, clay jar, fills it with water, and turns it upside down to let
the water run out; when he turns it up again, it is full of water.
Again, he puts a lean dog into a common basket; opening it, he shows the
dog with a litter of pups; covering these and opening again, there is a
goat; again the basket is put down and raised and shows a live pig;
again—and the pig is dead with its throat cut; then he ends the trick by
again covering and uncovering, when the pig is seen alive and well.
_How_ does he do it? Almost as wonderful as these juggler’s tricks are
the performances of the snake charmers. They carry the dreaded,
poisonous cobras around in baskets and handle them, playing at the same
time on their little flutes, quite as if the creatures were entirely
harmless.
[Illustration: HINDU SNAKE CHARMERS (BREHM).]
Nowhere in the world are there more dreadful religious customs than in
India. People there are so crowded that life is hard. The result of this
was that parents often destroyed their little babies, particularly
girls. Often the mothers themselves threw the little beings into the
sacred river, where they were drowned in its waters or were eaten by
crocodiles. At the great religious festivals, men tortured themselves
fearfully, or threw themselves under the chariot of the god that they
might be crushed to death. The dead among the Hindus were usually
cremated—burned upon a great open fire of wood. Formerly the widow of
the dead man mounted the funeral pyre and was burned with his body. The
English government has put an end to many of these practices, and among
them this _suttee_, or burning of the widow. It has really done little
good, as a widow’s life is so sad that she might almost better die. A
widow must shave her head, wear miserable clothing, and serve every one
like a slave: she is despised and harshly treated.
Few peoples have caused as much wonder as the Gypsies. With their
swarthy complexions, black hair and eyes, and handsome faces, they are a
striking type. They love out-door life, and hate to be within walls.
They wander from place to place, pitching their tents where fancy leads
them. They are tinkers, mending pots and kettles; they are horseshoers,
jockeys, horse traders, horse doctors; they tell fortunes, in which
almost all of us believe a little, and every one fears them a little.
There are many thousands of them in the United States: there are many in
Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland, and other European countries; they
are in North Africa, in Mexico, in Brazil, in India. Everywhere they are
the same, and everywhere they talk their own language, the _Romany_. It
is believed that they first came from India, and that they are related
to the Hindus.
XIX.
TODAS.
In the “hill country” of India live many curious brown peoples whose
languages are different from the Aryan tongue of the Hindus. These
peoples, called Dravidians, are considered the earliest occupiers of
India. Among them no tribe is more curious than the Todas. In some ways
they are like the Ainu. Though brown, they are probably really white or
Caucasic. They have the features, strong beards, and hairy bodies of
whites, and in these respects are like the Ainu.
The Todas live on a tableland whose surface is covered with hills and
rolling prairies. The hills are clad with coarse grass, and in some of
the valleys are deep forests. The sunshine is bright and warm, and the
dry season is long.
The Todas think only of their cattle. They do not hunt—in fact, they
have no weapons; they do not cultivate any fields, getting what plant
food they use from the Badagas and other neighboring tribes. But they
_do_ raise cattle—buffalo. Their villages are located in the midst of
pasture land. No village is occupied for a whole year, but the people
have always at least two villages and live first in one, then in the
other. This is to have fresh pasture for their cattle and to be secure
in the wet season. Toda villages contain but few houses, most of which
consist of a single room eight feet square; sometimes two or three such
rooms are set side by side—these do not open into each other, but each
has an outside door. The roofs of these houses are thatched and project
a yard or so beyond the house walls. The people sit under the shelter of
these projecting roofs while they work or visit. There are no windows or
chimneys to the houses. Everything in the house has its proper place—the
pestle and mortar for pounding grain, the fireplace, and the raised bank
of clay that serves the old people as a sleeping place. Near the house
is a pen of stones and mud for the owner’s cattle.
All the cattle of the villages are herded together. There is one dairy
for the village, and all the cattle are milked there by special
dairymen. After milking, these men give out so much milk as is needed to
every one in the village; from the balance they make butter which they
divide to the men of the village according to the number of cattle each
owns. We have already said that the Todas raise no crops. The Badagas
and Kotas live on the land of the Todas; they are stronger and more
vigorous than the Todas, and both tribes have weapons and could easily
defeat them in battle. But they live in peace with them and pay them, as
rent for their land, grains and other produce they need.
We have spoken of the common village herds. There are other (sacred)
herds, which are cared for by dairymen priests, who are themselves
almost worshipped. The priest has an assistant who cuts wood for him and
otherwise serves him. When the priest milks the sacred cows, and he
alone may do so, he repeats a prayer. He does the same when he carries
the milk into the dairy. The village people treat him and his assistant
with great respect and may not touch them, nor any of the implements
they use. Men and boys may go to the wall that encloses the dairy
buildings, but may not enter. Women may not go near the place.
The cows in the sacred herds have descended from sacred cows of the
past. In each herd there is an especially sacred “bell-cow.” This means
that she is the owner of an ancient cow-bell which the dairyman priest
keeps in the dairy. It belonged to her mother before her and to _her_
mother, and so on back. When a bell-cow dies, the bell has to be put
upon her daughter. The priest brings it out from the dairy and waves it
around and around the head of the cow morning and night for three days.
As he does so he says:—
“What a fine cow your predecessor was.
How well she supported us with milk;
Won’t you supply us in like manner?
You are a god among us.
Do not let the Tirieri[2] go to ruin.
Let one become a thousand!
Let all be well!
Let us have plenty of calves!
Let us have plenty of milk!”
The cow wears the bell for three days and nights, after which it is
taken off forever. It is not used again until the old cow dies and her
daughter is then made bell-cow in her place.
Footnote 2:
Sacred dairy.
[Illustration: GROUP OF TODAS (VERNEAU).]
Perhaps you would like to know how the priest fills his time? One day is
much like another with him. When he rises he washes his face, hands, and
teeth. He makes a little lamp from a leaf and after filling it with
butter places five wicks in it. After lighting it he sets it to burn in
front of the ancient bells and other sacred objects. He then takes his
staff and bamboo milk pail and goes to milk the cows. He salutes them
and prays to them before milking. Carrying the milk into the dairy, he
sprinkles some drops upon the sacred bells as an offering and repeats
the names of the gods. He then makes butter from the milk of the
preceding day. His work is now done, and he prepares food for himself
and his assistant. This man then drives the herd to pasture and gathers
firewood. The last thing before going to sleep at night, the priest puts
fresh butter and wicks into the little lamp before the bells.
The Todas have other curious customs, but we have no space to describe
them. Their salutations, the naming of children, the yearly feast, when
they eat a young buffalo bull (they rarely eat meat at any other time),
and their funeral customs are all interesting. Every man who dies among
the Todas has _two_ funerals, called the green and the dry funeral, a
year apart.
XX.
ANDAMANESE: MINCOPIES.
East of British India and south of Cochin-China in the Bay of Bengal are
the Andaman Islands, on which the Mincopies live. They are small in
stature, black or _dark_ brown, with broad round heads, and crinkly or
woolly hair. They are often called _negritos_, or little negroes.
An Englishman named Man lived for some years in the Andaman Islands and
became much interested in the little blacks. He learned their language
and has described their customs.
The Mincopies are true savages, living entirely on wild food; they are
gentle and non-savage in disposition. The islands are well supplied with
food. “The sea which washes their coasts is full of fish and abounds
with turtles; the jungles are filled with wild pigs; the bees furnish
abundance of wild honey.” From plants they get roots and fruits. They
have no cultivated fields and no domestic animals. Although savages,
these little people know how to build good houses. These are huts some
thirty-five by forty feet; the framework is of posts and poles and the
firm thatch is of palm leaves. The huts are arranged about an oval or
elliptical cleared space, where they hold their dances. When off on long
hunting trips the Mincopies build rude shelters of branches and leaves.
In their villages boys and girls, unless they are still babies, do not
sleep in the houses with grown persons, but there are two special
sleeping houses—one for boys and the other for girls. In the houses of
the Mincopies fires are kept burning. It is said that these people do
not know how to kindle fire; if this is true, they are almost the only
people who are ignorant of this important knowledge. They are careful of
the fires they have and feed them well.
Unless they think they have some reason to fear strangers, the Mincopies
receive them kindly. The little children are taught to respect visitors.
“They are the first served; the best dishes are offered to them; they
are accompanied at their departure; before separating they clasp hands,
and instead of embracing they blow in each other’s faces; then they
engage in an affectionate dialogue. Finally they separate with mutual
promises of meeting again.”
The adoption of children is common among Mincopies. It is rare that any
child remains with its parents after it is six or seven years old. Some
friend of the family wishes to show his friendship and asks to adopt the
child. The little one goes to his house and belongs to him. The parents
may visit him in his new home, but no longer have any control over him.
His new father may do what he likes with him, even to giving him away to
some other person who may wish to adopt him. When children are about
twelve years of age, they begin a fast, which is kept up until they are
almost men and women; during that time they must not eat turtle, pork,
fish, or honey. After several years of thus fasting, they may again eat
these foods.
There are rules about foods for grown persons, too. During certain parts
of the year they must not eat some kinds of roots and fruits; their god
Puluga will be displeased if they do. Children must not eat the flesh of
the two water animals, the dugong and porpoise. And to _every_ person
there is some one kind of food which he must not eat in all his life;
this forbidden food differs with the persons.
We have said a good deal about the kindness of the Mincopies: they are
not always good. They have their quarrels and battles like the rest of
the world. They are quick-tempered and often become angry for a small
offence. When a Mincopy _is_ angry, he acts like a naughty child,
striking and breaking everything around him, even his own choicest
treasures. Trouble sometimes breaks out between two tribes in the midst
of a feast. In their wars they destroy and carry off property; they take
no prisoners among the men, killing the wounded, but children of the
enemy are usually kept alive and kindly treated. Sometimes they try to
harm enemies by witchcraft, or conjuring. They think that Puluga
dislikes the smell of burning beeswax and will, in his anger, send forth
a storm. So, when they know that their enemy is going fishing or
hunting, they burn beeswax so that the angry Puluga will send a storm.
[Illustration: ANDAMAN MINCOPIES (TYLOR).]
