The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-08
THE INDIANS OF TO-DAY.
,,,pr II sTILL 100000 or THESE
iEDS or me NATION.
A. ..orgs Bird Grinnelps Interesting
r.yl,w OF Their Condition. the Causes
Their D~rcndence and Our Duty
- ILr snEylynrA = Indian MIihs.

THAR ~Drradencs and Our Duty
,,rd the survivors - Indian Myths.
. 10 ,orsook he warpath the American
10, Ia, been forgotten A pushing and
.u,.ssy. civilization has passed over him.
y, U.,lIugtln An Indian Bareau Is still main
- nut II, ~ hardly too much 10 say that not
e., a thousand takes the faintest inter
=, ,s ~v,faings TO the average citizen the
a,,,I americans nre " less concern than the
",,.s ~ the Hulus II Ia thinks u them at
.~,., a. cirosities and perhaps with a vague
-, ,,nt Ike tho American bison. they are
,..inc t. extinction.
-, men o., this mind The Indians OF To-day"
l, G.or,e Bird Griunell. published by Stone
.co. will give much food for thought They
IN ,e,,n IN the first place that, decima,ed ns the
,od,ns are by disease and the fiery liquors OF
~, white man, there are still 267 600 " them
T., whom ,niS nation is responsible and nearly
,o 900 # them in MI on the continent OF North
,ms,.,n Ue will learn, too, that many Of these
Manila. no longer sayages, are ready and even
.,gs, T., work where a fair chance is given them.
mat they appreciate the fu'ility of resisting the
,h,ts man and the necessity OF conforming TO
his ,enets and are eager 10 learn his ways X
o,,y some one will teach them: that thousands
n, these former savages are now reputable and
Industrious citizens and thousands more are
univ waiting for the opportunity to become so.
And no will learn this from a man who, from
N,.ico to Alaska, has slept in the tepees OF the
Indians and sat at their council fires, and who
ran say to them as Kipling said to those other
Indians on the further side Of the world
HAY. eaten your bread and salt.
have drunk your water and wine.
The deaths ye died have watched beside,
And the lives we led were mine.
10, better treatment by this nation Of its wards,
(, does not confne itself TO those tribes resident
within the United States. but takes in the tribes
Of the whole continent, including the Eskimos
and peoples Of mixed Aztec blood, neither II which
have been hitherto generally regarded a. Indians.
InE GREAT INDIAN FAMILY STOCKS,
The best classification Of the American Indians
Is the ella sIhcation by linguistic families made
IN 1891 by Major Powell, TO which one family
has since been added 81 that there are now fifty
nine families In all, differentiated by their
language stocks and representing more than
500 Tribes. Some Of these families are extinct
and others very nearly So. Abou, two-thirds
o!thOsc novi In existence are conf ned TO the Pacific
slope ard many Of them are so little known that
the general reader will ind even their names
unfamiliar except where local geographical nomen-
cature has borrowed them. The more important
Of these antilles are the powerful and far reach
Ing Aigonquins. with whom the Pilgrim Fathers
fought on landing, Of whom II Is somewhat
surprising to learn that about l0O, 900 survivors
exist, most OF them In Canada: the brave, hardy
and capable, but rapidly decreasing Athabas-
cans, extending from Alaska to Mexico, the
Nayaloes and Apaches OF tho Southwest be
longing To this family; the almost extinct cannibal
Atacapans Of the Gulf coast; tho wholly extinct
Heothuks, driven out Of Newfoundland by the
Algonquins, leaving memorials OF their existence
IN the form OF some curious and beautiful ex-
a pies Of bone carving, the Caddoan family
" the Western plains, OF which the Pawnecs are
The bes, known tribe; the CUNNINGHAM family
represented by the progressive and prosperous
Hetakahta tribe OF Alaska; the Chinookan
family Of the Columbia River region; the sun
Worshipping Chiimachans, Of which only one tribe
now reduced To Atty members, Is known; the
Copehan family represented by small and
mimportant Pacific Slope tribes; the widely
distributed and hardy Eskimos, 80 named from
N. Algonquin word meaning eaters Of raw
flesh original Y immigrants from tho Great
ihN'' N't'h bA' wv YUM ~ =" "" Wv 'hN''
Than 10 900 strong now, but succumting to disease
sni the use Of liquor.