Most curious is the funeral of a child among the Andamanese. When a
little one dies there is general weeping. Parents and friends paint
their bodies with clay; their heads are fresh shaved, and upon them,
over the forehead, men place a lump of clay, while women put one upon
the top of the head. The mother prepares the little body for burial; she
shaves and paints the head, neck, wrists, and knees with red ochre; she
then folds the little body together and wraps it in great leaves and
binds the bundle thus made with cords. The grave is dug in the floor of
the hut, under the fireplace. After gently blowing a few times upon the
little face in farewell, the child is buried and the fire is rebuilt
over the grave. The mother leaves a few drops of her own milk in a cup
on the grave. The hut is then deserted, a garland of rushes being
fastened around it to show that a death has taken place. The whole
village then moves, that the child’s spirit may not be disturbed. After
three months of mourning, they all return. The little skeleton is dug
up, the bones are painted red or yellow and distributed as keepsakes to
the friends, who wear them as necklaces in memory of the dead child.
This seems dreadful to us, but our people often keep locks of hair cut
from a dead child’s head; it is the same thing. At this time the lumps
of clay, signs of mourning, are removed from the heads and foreheads.
Some days later, there is a gathering of all the friends. The father,
holding his remaining children in his arms, sings a mourning song: the
women take part in the chorus, and all the rest cry noisily. The parents
then dance “the dance of tears,” after which they withdraw to the hut.
The visitors keep up the dance some hours longer.
XXI.
ARABS.
The old home of the Arabs was Arabia; to-day they are found not only in
Arabia, but over half of Asia and all of Northern Africa. Their great
wanderings began with the founding of Mohammedanism about the year 622
A.D. Full of zeal, the Arabs carried the new religion in every
direction.
The Arab is a white man, but a dark one. His language belongs to the
Semitic family and resembles the old Hebrew language. Arabic is a soft
and poetical language which is spoken to-day by myriads of people who
are not Arabs by blood. The Arab is of moderate stature; he is thin but
muscular, and has great endurance; he has a long head and a narrow, oval
face; his nose is long, thin, and prominent; his hair and eyes are
black.
We always think of the Arab as dwelling in tents. This is only partly
true. In Arabia itself about one-fourth of the Arabs are wandering
tent-dwellers; in Northern Africa, especially near the great desert,
many are nomadic. But everywhere we also find settled, town-inhabiting
Arabs also.
The tents of the desert Arabs are large, low, and flat; the covering is
a firm wool and camel’s-hair cloth. During the daytime, at least, the
sides are raised to permit the air to circulate. These tents are easily
taken down and packed, and as easily set up. Desert Arabs have flocks of
sheep and herds of goats, camels, and horses. Every one has heard of the
beauty, gentleness, and spirit of the Arabian horses—the finest perhaps
in the world. Their owners love them and treat them as tenderly as
children. Horses are rarely used by Arabs as draught animals or burden
bearers, but only for riding. The camel it is upon which the Arab packs
his heavy burdens for desert travel. The nomad Arab lives chiefly on
food drawn from his flocks and herds. Mutton is his most important meat;
couscous is a favorite food (see Kabyles). The nomad Arabs are
pillagers, and fall upon caravans of traders to rob them. Still they are
hospitable to the stranger who comes to their tent asking shelter; in
fact, they treat him with the greatest politeness. A table is set before
him; he is given water to wash his hands; the master himself receives
the food from the servants and places it before his guest. The Arabs
admire strength and agility, and at evening, before their tents, the
young men of the encampment practise tumbling, wrestling, hurling, and
other feats of strength.
[Illustration: CAMEL AND PALANQUIN (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The town Arabs live in comfortable houses. Most of these are of a single
story, though some are of two; they enclose a central open court; they
are flat-roofed; a large gateway gives entrance to the court, and is
high enough for a man on horseback to ride through. The flat house tops
make a favorite resting-place in the cool of the day. Streets in Arab
towns are narrow, crooked, and filthy. In Arab towns are noticed at once
many domes and minarets: the domes usually mark some famous grave; the
minarets, mosques. These graves are those of some pious Mohammedan
saint. There are thousands of them to which the Arabs flock to say their
prayers and to be cured of disease. Often at such tombs dervishes go
through with their strange performances. Some pierce themselves with
swords, with no signs of pain; others spin around and around on their
heels until one wearies of watching them, and wonders why they do not
fall.
The town Arab is more particular about his religion than the Bedouin
dweller in the desert. He must—and every good Mohammedan _should_—wash
his hands before eating; he must pray five times a day with his face
turned toward Mecca. Mecca is so sacred to them because it was the home
of Mohammed; every Arab and other good Mohammedan tries, once in his
life, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he must see the _Kaabah_, or
black-stone. Arabs are much given to pious exclamations. Thus before
eating or beginning any business they say _Bismallah_, which means _In
God’s name_, and on finishing the meal or successfully completing the
business they say _Hamdouallah_, _Praise God_. This piety does not
interfere with the town Arab driving hard bargains in business. He loves
trade and money. He frequently goes in caravans to trade in other
places. The Arabs, too, are the slave-traders in Africa. This cruel
business has not yet been stopped completely. The traders buy negroes
where they can, and hunt them almost like wild animals when they cannot
buy them. In some places the hunted beings take refuge in trees, which
have been prepared as places of safety from which they defend
themselves.
Formerly the Arabs were more important than now. Seven or eight hundred
years ago Arabia was the world’s centre of learning—or at least the Arab
cities were. At a time, when Europe had lost much of what she once
possessed, the Arab world was full of philosophers, physicians, poets,
and astrologers. From the Arabs Europe gained much of the knowledge that
we now possess. But those bright days of Arabian glory are past. To-day
the boys in Arab schools learn little but reading, writing, and
arithmetic. They learn long passages from the Koran—the sacred book of
Mohammedanism. The little fellows—for girls do not go to school—sit on
the floor, and all study aloud, the louder the better, because then the
teacher will know that they _are_ studying.
XXII.
THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA: KABYLES.
We rightly think of Africa as the home of the negroes, but it is a
mistake to think that no other peoples dwell in that continent. The
peoples of North Africa are white peoples; their complexions are often
dark, but in head, form, features, and character they are like
Europeans, rather than negroes. There are many types in North Africa.
There are the modern Egyptians, who look like their great and famous
distant ancestors; there are the Berbers and Kabyles, of whom we shall
say more later; there are Arabs; there are “Jews,” especially in
Algeria, Morocco, and the other Barbary States; there are Moors also,
who are a mixed people with some negro blood.
True Negro-Africa begins near the Equator and stretches southward. The
Sudan is the great negro country. There are four areas in this Sudanese
negro belt: the upper Nile valley, the Sudan proper, the Senegambian
district, and Guinea. In these four sections the people are negroes,
though here and there somewhat mixed. Most of Africa south of this negro
belt is occupied by negroids, who consist of many tribes and resemble
negroes in their narrow heads and woolly hair; they are, however, less
dark in color, more graceful in build, and more intelligent. Scattered
here and there in Equatorial Africa are bands of Pygmies, men and women
among whom are like boys and girls among us in size. In far Southern
Africa live the Bushmen and Hottentots, among negroid tribes.
The Kabyles are among the most interesting of North African peoples.
There are two types, the dark and the light Kabyles. The latter have
light skin, fair hair, blue eyes, and much resemble the light whites of
Europe. The Kabyles are tall, well built, and active. They are
industrious and love labor. They are a mountain people and love their
home. Their towns are located upon the slopes or on the summits. The
houses are usually of one story and have flat roofs. There are two
rooms,—one for the family and the other for the animals. When there are
two stories to a house, it shows that the owner has a married son living
with him; the upper story has been built above the old house for the
young couple. A little garden always surrounds the house. The Kabyl
country is rather cold, and the houses are not widely separated, so that
they assist in protecting each other against the winds. In winter the
family lives in a sort of cellar under the house.
[Illustration: GROUP OF KABYLES: ALGERIA (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The Kabyles work hard to raise their little crops. Their fields are down
in valleys or are terraced out on the hill slopes. They raise barley,
wheat, gourds, cucumbers, and melons; they raise flax; they have some
common cultivated plants that have been introduced from Mexico, as the
prickly-pear cactus, maguey, maize, tobacco, and potato. The prickly
pear and maguey are so common that landscapes in Algeria resemble those
of Mexico. The Kabyles raise apples, pears, apricots, olives, figs,
grapes, and nuts. They keep bees, and have quite a trade in wax. The men
are good workers in metals and leather, and trade their wares to their
neighbors.
The women, like all women in the Mohammedan world, delight in jewelry
and ornaments, and as they are not wearers of veils they have a good
chance to display their treasures. Couscous is a favorite food in
Northern Africa, not only among Kabyles, but Arabs and other peoples.
Kabyl women spend much of their time in its preparation. Flour is mixed
with water into a sort of thick dough, which is divided into little
masses which are rolled between the fingers. These little pellets,
almost like seeds, they steam and eat with bits of meat and hot, peppery
sauce.
The Kabyles love horseback riding, and are bold hunters. They fight
bravely in defence of their homes. Among their amusements, perhaps
falconry stands first. The falcon, you know, is a bird much like a hawk,
which is trained to chase and kill or capture smaller birds or animals.
It is carried to the field by the hunter on horseback. The bird is
perched upon its master’s wrist, and is blinded by a hood over its head.
When the hunter sees game, he unhoods the falcon and lets it fly after
the victim.
[Illustration: MAKING COUSCOUS IN THE DESERT (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
XXIII.
NEGROES.
We have already spoken of the district of true negroes. In the Sudan
they are at their best and purest type. The skin is almost black; the
head long and narrow; the face narrow; the hair kinky and woolly. The
lower part of the face projects far beyond the upper part. The lips are
thick. Negroes have an odor which is peculiar to them, and which most
white persons dislike. Many of the negro tribes are composed of persons
who are tall, strong, and well built.
Almost all negroes are agriculturists, living in settled villages. Their
houses are usually round huts. The Bongo of the upper Nile build huts
about twenty feet in diameter and the same in height, which are firm and
well built, though made only of poles and thatch. The entrance is so low
that one crawls into the hut on hands and knees. On the conical roof are
built benches of straw, on which persons sit to overlook and guard the
planted fields. The floor inside the hut is made of hard, well-beaten
clay. Skins of animals serve as beds. The Wolofs of the Sudan make very
similar huts, but do not construct the seats on the roof. Among both
tribes they build little granaries near the huts; these are made of
basketwork and are set up on posts to place them out of reach of
animals.
The African negroes are fond of bright colors and tawdry ornaments.
Objects of metal and glass beads are particularly prized. They use rings
of iron, copper, and brass of all sizes for the arms, legs, and fingers.
Sometimes so many rings will be put upon the arms that they completely
cover them. The negroes in some tribes pierce ears, noses, and lips for
inserting ornaments. The Bongo women, for example, pierce a series of
holes along the rim of each ear, along the edges of the nose, and at the
corners of the mouth, and through each hole they thrust a short bit of
grass stalk. The men in negro tribes often bear a tribal mark; this is
usually the scar or scars left by cutting lines or patterns on the face
or chest. Thus the mark of one tribe might be three cuts across each
cheek; that of another a pattern of criss-cross lines upon the forehead;
another tribe in the central lake district had a line of wart-like
swellings, at equal distances from each other, extending from the root
of the nose to the top of the forehead. All these tribal marks were cut
in childhood, and the cutting must have been painful. It is said that
the Bornu baby boys have one hundred and three cuts made on their little
bodies for their tribal sign.
African negroes often dress their hair into strange and curious forms,
as do also the neighboring negroids. They build it up into great horns,
train it out in little strings, the ends of which they fasten to a
wooden ring, build it into thick mats or wigs, and insert all sorts of
fibres, beads, and ornaments in it. Of course such carefully trained
hair must not be spoiled by lying on it, so they have the same sort of
wooden pillows as the Fiji Islanders, to keep the head off the ground.
These wooden pillows are often decorated with carvings of human and
animal figures. Many negroes delight in wood-carving and sometimes make
strange masses of many human and animal figures crowded together in the
most curious way. These they paint in bright colors. Near the west coast
of Africa several tribes are ivory carvers, and their artists will cover
an elephant’s tusk with human figures, animal forms, and geometrical
designs; no space will be lost; every spot will be filled.
[Illustration: NEGRO SMITHS AT WORK (RATZEL).]
Most of the negro tribes know how to weave, and some of their cloth made
from grass or vegetable fibres is closely and well woven. The most
remarkable art of the negroes, however, is their working of iron. They
know how to get iron from its ore and to work it into desired forms.
They build a little conical smelting furnace or oven of clay, into which
they put their fuel and ore. They then blow air through the fire with
their rude bellows. This consists of two earthen vessels, or boxes of
some sort, over the top of which bladders or skin are tied; tubes lead
from these vessels and the lower end of a stick is tied to the middle of
each bladder covering. The smith takes the upper ends of the sticks in
his hands and works them up and down, first one and then the other. He
thus forces air first into one tube and then into the other: these two
tubes end in a single clay tube which conducts the air into the furnace.
After the blacksmith gets his iron from the ore he works it with heat
and beating to the forms wanted. At Benin City, which was at the head of
a dreadful negro kingdom, they had learned how to cast bronze and made
wonderful objects in it. They made rings, bells, animal figures, plaques
with human figures represented on them, and masks of the human head of
life size.
Negroes love music and have many instruments, not only rattles, drums,
whistles, flutes, and trumpets, but stringed instruments also. In some
tribes there are wandering minstrels, who go from place to place playing
on their three-stringed guitar and singing songs in praise of the chief
or king whom they visit. They sing in his praise if he pays them well;
if, however, he is stingy, their songs make bitter fun of him. These
minstrels are either men or women: they are feared and disliked, but
well treated, as no one wishes to gain their ill will.
Some of the most brutal and cruel acts in the world are done among negro
kingdoms like Ashanti, Dahomey, and Benin. No human life is there safe.
The king orders instant death to those who offend him. The executioner’s
knife is kept busy. Cruel butcheries are connected with their religion,
and sometimes the king will have dozens, scores, or even hundreds of men
killed to carry messages to his dead father. It is also among negroes
that we find cannibalism existing in revolting forms and frightful
belief in witchcraft. Any old man or old woman may be accused, at any
time, of being a witch: it takes little to prove their guilt, and they
are speedily executed.
Negroes often believe that some men can change themselves into wild
animals and then resume their own form. They are especially afraid of
man-leopards: not unfrequently men who have been thought to be such have
been executed. We cannot, however, blame the negroes much for such
ideas. Not long ago white Europeans generally believed in werewolves (or
manwolves), and there are still districts in Europe where such beliefs
exist.
Many African negroes wear charms to protect themselves against harm.
Such charms are called _gri-gris_. Almost anything may be a gri-gri: a
part of some animal, a plant, a curious stone. Where the negroes have
had much to do with Arabs or other Mohammedans a favorite gri-gri is a
verse from the Koran, written on paper done up in a little leathern
pouch and hung about the neck. Sometimes a man will be almost covered
with gri-gris. He may have so many “as to weigh thirty pounds,” and they
may hamper him so “that he must be helped in mounting a horse.”
We have already told you that the Arabs still hunt negro slaves. Many of
the negro tribes themselves keep slaves—thus the Wolofs do so. They,
however, treat their slaves more kindly than the Arabs do.
XXIV.
NEGROIDS.
The negroids of Southern and Eastern Africa resemble the negroes. They
are generally tall; they have a fine dark brown color, long narrow
heads, hair less kinky and woolly than the negroes, flat nose and thick
lips. They do not have the negro’s odor. The negroids comprise many
different tribes, but all speak related languages known as the Bantu
languages. The tribes we shall consider are the Zulus, Kaffirs, and
Waganda.
The Zulus and Kaffirs wear generally but little clothing. A man wears a
cord about the waist with flaps of leather hanging from it in front and
behind; the woman wears a fringed girdle about her waist. Sometimes they
wear a mantle of hairy skins. At great festivals the men deck themselves
finely. A traveller, describing a young man who was going visiting,
says: “He will wear furs, among them the Angora goat; feathers in his
head-dress; globular tufts of beautiful feathers on his forehead or at
the back of his head; eagle feathers in fine head-dresses, as also
ostrich, lory, and peacock feathers. He ties so many tufts and tails to
his waist girdle that he may almost be said to wear a kilt.”
The negroids, like the negroes, are agriculturists and live in towns of
huts. Some tribes are raisers of cattle and have large herds that yield
milk, meat, and skins. They are hunters, too, and that on a large scale.
They set up long hedges or lines of brush and stakes, which converge
toward certain points where they dig pits and cover them. They then
scatter over a large district and beat it, scaring in the animals and
driving them between the lines of brush into the pits, where they easily
kill them.
The two great weapons of the southern negroids are the _kerry_ and the
_assegai_. The kerry is a short wooden club with a knob at the end. This
is thrown at the game. The assegai is a spear, the shaft of which is
long and slender and the head of which, made of iron, is long and wide.
Assegais are used all through South and Central Africa. The form and
size of the blade varies with tribes: sometimes it is two feet in length
and several inches across. Mrs. French-Sheldon saw the assegai maker, in
one tribe she visited, using a natural leaf as his pattern, and he was
careful to exactly copy its form. Both negro and negroid tribes in some
parts of Africa, especially Western Central Africa, use throwing-knives;
they are made from a flat piece of iron, worked into several blades
projecting in different directions. They are thrown through the air, and
some one of the ugly blades is quite sure to strike.
Kaffirs and Zulus make long oval shields almost as tall as themselves,
for protection in battle. A cowskin, with the hair on, is stretched over
a light and simple wooden frame. Each great section of Africans has its
own kind of shield. The Niam-Niams and some Congo tribes weave beautiful
close and light shields of wicker or basket work; they are long and
narrow, and protect the whole body. The splints of which they are woven
differ in color and are worked into rather handsome patterns. In Nubia
they use shields made of thick and heavy hide, like elephant or
rhinoceros hide; these are circular, not very large, and have a round or
conical knob or boss raised at the centre.
[Illustration: WAGANDA MUSICIANS (RATZEL).]
Kaffirs and Zulus are fond of war and are brave in battle. They have war
dances in which they are inflamed for the fray. A Kaffir who slays an
enemy may have a great gash cut in his leg on his return home to show
that fact. The scars of such gashes are objects of great pride. The
Kaffirs are fine speakers and their speeches on important occasions are
stirring and impressive. Like negroes, the negroids delight in music and
have many instruments. None, however, is a greater favorite than the
noisy drum.
Among Zulus and Kaffirs, the sorcerer is much feared and dreaded. When
men are ill, or in trouble, they go to him for help and advice. He goes
through with many strange performances. The people believe that he can
detect thieves and find stolen property, that he can bewitch and cure
bewitchment; he is frequently, also, a rain-maker. There is much
jealousy between the sorcerers or rain-makers in a tribe, and they
sometimes challenge each other to tests of their power. The description
of such a test between two rain-makers, in one of Rider Haggard’s books,
is probably true to life.
XXV.
PYGMIES.
Many centuries ago, the Greek writers, Homer, Herodotus, and Aristotle,
spoke of dwarf peoples, whom they called _Pygmies_, living in Africa. On
an ancient Egyptian wall there is painted a queer little dwarf-like
figure with the word _Akka_ written near it. It is plain that little
African peoples were known both to the Greeks and Egyptians. But for
hundreds of years after the old Greek writers and Egyptian artists were
dead, no one believed in real Pygmies. Every one felt that the accounts
of them were “travellers’ lies,” told to amuse people. But travellers
who have been going into Africa during the last two hundred years and
more have from time to time told us of such tribes, and to-day there can
be no doubt of their existence. There are really Pygmies, and they are
curious and interesting.
When the great German traveller Schweinfurth was visiting King Munza of
the Monbuttus in “the heart of Africa,” he learned that tribes of
Pygmies lived near. There were nine clusters of them, and they were
called _Akkas_—just like the little creature represented on the old
Egyptian wall—and each cluster had its own chief. At one time
Schweinfurth saw several hundred of these little people together. Munza
traded one of these Pygmies, whose name was Neevoué, to Schweinfurth.