Others Of the nity nins families are: The
savage, fierce and war-loving ~Iroquois. found
srs Of the League OF the Six Nations, which
played so important a part In the early history
Of this State; the nearly extinct karankawan
family Of the Texas coast, accused by the Span
isfdS ol being Cannihals; the one tnbed kiovas,
formerly famous buffalo hunters Of the Great
Plains the lithuanian family, known 10 the
pioneers of the North west as kutenai Indians,
hunters Of mountain game and skilful fishers
Of the rivers; the maritime koluschans Of the
Aa>han Islands; the little known kulanapan
family. the Lithuanian family To which the Modocs
hiong the Musk hoGeans MuscogeesJ, probably
descendants 81 the mound builders whose monu-
n'ntS IT earth in the Ohio Valley have been Of
such deep interest 10 anthropologists uhe Creeks,
thprAN, and SemlRoles are " this family. the
Nr h.an family, Ito Aztecs Of Mexico; the
Aalrh'>tn family Whose name remains To Nat
s'''-u deserts, and, by their own tradition
builders IT the wonderful clItf dwellings in the
valley Of the CHA river the Pueblos also Of the
southwest, >Nlltul in h%erll..., weaving, mining
AMI hal.!lns, architects Of ancient cliff cities,
d'1'Ht, NJ the famous snake dance in which the
Performers bear live ratteSndkeS between their
''Nl A. a form ul NpfSlllp, me NaIlShdn amy
OF winch 10000 members stiil inhabi, British
tuiI.uir. oregon and Washington, The Flat
h'at~ oud S%pokanrS being NJ this stock. the
sells, inhabitants pf the coast Of the Gulf Of Cali
i''hlh ant thr most primitive Of North Anne rlCan
mos Users ~ stone weapons and, II Is said, Of
poisoned arrows; the Shahaptian family, who
i've along the Columbia River, aud one Of whose
MOS DE SCI fer"1 Npierced noses) under Chief
d'"'n mad on' o. the bravest and most
gallant fights against our troops
SHOWN m tn" history pr border war.
I"i. me Nhosholeans, also called the | to Aztec
ai' by some authorizes, extending over a vast
r0llnrr. from ~ d"g reeS north latitude almost
o. M" lSthals ~ Panama and from the Pacific
Llh' Cur ot MeNica. represented by the lowest
ma i}I" III" Digger indians, So called, and
D. IN" highest, III" A1tn,s IL Mexico, also BY
w" savage 'omnnches, the Bannocks. the Piutes
dd iH" lrs. the famous SIuuX, So named by
WHt old en"mitN the AlgOnQ uIns, who, by the
Wa seem r. hay" furnished much nomenclature
rr amen ri'nuluElSiS, and IN whose language
"" "'ri means 'NuaAeS:' the Skittagetan fam
w., Q.""u { hHru,le : island; the 1imuquAnans
fl'IIlh rNlluri iur 4 century, for knowledge
w Whom ~" ar" indebted H. the erldltion Of early
N'd' 70 ul''l"narleS, III" 1onikas Of the MisSiS
Nrll alley, lhr lunkaNAS, worsllppprs Of the
N"' and invaluable and faithful scouts for our
F"'i- nu the border, the | ChranS Of lofty origin,
En- Ib'} claim th" sun AZ their mother, the
Na.'d',,HU Of IA" Columbia River country.
~I "~lI1S NaklShHu family Of northwest
NE.J1-l'u and BRITISH Columbia. the iakonan
mar n'N Nu scattered that little ran W. asCer-
1A'. ABOUT them, the single trlbed iananS
"i E'h'ru California, who's" tradition that they
~ lh' East Is born out by their ply steal
"N'. '.'.f mn iW" NIrrpnndinc trbcs, the ' uRan
''' '.' tiIp lh'rr EsSiun, and the Iunlan
Ir' represented by the single settle ment Of
"iN' 10 et'rn \rN Mexico
4" W. Uhyl' continent these families eN-
"'. h'ns. nc 'uu.uoG IT war ~ hvclI
D. A.' u from uun tp tine hrng about a change
~ go th' iNrt If en- m b" or another
To. ~ i'r built anything like permanent
"' II.r subsistence wHN manly nom