The traveller was kind to the little fellow, and wanted to take him to
Germany, but Neevoué died in Egypt. He was a cruel little creature, not
very bright, and had great difficulty in learning. Later on, in Ashango
Land, much farther to the west, Du Chaillu found the dwarf Obongos, whom
he described, and whose houses he pictured. An Italian traveller named
Miani secured two Akkas in trade. He planned to take them to Italy, but
he died on his journey home. His two Pygmies, however, reached Italy,
where a kind-hearted nobleman took care of them. They were gay and
happy, though fitful, and were rather quick to learn; they learned to
speak, read, and write Italian.
[Illustration: HUTS OF ASHANGO-LAND DWARFS (DU CHAILLU).]
So much was known about the Pygmies before Stanley’s journey. He saw
many of them, and tells a good deal about them and their life. The Akkas
were the tribe he saw. They measure from three feet to four feet and six
inches; a full-grown man weighs about ninety pounds. Some of them have
long heads, long, narrow faces, small, reddish eyes placed near
together, and are sour looking and morose. The others have round faces
with fine, large, bright eyes placed wide apart, high foreheads, skin of
a rich ivory-yellow color. All African Pygmies seem to have their bodies
covered with short, rather stiff, grayish hair. Stanley says the Akkas
place their villages near the towns of bigger people, and that sometimes
eight to twelve Pygmy villages will surround one negro (or negroid)
town. These Pygmies are lively and active; they do not cultivate any
plants, but devote themselves to hunting.
They use little bows and arrows, and small spears. The tips of the
arrows and spears are often poisoned. With these weapons these little
folk attack and kill antelopes, buffalo, and even elephants. They dig
pitfalls and make traps. Some of their traps are like sheds, the roofs
of which are held in place by vines; bananas and nuts are placed in
these as bait; when chimpanzees or other animals try to take the bait,
the roof falls. The Pygmies catch birds for their feathers, and hunt for
wild honey.
The Pygmies use two kinds of arrow poison. One is dark and thick and
made from the leaves of a plant quite like our Jack-in-the-pulpit or
Indian turnip. The other is believed to be made from red ants,—which are
dried and crushed to powder,—mixed with palm oil. Both are said to act
quickly when fresh. Stanley mentions one man who died within one minute
from a small wound in his right arm and chest. When the poison is old it
acts less rapidly.
These Pygmies live in low oval huts, with doors two or three feet high.
The houses are arranged in a circle about an open cleared space, in
which the chief’s house stands. About one hundred yards from the
village, along every path that leads to it, is a little guard house,
only big enough for two Pygmies. These are guard houses and toll
stations, and all strangers who pass must pay toll. The Pygmies are
usually on good terms with their big neighbors, and both are useful to
the other. The little people sell their ivory, skins, honey, and poison
to their neighbors, or trade them for vegetable food. The Pygmies, keen
and watchful, are good pickets for the others, and often warn them of
danger from approaching enemies.
XXVI.
BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS.
Far to the south in Africa, in and about the Desert of Kalahari, live
the Bushmen. They are somewhat like the Pygmies. They are
little—full-grown men being from four feet to four feet six inches in
stature. They are of a yellow-brown color; their hair is black and
kinky, but appears to grow in little tufts with bare spaces between; the
jaws project and the lips are thick; they wrinkle early. They are quick
and lively in movements, and are bold hunters.
Little bands of them wander from place to place, without any fixed home.
They build no houses. Usually they live in holes among the rocks; at
most, they build rude, temporary shelters. They live chiefly on game,
which they kill with the bow and arrow, or sometimes with the spear.
They sometimes trail an animal a long distance, and when they overtake
and kill it, stop at the spot to eat it. They are wonderful at following
the trail of either animals or men, and see signs of their having passed
which a white man would never notice. They get a hard living; they
gather seeds and roots, fruits and gums; they hunt the honey of wild
bees; they catch lizards and snakes. They are so fond of the white
grubs, or pupæ of ants—which we usually, but wrongly, call ants’
eggs—that the Boers, living near the little people, call them “Bushmen’s
rice.” They also eat the huge eggs of the ostrich, and make water
vessels out of the empty shells.
Their bows are small and their arrows are hardly more than a foot in
length; the points of bone, stone, or iron are poisoned, and are so
attached to the shaft that they separate and remain in the wound. The
spear and darts which they use are also small and have poisoned tips. In
the quivers with their arrows they carry a little sharpening stone for
grinding the points and a brush for applying the poison. For digging
roots the Bushmen use a pointed stick, which is weighted with a stone
ring. These few simple weapons and tools are all that these poor people
possess, except a few wooden dishes and a smoking pipe, which is said to
be owned by a whole family or band.
Livingstone says that their arrow poison comes from a sort of
caterpillar or grub, which they crush and dip the arrow tip into. They
always clean their nails carefully after handling the poison, as it
causes damage if it comes into contact with any scratch or cut. The pain
caused by the poison is so great as almost to make the man who has been
wounded crazy. When a lion has been struck with one of these poisoned
arrows he roars terribly and bites and tears the ground and trees. To
cure a person who has been bitten they use an ointment made of the
crushed caterpillar mixed with grease. They believe that the caterpillar
is hungry for grease; when it does not find fat in a person it kills
him; when they supply it the fat it wants, it does no harm. It is said
that this caterpillar is sacred and that they pray to it, asking it to
give them plenty of game when they are hunting.
[Illustration: GORA-PLAYER: BUSHMAN (RATZEL).]
These little people are fond of music and drawing. Their finest musical
instrument is a _gora_. This is a hunter’s bow, with a ring on the bow
string. By sliding this ring they change the note which it gives when
twanged. The twang of a bowstring is not a very loud sound; to increase
it a gourd is hung to the lower end of the bow. All over the country of
the Bushmen cliffs and the walls of caves are covered with their
pictures, which represent animals, birds, and men; hunting scenes and
battles are also represented. These pictures are sometimes just pecked
out in the rock; sometimes they are painted; sometimes they are first
pecked out and then filled with color. The colors most used in these
pictures are red, yellow, and black.
The negroid Kaffirs and the Hottentots who live near the poor Bushmen
hate them and harm them. Meeting them on the road, they sometimes kill
them without pity. In 1804 a Kaffir who went to Cape Town on business
found a Bushman boy eleven years old working as a servant in the
government building. He killed the little fellow with a spear. This, of
course, was long ago, but it shows how the Kaffirs despise the Bushmen.
The Hottentots live near the Bushmen and are a mixture between them and
the negroids. They are taller than the Bushmen, but have much the same
yellowish brown skin color and the same sort of hair. Their language,
too, is much like that of the Bushmen. In both languages there are some
strange sounds, hard for white men to pronounce, called “clicks.” These
sounds come in the middle of words, and are called “clicks” because they
sound something like the sound made in driving horses. Among the Bushmen
there are nine different sounds of this kind; the Hottentots have only
four.
[Illustration: BUSHMAN ROCK PICTURE (RATZEL).]
The Hottentots are cattle-raisers, but do not cultivate plants. They
gather wild fruits and dig roots. They move with their herds from one
pasture to another; their settlements are called _kraals_. Their huts
are dome-shaped and consist of a light framework of poles over which
mattings are hung. When they move it takes only a few minutes to take
the houses to pieces and pack them on to their cattle. The huts are
always set up in a circle, enclosing a clear space where the cattle are
herded.
Both men and women of the Hottentots wear fur caps, and it is considered
indecent for a woman to be seen with her head bare. Hottentot clothing
consists of leather aprons and cloaks. Hottentots rarely kill their
cattle, which they keep for milk rather than for meat.
They are quite warlike, and each tribe has a leader. They honor brave
warriors. They are gay in disposition and like to say sharp and funny
things about each other; this often leads to quarrels and fights. When a
man is angry with another, he takes a handful of dust and offers it to
him; if the offender is willing to fight, he seizes the hand and
scatters the dust on the ground; if he refuses to fight, the angry man
throws the dust upon him to show that he is a coward. In fighting to
settle quarrels, they kick and club each other and even use spears.
[Illustration: HOTTENTOT KRAAL (RATZEL).]
The Hottentots have many songs and prayers which they repeat to, or
about, their sacred beings. Among their stories are some about the
rabbit and his adventures. They worship the stars which we call the
Pleiades. When these stars rise for the first time in the year, the
people greet them. Mothers take their babies in their arms and teach
them to stretch out their little hands toward the friendly stars. They
then have a dance and sing a song in honor of one of their gods. There
is a large insect called the _mantis_, which, when it stands still,
raises its long front legs into a curious position; the Hottentots think
that it is praying. When a praying mantis appears in a kraal every one
is pleased, as they think it brings good luck. No one thinks of killing
it, and they make an offering to it.
When a Hottentot man goes hunting, his wife kindles a fire at home and
does nothing while he is gone but carefully tend it. They believe if she
lets it go out that he will fail in his hunting. Hottentot conjurers are
thought to be great snake charmers. It is said that they can hiss in
such a way that all the snakes in the district will be attracted to
them. So much are these conjurers feared that every one wears some
object about him to protect himself against their power.
XXVII.
MALAYS.
The Malays live in the Malay Peninsula, on the great islands near
it,—Sumatra, Borneo, and Java,—and on a host of lesser islands in that
part of the world. They also form part of the population of the great
island, Madagascar, lying east of Africa.
They are short, with brown skin, dark eyes, straight and coarse black
hair, and broad, round heads. Their forms are slight and graceful. They
are active and gay, quick and intelligent; they are easily offended, do
not readily forgive injuries, and are often deceitful and treacherous.
The Malays are believed to have come from the continent of Asia not more
than three thousand years ago.
They are fairly industrious in working their fields, the most important
crop from which is rice. They have other crops, however, and also raise
many fruits. They use the buffalo as a help in field work and for
drawing carts. Those Malays who live near the coast fish, and use both
fresh and salted fish for food. They are good sailors, making journeys
by water to China, Australia and other islands. They are shrewd in
trading. Formerly, many Malays were bold pirates, as indeed in some
parts they still are.
Malay houses are usually built of boards, are rectangular in form, and
have a two-pitched roof. They are almost everywhere, set up on posts
quite high above ground, and must be reached by means of ladders.
The Malays are great chewers of betel nut. A piece of the nut is mixed
with a little lime, placed in a leaf, and chewed. It colors the saliva
red and stains the teeth a brownish black. So used are the Malays to
these stained teeth that they no longer admire white teeth. Of a man
whose teeth are not stained with betel they will say, “he has teeth like
a dog,” and seem to consider it a disgrace. They even chip off or file
away the enamel on the front of the teeth of children so that they may
become sooner blackened.
[Illustration: MALAY FAMILY: JAVA (VERNEAU).]
All Malays like amusement; even the most civilized celebrate many
festivals. Animal fights and theatrical performances are favorites.
Almost every man among the Malays keeps a fighting cock of which he is
proud and fond; while he works in his field, the bird is tied by a cord
to a stake near him, and he stops now and again to stroke and pet him.
Cock-fights take place frequently, but the birds are not allowed—as in
Mexico—to kill each other. The bull-fights in the Malay region are also
much less cruel than those of Mexico and Spain. In these countries the
bull is made to fight against a trained company of human fighters; among
the Malays he fights another animal of his own kind. The Malay
buffalo-tiger fight is famous. A buffalo and tiger are placed in a pen
together and then excited until they attack each other. The buffalo is
quite frequently the victor. Most curious, however, is the battle
between crickets. The contest between these insects is watched with
great interest and excitement by the Malays. It occurs also in Japan.
Malays delight in dances and the theatre. At the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago there was a complete Javanese village. It
contained a dance house where dances were given to the sound of the
strange gongs and other musical instruments of the Javan people. The
dancing was by girls who were gayly dressed in velvet, silk, and satin
with gold and silver tinsel. They wore curious gilt helmets. They did
not dance with their feet, but kept time to the music by graceful
movements of the arms, hands, head, and eyes. In the same building they
gave plays, in which the players wore small and curious masks of wood.
In other plays, somewhat like our Punch and Judy, puppets were moved and
played the parts. The Javanese also have shadow plays, where jointed
human figures, cut from cardboard, are moved by sticks and their shadows
are thrown upon a screen.
[Illustration: BUFFALO CART: JAVA (RATZEL).]
“Running amuck” is fearfully common among Malays. Suddenly a man, on the
street or in some public place, becomes insane with a desire to kill.
Seizing a weapon, he starts down a street filled with people and strikes
right and left at every one as he runs. The police hurry after the
murderer and are usually compelled to kill him before his dreadful work
can be stopped. The Malays are really a nervous and excitable people; it
is said that frequently a steady look at a person will throw him into a
trance or hypnotized state.
[Illustration: KRISES: JAVA (RATZEL).]
Of the various weapons used by the Malays the _kris_ seems to be the
favorite. In Java this was often a remarkable object. A kris is a short
sword or dagger with a fine steel blade which ends in a point, and the
sides of which are wavy instead of straight. Probably they think of this
as a stinging serpent; anyway the handle is frequently in the form of a
serpent’s head. Sometimes this handle is finely carved and often it is
set with gems. Some that belonged to the old Javan princes were a mass
of precious stones. The sheath for the kris might be plain, but it might
also be decorated with carvings or encrusted with jewels.
Strangest of the Malays are the Dyaks of Borneo and the Battaks of
Sumatra. Both are a little larger and have longer heads than the
Javanese. The Dyaks are great “head-hunters.” No man is respected until
he has brought in a head as a trophy. Usually only the skull is kept;
sometimes this will be engraved with patterns or stained with coloring
matter; sometimes designs are cut in the bone and foil is set in the
patterns. The Battaks are industrious and have made progress in many
ways. They have a system of writing. Inscriptions are usually carved
upon staves of bamboo; they also have books made of strips of palm or
other vegetable substances. The Battaks are among the most dreadful of
cannibals.
XXVIII.
THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES.
The Philippine Islands lie northeast from the great Malay Islands. The
group extends for one thousand miles and includes almost two thousand
islands of sizes from barren rock masses too small for use up to the
great Island of Luzon, which is about the size of Ohio. All together the
islands have an area equal to that of New York and the New England
States united. It is uncertain how large a population occupy the
islands, but it is probably between seven and eight million.
Dr. Blumentritt, an Austrian who has studied the Philippine peoples for
many years, says that fifty-one different languages are spoken among
them. He thinks that the peoples have come at various times to the
islands from various places. He believes that the first people here were
the negritos and that they once occupied the whole region. Perhaps three
thousand years ago Malay tribes, a good deal like the Dyaks of Borneo,
crowded in upon the unfortunate little natives, seizing their land and
driving them into the mountains of the interior and to the more remote
parts of the coast. Later, from eighteen hundred to fourteen hundred
years ago, other Malays crowded in, but this time they were more like
those of Java. Much later, only about five hundred years ago, a third
lot of Malays, bold and hardy seamen, began a movement into the islands.
But just then the Spaniards discovered the Philippines and checked these
pirates before they had gained much of a foothold. Blumentritt speaks of
these invasions of Malays as the first, second, and third Malay
migrations.
[Illustration: PHILIPPINE NEGRITO (MEYER).]
The negritos, or old population, are a little people much like the
Mincopies of the Andaman Islands. They are short, black skinned, and
crinkly haired. They do not live to be old, but a person of thirty or
forty looks as if much older. They build no true houses; in bad weather
they put up rude shelters. They are wanderers and have no agriculture;
they make no pottery; they wear but little clothing; some scar or
tattoo; they are fond of ornaments. Their chief weapon is the bow and
arrow, though they also have spears. They are skilful in throwing
stones. They make fire by friction, sawing one sharp piece of bamboo
across another. If a negrito dies, his fellows believe he was bewitched
by some Tagal or other Malay, and will not be satisfied until one has
been killed in revenge. When two negritos wish to swear friendship, they
cut their arms and each sucks blood from the other; they thus become of
one blood and are like brothers. They used to send messages by knotting
grass which either had a meaning itself or helped the person who carried
it to remember what he had been told. There are now perhaps twenty
thousand negritos and they live mostly on the larger islands—Luzon,
Mindanao, and Negros.
Many tribes in the Philippines represent the first Malay invasion. They
are much alike in life and character; all are bold and cruel; most of
them are head-hunters. They depend, in part, on agriculture, and have
settled villages which are usually in the mountains or forests. The
Igorrotes are a good example of them. They live in North Luzon. Both men
and women tattoo; they gild their teeth and are fond of ornaments. The
men go armed with spears, bows and arrows, and knives. Their peculiar
weapon, however, is a hatchet-knife called _ligua_; the thin broad
blade, set like that of a hatchet, has a concave cutting edge which runs
into a long point above. The houses of the Igorrotes are large,
rectangular, and raised on piles. These people are good agriculturists,
tending their fields—which they irrigate—with care. The girls of the
village are in charge of an old woman, and they all live and sleep
together in one special house; this is unlike the other houses of the
village and is not set up on posts. The Igorrotes have much respect for
the souls of their ancestors. In each village there is a sacred tree in
which they believe these souls abide. Though industrious and settled the
Igorrotes are dreadful head-hunters. They organize war-parties to attack
neighboring tribes for victims. The party shown in the picture were on
such an errand. Only a few days after the photograph was taken they fell
upon a Tingian village, killed thirty-nine persons, and carried away
twenty-five heads as trophies.
[Illustration: HOUSES OF IGORROTES (MEYER).]
The Tagals, one of the tribes of the second invasion, are the most
important of the Philippine peoples. They industriously work their
fields and raise rice, yams, maize, and several fleshy-root plants. Of
fruits they cultivate mangoes, bananas, pineapples, cocoanuts, and
others. Of industrial plants they produce manila hemp, cotton, indigo,
and tobacco. Many of these plants they have only had since the coming of
the Spaniards. They have long had domestic animals, among them the
buffalo, pig, dog, hens, and ducks. The Tagals have towns of
considerable size, with well-built houses perched on posts. They are
well dressed in good cloth woven by the women. They are fond of gain and
good traders. They are active in body and mind. They delight in poetry,
and it is said “boys on the street will improvise by the yard.” The
Tagals write their language with an alphabet which was probably brought
from India _long_ ago. They formerly wrote on bamboo or on the bark of
certain trees. The Tagals are passionately fond of cock-fighting. Every
one chews betel nut.
[Illustration: HEAD-HUNTING PARTY: IGORROTES (MEYER).]
As to the third migration, it failed to reach the great island of Luzon.
The immigrants were Mohammedan Malays from Borneo. They were sea-rovers
and pirates. They gained possession of the Sulu Islands, the farthest to
the southwest of the Philippines, and had landed on Mindanao when the
arrival of the Spaniards put an end to their movements. They are usually
called _Moros_ or Moors, from their religion. They are polygamous and
keep slaves. Their ruler is called the Sultan of Sulu.
Such are the people of the Philippines: at least fifty-one tribes,
speaking as many different languages. But there are also many foreigners
there: thousands of Japanese and Chinese; descendants of American
Indians, brought by the old Spaniards from Mexico and Peru; Spaniards
and other whites. And lastly there are all sorts of _mestizos_, or mixed
persons, produced by the intermarriage of all these so many different
stocks—native and foreign.
XXIX.
MELANESIANS.
Several great groups of people occupy the vast island world of the
Pacific. We have already spoken of the Malays. In Australia live many
tribes differing in language and customs. They are mostly dark brown
with bushy or curly hair. They are savages in culture. South of
Australia, in Van Diemen’s Land, or Tasmania, there formerly lived a
dark brown people, not tall in stature, with peculiar features and long
curly hair; they are now all gone. North of Australia, in Papua or New
Guinea, are many tribes with curious and interesting arts and customs.
The real Papuans are dark brown in color and have woolly hair, which,
like that of the Bushmen, _seems_ to grow in tufts with bare spaces
between. They are of medium stature. The islands to the east and south
of Australia and New Guinea are occupied by black, woolly-haired tribes,
who are called Melanesians, and who are related to the Papuans. Among
them are the natives of Fiji, New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon
Islands.
The Fijians of fifty years ago will well represent the Melanesians.
Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, will give us our facts.
The Fijian hair-dressing was striking. Each chief had a special
hair-dresser, who frequently spent several hours a day in arranging his
master’s hair. The hairs were trained to stand out from the head so as
to form a great mass that might be trimmed into curious shapes. This
smooth, soft, solid, cushion-like mass of hair was stained with
colors—jet black naturally, it might be blue-black, ashy white, or
shades of red. The whole mass of hair, except a band in front, might be
black, while _that_ was white; sometimes the hair behind was twisted
into cords ending with tassels; one man had a knot of fiery red hair on
the crown while the rest of his head was shaved; sometimes the hair mass
measured four feet or more in circumference. Such grand hair-dressing
would be ruined by lying down with the head on the ground—so the Fijians
had a wooden head-rest or pillow, which was set under the neck and held
the head up, off the ground.
[Illustration: FIJIAN (RATZEL).]
Men wore a long sash of bark cloth, which was anywhere from three to one
hundred yards long. This was passed between the legs and wound around
the waist any number of times; if it were long and the man wanted to
present a _fine_ appearance it was folded several times up against the
upper part of his body; the ends were allowed to trail behind. The men
wore a turban of the same material, but fine and gauzy; from four to six
feet long, it was wrapped around the head, several times if need be; if
the hair mass was large, however, it would go little more than once.
Women wore little but a fringed waist band, which hung to the knees.
Like the Polynesians, from whom they probably learned it, the Fijians
used much _kava_, a drink which produces a stupefied or intoxicated
condition. The preparation of kava for the king was a great occasion.
The great kava bowl, made of wood carefully polished, was placed upon
the ground. The guests seated themselves around it. A number of young
men took pieces of the root from which the drink was to be made and
chewed them well in their mouths; they stacked up the pellets in the
dish; water was poured in until the bowl was nearly full and the balls
of chewed root were well stirred about and squeezed in it. Then a man,
especially trained to the work, strained them out with a bunch of fibre,
in which, by twisting, he squeezed the pellets until no more juice or
water ran out. The liquid was now ready for drinking. Prayer and song
had accompanied the making of the kava. The king, receiving a cupful
from a servant, spilled a little to the gods, and then drank. The others
then drank in their order. It was a high honor to drink next after the
king.
[Illustration: PILE-DWELLING VILLAGE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).]
[Illustration: CANOE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).]
The Fijians carved neat bowls and other vessels from wood. The kava
bowls, though usually plain, were carefully cut and beautifully
polished. The Fijians—almost alone of Pacific Islanders—made pottery;
the vessels were in various strange though rather graceful forms, and
were somewhat glazed. They made remarkable war clubs of fine, heavy,
dark woods which varied much in form, were decorated with carving, and
were handsomely polished. Fijians were not good sailors, but they made
better canoes than some of those made by Polynesians, who _were_ bold
sailors. It is said that the Tongans (Polynesians) gave up their own
style of canoe to adopt that of the Fijians. The canoes were, like those
of many of the Pacific Islands, double canoes; two canoes of the same
shape and size were placed side by side—with some little space
between—and united by a platform of boards; one sail was sometimes
hoisted; paddles were used for sculling and a great steering oar was
employed. A much larger book than this would be needed for describing
all the craft used on the water by Malayans, Melanesians, and
Polynesians. The Fijians enjoyed music and had two or three kinds of
drums, sticks that were beaten together, pan-pipes, a bamboo jew’s-harp,
a conch-shell trumpet, and a little flute that was blown by the nose.
The Fijians were a polite people—that is, they had rules about
greetings, behavior, and the treatment of superiors. One curious rule
was that a servant or inferior, in case his master fell or got into some
ridiculous position, must also fall or place himself in a similar
ridiculous position. Afterward it was expected that he would be rewarded
for his politeness. Mr. Williams tells us an incident that illustrates
this practice:—
“One day I came to a long bridge formed of a single cocoanut tree, which
was thrown across a rapid stream, the opposite bank of which was two or
three feet lower, so that the declivity was too steep to be comfortable.
The pole was also wet and slippery, and thus my crossing safely was very
doubtful. Just as I commenced the experiment a heathen said, with much
animation, ‘To-day I shall have a musket.’ I had, however, just then to
heed my steps more than his words, and so succeeded in reaching the
other side safely. When I asked him why he spoke of a musket, the man
replied, ‘I felt certain you would fall in attempting to go over, and I
should have fallen after you; and, as the bridge is high, the water
rapid, and you a gentleman, you would not have thought of giving me less
than a musket.’”
The _tabu_ is one of the most curious habits of Pacific Islanders.
Though it occurred in Fiji, it was Polynesian, rather than Melanesian.
Tabu was forbidding persons to touch, or use, or make some object.
Chiefs and priests set most of the tabus, but lesser people might
sometimes do so. A man might tabu all the cocoanuts in a district,
setting up some sign or mark to show that he had done so; no one might
thereafter touch a nut there until the tabu had been removed. A chief
might tabu a man’s working; he could not do work of any kind until the
chief removed the tabu. A chief might tabu the building of canoes by the
people of a certain village; the people thenceforth would need to secure
canoes from others. Thousands of tabus were set, and they made much
trouble and inconvenience. The man who broke a tabu was punished,
sometimes by death.
The Fijians were dreadful cannibals. England governed Fiji for many
years, and it was believed that the practice had disappeared. A few old
men were considered almost as curiosities because they had eaten flesh
of men and were called “the last of the cannibals.” Then suddenly in
1889 the old custom broke out again. A party of Fijians killed some
victims and ate them in a cave. A party in pursuit found evidence of the
dreadful feast. Among these were some of the curious wooden forks used
because it was not proper that the flesh should be touched with the
fingers!
XXX.
POLYNESIANS.
The Pacific Islands lying east from the Melanesian Islands, beginning
with New Zealand and stretching to Easter Island, were occupied by
Polynesians. The best known of their island groups were New Zealand, the
Society Islands, Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands. These islands are
either volcanic islands or coral islands, and the natural animal and
vegetable life occurring on them is less varied than on the great
islands lying nearer to the Asiatic or Australian continents.
The Polynesians present a fine type. They are often tall and well built;
their skins, though brown, are frequently light; the features are
regular and the faces handsome. They are quick and intelligent, think
and reason well, take new ideas readily, and are fond of beauty. They
were barbarians, but had made so much progress that they were at the
border-line of civilization. Living in a mass of islands that presented
few natural resources, they had made the most of everything nature gave
them.
[Illustration: TATTOOED NEW ZEALANDER (VERNEAU).]
Many Polynesian tribes tattoo. Elaborate patterns are pricked into the
skin, with lines of needles set side by side and dipped in color. The
New Zealanders tattooed their faces with curious curved-line patterns,
each line had its proper place, and the patterns probably had a meaning.
The Marquesas Islanders covered their bodies with elaborate and graceful
patterns. The process was painful and only a small space was done at one
time; the whole work required years.
Polynesian dress differed somewhat with the region. In New Zealand fine,
soft, and flexible robes and blankets were woven of the native flax. In
Hawaii the king and chiefs had wonderful feather cloaks which hung to
the knees or even to the ankles. The little feathers of which these were
composed were red and yellow; a garment composed only of yellow feathers
could be worn only by the king; when both colors of feathers were used,
they were arranged in diamond-shaped or other ornamental forms, with
spots and lines of dark purple or black feathers. Besides the cloaks,
there were tippets of feathers, which were generally worn by lower
chiefs, who had not, or might not have, feather cloaks. In these feather
garments the dress was made of a sort of netted foundation, into which
these bright feathers were worked. Chiefs also had wonderful helmets of
wickerwork which were covered with feathers. The helmet might be simple,
just fitting the head, or large, ridged, or crested, and rising high
above the head. In some islands the clothing consisted of a fringed
girdle hanging from the waist to the knees.
[Illustration: HELMETS AND IDOL-HEADS OF FEATHERS: HAWAII (RATZEL).]
But everywhere in Polynesia the common dress was made of _tapa_. This
was a kind of paper or cloth beaten out of the bark of certain trees.
The bark was removed from the tree and soaked in water; it was laid upon
a large piece of wood and beaten with a sort of club or mallet. This was
made of hard wood and was round at one end for being taken in the hand;
the remainder was squared, and the four faces were either smooth or
ribbed by longitudinal grooves. By this beating the wood was separated
into its fibres, and these were mashed together into a sheet of firm
paper or cloth. This tapa differs with the tree from the bark of which
it is made. Some is thin and dark brown; that from the bark of the
breadfruit tree is fawn-colored; that from the paper-mulberry, best and
finest of all, is beautifully white. The women were so expert at beating
tapa that single strips, four yards wide and two hundred yards long,
were beaten. Such cloth might be left plain, or it might be stained with
colors, or it might be stamped with patterns. Wooden blocks or strips of
bamboo were carved with designs which were smeared with color and
stamped on the cloth; sometimes ferns were laid in coloring matter, then
the form transferred to the tapa.
The two chief food supplies in Polynesia were breadfruit and cocoanuts;
yams (much like sweet potatoes) and bananas were plenty. A favorite food
in places is _poi_, a sort of gruel or pudding made from the root of
_taro_. It was not eaten with a spoon, but the finger was dipped into it
and stirred around to get a good load of the sticky stuff on it, when it
was stuck into the mouth and sucked clean. Fish were much eaten, though
not all kinds nor at all times.
The Polynesian oven was a hole, three or four feet across, and a foot
deep, dug in the ground. The bottom was lined with stones, which were
covered with dry leaves, upon which a brisk fire was built. When the
stones were red-hot, the dust and ashes were brushed out of the oven,
and the potatoes, yams, and taro, or the pigs, dogs, fish, and birds
were wrapped in leaves, and laid upon the hot stones. When all the food
to be cooked had been neatly placed, leaves were laid above them, and
hot stones on these. All was then covered in with leaves and earth, and
left until thoroughly baked through.
Many of the strange peoples we have considered are filthy; Polynesians
were unusually cleanly, and bathed frequently. In some islands surf
bathing was the chief sport. Every traveller to Hawaii has described the
practice. Babies were taken into the sea by their mothers within two or
three days of their birth, and could swim as soon as they could walk.
Old and young, men and women, bathe in the surf, and the heavier the
waves the greater the sport. The surf-bathing board was five or six feet
long, and a foot wide; it was carefully polished. Taking his board and
pushing it before him, the man swam far out to sea, diving under the
billows as he met them. When far enough out, he lay himself on the end
of the board and waited for a great wave. When it came, he poised
himself on its very crest, and paddling with hands and feet rode in upon
it almost to the shore.
The Polynesians were warriors, and their battles were cruel and bloody.
They rarely ventured into battle until their gods, through their
priests, promised them success. To prepare themselves for war they
practised in warlike arts. Thus they slung stones at marks, threw
javelins, and wrestled. It is said that, in slinging, they were able to
strike a small stick at fifty yards’ distance, four times out of five.
In their javelin practice, the man at whom the weapon was thrown often
caught it and hurled it back; some were so skilled that they “would
allow six men to throw their javelins at them, which they would either
catch and return on their assailants, or so dextrously turn aside that
they fell harmless to the ground.” In going to war, a chief summoned all
his friends and subordinates. When they had gathered, the
gods—especially the war gods—were brought out to assist and encourage
them. During the battle there was great noise and confusion; effort was
made to kill the great chiefs of the enemy, so that their followers
might be discouraged. Many were killed. Survivors fled to some fortress,
or the mountains, or found safety in one of the curious “places of
refuge,” within whose sacred precincts no harm could be done them.
For weapons, the Hawaiians had spears of great length, javelins, clubs
which were used both for thrusting and striking, a hard wood dagger, and
slings often made of human hair. On the Kingsmill Islands the natives
made weapons, in many shapes or sizes, of wooden shafts, along the sides
of which great numbers of sharks’ teeth were securely lashed. These
weapons were used both for thrusting and striking, and were fearful
things on naked bodies. In those same islands, and on account of these
shark-tooth weapons, the natives had curious protective clothing or
armor of cocoanut fibre.
[Illustration: KINGSMILL ISLANDER (TYLOR).]
Many Polynesians were cannibals: some of them dreadful cannibals. Their
eating of human flesh was often connected with their religion. They had
many gods, whom they represented by idols. The Hawaiian war god is an
example. His idol was an image four or five feet high; the upper part
was of wickerwork covered with red feathers; the hideous face was
supplied with a great mouth with triple rows of dog’s or shark’s teeth;
the eyes were of shell, and upon the head was a helmet crested with long
tresses of human hair.
XXXI.
CONCLUSION.
We have spoken of many Strange Peoples. We have gone around the world in
our search. But after all we have examined but a small part. Remember
that there are fifty-one peoples at least in the Philippines alone. We
have not examined the Australians, or the unfortunate Tasmanians, or the
many tribes of Siberia, or the sixty native populations of India. We
have omitted great nations like the southeast Asians,—Siamese, Burmese,
Annamese. In fact there are many times more Strange Peoples in the world
whom we have _not_ examined, than whom we have. But we have examined
enough, I hope, to learn that they are interesting and deserve our
acquaintance and our sympathy.
There are few unknown peoples left. Travellers have gone to almost all
parts of the world. The spots which represent absolutely unexplored
regions on our maps are now neither large nor numerous. There are many
peoples about whom we know little, but there are not many who are
actually unknown. Those that may be discovered hereafter will be
interesting, but they are not likely to be very different from those now
known.
Many of the Strange Peoples are becoming less “strange” every year. Old
customs and peculiar practices are dying out in every part of the world.
Travellers, missionaries, and merchants from white men’s lands are
taking our ideas, our tools, our weapons, our dress, our learning, our
religion, and our vices to the remotest parts of the world. Some of the
Strange Peoples here described have already lost most of their old
customs. The Polynesians and Fijians have little of the old life which
we have described. Many American Indian tribes have changed less. Some
populations have still changed little. But a tribe must indeed be remote
and difficult of access to actually escape our touch absolutely. Usually
the change is _not_ improvement. Other people more quickly adopt our
vices than our virtues. Many tribes have become drunken, diseased, and
depraved through the white man’s influence. It is rare, indeed, that a
lower people gains in happiness or virtue by contact with “higher
civilization.”
Many of the Strange Peoples will disappear. The Tasmanians were killed
off almost like so many animals by the English. American Indian tribes
have suffered almost as badly at our hands. Many tribes have gone;
others are going. The Lipans were once a fairly numerous tribe. In 1892
I saw all who were left in the United States—four women and one man; six
months later I saw them again—the man was dead and only four women
remained. The Tonkaways are dying out at the rate of one-third each
eight years. The Polynesians, strong, handsome, active, and happy as
they were when James Cook visited their islands little more than one
hundred years ago, have dwindled, and fifty years more may blot them
from the earth. Not all American Indian tribes are dying out; it is
possible too that Polynesian decline began before Cook’s travels. But it
is certain that on the whole the changes brought by the newcomers sealed
the doom of the Indian and Polynesian.
There have always been movements of peoples from place to place. We have
seen the Malays pouring three great masses of immigrants into the
Philippines. There are white peoples in Asia; there are yellow peoples
in Europe. Recently plenty of whites and of blacks have poured into
America. Such movements contain some danger. The fair whites will
probably never be able to live in the tropical lands. A certain sort of
skin, hair, nose, breathing apparatus, is necessary for men who are to
live and prosper in low, hot, marshy parts of Africa. For Germans to try
to _colonize_ equatorial Africa is probably a fatal blunder. So far as
we know the dark whites—Spaniards, Italians, south Frenchmen—make better
tropical colonizers than we do; but even they are not successful. The
negro is a bad colonizer, he hardly holds his own even in our Southern
states. Of all the peoples of the globe the Chinese seem to be the best
able to colonize differing countries. He seems to go to hot lands and
cold lands, to small islands and to great continents, but flourishes
everywhere. So true is this that some writers have urged that Africa be
opened up for settlement to the crowded millions of the old empire. For
most peoples, however, migration, if they _must_ migrate, is best along
the lines of latitude into lands as much like the old home as possible.
Many Scandinavians live to-day happily where Wisconsin, Iowa, and
Michigan join; and they may be expected to prosper there, for land and
water, soil and products, scenery and climate, are there much what they
were in the fatherland.
LIST OF BOOKS REGARDING STRANGE PEOPLES.
This list makes no pretension to completeness; a few only of the many
books of the kind are mentioned. Those with a prefixed asterisk will be
useful to teachers; those without will interest children; those followed
by an asterisk have directly contributed to this book in reading matter
or illustration.
ARNOLD: Japonica.*
BATCHELLER: The Ainu of Japan.*
BRAMHALL: The Wee Ones of Japan.*
*BRINTON: Races and Peoples.
DU CHAILLU: The Land of the Dwarfs.*
*DENIKER: The Races of Man.
DOOLITTLE: Social Life of the Chinese.*
ELLIS: Polynesian Researches.*
FIELDE: A Corner of Cathay.
HEARN: Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.
HUC: Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China.*
*KEANE: Ethnology.
*KEANE: Man; Past and Present.
LANE: The Modern Egyptians.
LEONOWENS: The English Governess at the Siamese Court.
*LOWELL: Chosön.*
*LUBBOCK: Origin of Civilization.
*LUMMIS: The Land of Poco Tiempo.*
MARSHALL: Phrenologist among the Todas.*
*MEYER: Album von Philippinen-Typen.*
MILN: Little Folk of Many Lands.*
NANSEN: Eskimo Life.
*PESCHEL: The Races of Man.
DE QUATREFAGES: The Pygmies.
*RATZEL: History of Mankind.
*RATZEL: Völkerkunde.*
*RÉCLUS: Primitive Folk.
ROCKHILL: The Land of the Lamas.
SCHWEINFURTH: The Heart of Africa.*
SMITH: Chinese Characteristics.
STANLEY: In Darkest Africa.*
*TURNER: Samoa.
*TYLOR: Anthropology.*
*VERNEAU: Les Races Humaines.*
WALLACE: The Malay Archipelago.
WARD: India and the Hindoos.*
WILLIAMS: Fiji and the Fijians.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADVERTISEMENTS
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ AMERICAN INDIANS ║
║ ║
║ BY FREDERICK STARR, PH.D., ║
║ ║
║ _Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago_. ║
║ ║
║ Cloth. 240 Pages. Fully Illustrated. Price, 45 Cents. ║
║ ║
║ D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, ║
║ BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
[Illustration]
=W. N. Hailman=, _Supt. of Schools, Dayton, O., formerly U. S.
Commissioner of Indian Schools_: The book is beyond question the most
attractive and conscientious presentation of the subject I have met.
=M. V. O’Shea=, _School of Education, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wis._: I am glad to say that I regard Starr’s “American Indians” as one
of the most appropriate books for grammar grade reading that I have
seen.
=Richard E. Dodge=, _Prof. in Teacher’s College, Columbia Univ._, in
“The Journal of School Geography”: The name of the author is a
sufficient guarantee as to the accuracy and value of the little book
whose title is noted above. We have long needed a well-written and true
account of the much misused and misunderstood American Indians, and more
especially an account that would appeal to the young, and give them
different impressions from those gathered from nursery tales, school
primers or Cooper’s stories. The book is attractive in general
appearance, in typography, and illustration, and is well divided into
thirty-three short chapters, each devoted to a pertinent topic. It deals
with all the aspects of Indian life, as is shown by the following
selected chapter headings—Houses, Dress, the Baby and Child, War,
Hunting and Fishing, Picture Writing, Money, Medicine Men and Secret
Societies, Dances and Ceremonials, The Algonquins, the Six Nations, the
Creeks, the Cherokees, The Pueblos, Totem Posts, The Aztecs, etc. The
author has made good use of authorities and includes notes concerning
each author quoted. The book shows that great care has been expended in
selecting and organizing materials, and is authoritative. It should
receive a hearty welcome, and be used not only in schools, but in homes,
as a book for boys and girls, or as a book for a parent to use in
selecting true facts for family talks and conferences. Two valuable maps
are included in the text, and are both very pertinent.
=Journal of Education, Boston, Mass.=: The book is interesting and
instructive throughout, and should be read widely in school and out.
=The American, Philadelphia, Pa.=: This book, prepared especially for
younger people, is a careful, interesting history of the chief tribes of
North American Indians, their peculiarities and ways of life. The
picture drawn is good and highly instructive.
=Tribune, Chicago, Ill.=: Professor Starr is already a recognized
authority on Indian lore, having a personal acquaintance with some
thirty tribes, from Alaska to Yucatan. His book condenses into 240 pages
the main facts gathered by students and explorers among the red men
since the discovery of America. One cannot read many pages without
feeling that the author is deeply in sympathy with the people of whom he
is writing.
Supplementary Reading
_A Classified List for all Grades._
GRADE I. Bass’s The Beginner’s Reader .25
Badlam’s Primer .25
Fuller’s Illustrated Primer .25
Griel’s Glimpses of Nature for Little Folks .30
Heart of Oak Readers, Book I .25
Regal’s Lessons for Little Readers .35
GRADE II. Warren’s From September to June with Nature .35
Badlam’s First Reader .30
Bass’s Stories of Plant Life .25
Heart of Oak Readers, Book I .25
Snedden’s Docas, the Indian Boy .35
Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature, Readers No. 1 .25
GRADE III. Heart of Oak Readers, Book II .35
Pratt’s America’s Story, Beginner’s Book .35
Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 2 .35
Miller’s My Saturday Bird Class .25
Firth’s Stories of Old Greece .30
Bass’s Stories of Animal life .35
Spear’s Leaves and Flowers .25
GRADE IV. Bass’s Stories of Pioneer Life .40
Brown’s Alice and Tom .40
Grinnell’s Our Feathered Friends .30
Heart of Oak Readers, Book III .45
Pratt’s America’s Story—Discoverers and Explorers .40
Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 3 .45
GRADE V. Bull’s Fridtjof Nansen .30
Grinnell’s Our Feathered Friends .30
Heart of Oak Readers, Book III .45
Pratt’s America’s Story—The Earlier Colonies .00
Kupfer’s Stories of Long Ago .35
GRADE VI. Starr’s Strange Peoples .40
Bull’s Fridtjof Nansen .30
Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV .50
Pratt’s America’s Story—The Colonial Period .00
Dole’s The Young Citizen .45
GRADE VII. Starr’s American Indians .45
Penniman’s School Poetry Book .30
Pratt’s America’s Story—The Revolution and the Republic .00
Eckstorm’s The Bird Book .60
Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV .50
Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 4 .50
GRADES VIII _and_ IX. Heart of Oak Readers, Book V .55
Heart of Oak Readers, Book VI .60
Dole’s The American Citizen .80
Shaler’s First Book in Geology (boards) .40
Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield .50
Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley .35
_Descriptive circulars sent free on request._
Elementary Mathematics
=Atwood’s Complete Graded Arithmetic.= Presents a carefully graded
course, to begin with the fourth year and continue through the
eighth year. Part I, 30 cts.; Part II, 65 cts.
=Badlam’s Aids to Number.= Teacher’s edition—First series, Nos. 1 to
10, 40 cts.; Second series, Nos. 10 to 20, 40 cts. Pupil’s
edition—First series, 25 cts.; Second series, 25 cts.
=Branson’s Methods in Teaching Arithmetic.= 15 cts.
=Hanus’s Geometry in the Grammar Schools.= An essay, with outline of
work for the last three years of the grammar school. 25 cts.
=Howland’s Drill Cards.= For middle grades in arithmetic. Each, 3
cts.; per hundred, $2.40.
=Hunt’s Geometry for Grammar Schools.= The definitions and elementary
concepts are to be taught concretely, by much measuring, and by the
making of models and diagrams by the pupils. 30 cts.
=Pierce’s Review Number Cards.= Two cards, for second and third year
pupils. Each, 3 cts.; per hundred, $2.40.
=Safford’s Mathematical Teaching.= A monograph, with applications. 25
cts.
=Sloane’s Practical Lessons in Fractions.= 25 cts. Set of six fraction
cards, for pupils to cut. 10 cts.
=Sutton and Kimbrough’s Pupils’ Series of Arithmetics.= Lower Book,
for primary and intermediate grades, 35 cts. Higher Book, 65 cts.
=The New Arithmetic.= By 300 teachers. Little theory and much
practice. An excellent review book. 65 cts.
=Walsh’s Arithmetics.= On the “spiral advancement” plan, and perfectly
graded. Special features of this series are its division into
half-yearly chapters instead of the arrangement by topics; the great
number and variety of the problems; the use of the equation in
solution of arithmetical problems; and the introduction of the
elements of algebra and geometry. Its use shortens and enriches the
course in common school mathematics. In two series:—
_Three Book Series_—Elementary, 30 cts.; Intermediate, 35 cts.;
Higher, 65 cts.
_Two Book Series_—Primary, 30 cts.; Grammar school, 65 cts.
=Walsh’s Algebra and Geometry for Grammar Grades.= Three chapters from
Walsh’s Arithmetic printed separately. 15 cts.
=White’s Two Years with Numbers.= For second and third year classes.
35 cts.
=White’s Junior Arithmetic.= For fourth and fifth years. 45 cts.
=White’s Senior Arithmetic.= 65 cts.
_For advanced works see our list of books in Mathematics._
Drawing and Manual Training.
=Thompson’s New Short Course in Drawing.= A practical, well-balanced
system, based on correct principles. Can be taught by the ordinary
teacher and learned by the ordinary pupil. Books I-IV, 6 × 9 inches,
per dozen, $1.20. Books V-VIII, 9 × 12 inches, per dozen, $1.75.
Manual to Books I-IV, 40 cts. Manual to Books V-VIII, 40 cts.
Two-Book Course: Book A, per dozen, $1.20; Book B, per dozen, $1.75;
Manual, 40 cts.
=Thompson’s Æsthetic Series of Drawing.= This series includes the
study of Historical Ornament and Decorative Design. Book I treats of
Egyptian art; Book II, Greek; Book III, Roman; Book IV, Byzantine;
Book V, Moorish; Book VI, Gothic. Per dozen, $1.50. Manual, 60
cents.
=Thompson’s Educational and Industrial Drawing.=
Primary Free-Hand Series (Nos. 1–4). Each No., per doz., $1.00.
Manual, 40 cts.
Advanced Free-Hand Series (Nos. 5–8). Each No., per doz., $1.50.
Model and Object Series (Nos. 1–3). Each No., per doz., $1.75.
Manual, 35 cts.
Mechanical Series (Nos. 1–6). Each No., per doz., $2.00. Manual, 75
cts.
=Thompson’s Manual Training No. 1.= Clay modeling, stick laying, paper
folding, color and construction of geometrical solids. Illus. 66 pp.
25 cts.
=Thompson’s Manual Training No. 2.= Mechanical drawing, clay
modelling, color, wood carving. Illus. 70 pp. 25 cts.
=Thompson’s Drawing Tablets.= Four Tablets, with drawing exercises and
practice paper, for use in the earlier grades. Each No., per doz.,
$1.20.
=Drawing Models.= Individual sets and class sets of models are made to
accompany several of the different series in the Thompson Drawing
Courses. Descriptive circulars free on request.
=Anthony’s Mechanical Drawing.= 98 pages of text, and 32 folding
plates. $1.50.
=Anthony’s Machine Drawing.= 65 pages of text, and 18 folding plates.
$1.50.
=Anthony’s Essentials of Gearing.= 84 pages of text, and 15 folding
plates, $1.50.
=Daniels’s Freehand Lettering.= 34 pages of text, and 13 folding
plates. 75 cts.
=Johnson’s Lessons in Needlework.= Gives, with illustrations, full
directions for work during six grades. 117 pages. Square 8vo. Cloth,
$1.00. Boards, 60 cts.
=Lunt’s Brushwork for Kindergarten and Primary Schools.= Eighteen
lesson cards in colors, with teacher’s pamphlet, in envelope. 25
cts.
=Seidel’s Industrial Instruction= (Smith). A refutation of all
objections raised against industrial instruction. 170 pages. 90
cents.
=Waldo’s Descriptive Geometry.= A large number of problems
systematically arranged, with suggestions. 85 pages. 80 cents.
=Whitaker’s How to use Woodworking Tools.= Lessons in the uses of the
hammer, knife, plane, rule, square, gauge, chisel, saw and auger.
104 pages. 60 cents.
=Woodward’s Manual Training School.= Its aims, methods and results;
with detailed courses of instruction in shop-work. Illustrated. 374
pages. Octavo. $2.00.
_Sent postpaid by mail on receipt of price._
America’s Story for America’s Children
A series of history readers by Mara L. Pratt. In five books.
=Book I.—The Beginner’s Book.= This is introductory to the series, and
is adapted to third and fourth year classes. Its purpose is to develop
centers of interest, and to present the picturesque and personal
incidents connected with the greater events in our history.
The book contains about sixty illustrations, four of which are in color.
Cloth. 132 pages. 35 cents.
=Book II.—Exploration and Discovery: 1000–1609.= The second book tells
the story of the great discoverers and explorers from the time of Leif
Ericson to Henry Hudson. It portrays the pomp and pride of the Spanish,
the simple life and customs of the aborigines, and the sturdy temper of
the early English and Dutch navigators.
A large number of illustrations from authentic sources add to the
interest and value of the stories. Cloth. 160 pages. 40 cents.
=Book III.—The Colonies.= The story of the founding of the first
settlements on this continent, and of the beginnings of the thirteen
colonies. The style is animated and attractive; the subject matter
includes the results of the most recent research, and the most accurate
data that are available concerning the earlier colonial period.
[_In press._
=Book IV= treats of the early settlements in the Mississippi Valley, the
French and Indian Wars, etc., and gives vivid and definite ideas of the
heroes of the later colonial period.
[_In press._
=Book V= tells the story of the Revolution, the causes that led to it,
and of the men who guided the development of events and laid the
foundations of the Republic. The victories of peace, and the growth of
the nation in wealth and power are also set forth.
[_In preparation._
* * * * *
D. C. HEATH & CO. Publishers
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
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