The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-10-15
HABITS OF THE INDIAN.
Singular Customs and Characteristics
or the Red Man.

~" WAite men Know now 20 trade
with an Indian remarked G. E.
Ward, of this city, who has made q
study Of Indians Cor ton years -ast.
II once met an Indian with magni.
ficent mountsin lion skin. He was
willing to re.s with the ornament, but
bis price was too high. offered him
$3.50. but he indignantly refused.
Later, on the same day, after I had
learned how to trade with an Indian
bought the skin for $780,"
The secret Of trading with the In
dian, according to Dir. Ward, is to ap-
pear indifferent. The most success
full trader is the one who goes with g
supply of the came articles he is most
desirous Of buying. The Indian sees
that the stranger has had experience,
and negotiations are carried on upon
strictly business basis. An Indian
refused $40 for bow and arrow. It
was bought for 81 bya man who car
ried several bows aud arrows in hand.
This willy individual leased tie supply
from store in order TO impress his
copper colored friend, and h. succeed
ed.
"The Indian said Mr.. Ward, in
speaking OF traits Of character he has
observed in his red friends, sis one Of
the most faithful followers in the
world If he has confidence in you. If
he takes liking to you there is moth
ing you can ask he will not do. If he
dislikes you, the less you have to do
with that Indian the better. The In-
dian is very much abused fellow
and he has. never been. treated as he
lIeserved to be by the white man. His
vices are largely the fault of his white
ueighbors, and one Of the greatest
! dangers that threatens the Indian race
is the travelling shows. The govern
ment reports declare that the Indians
who went 20 Europe with Wild West
aggregations were lasting menace to
their people when they returned home.
They had contracted all the vices and
none of the virtues Of the white man.
"The nature Of the Indian cannot
be learned from books. 1t must be
studied by actual contact. So far as
I have observed, all Of the Indians
are Catholics. They graft their own
ideas onto that Of the Roman Catho-
lie religion, and it is indeed a pecu-
lier mixture. You can't eradicate the
Indian nature by any education, and
| it is mistake tc send Indians away
| TO school. They should be educated
at home among their own people, and
their progress ought to be gradual,
otherwise the whole race will soon
disappear. Our government has been
in too great hurry. Let the Indian
develop along lines congenial to his
nature, and something may come out
Of all the expense and time devoted to
the solution of the Indian problem.
My idea is that the Indian is all right,
but his ways are not our ways Let
US give him chance and time to work
out his salvation. A Carlisle Indian
gets the swelled head, and one auch
Indian may spoil an entire village.
He is overeducated, but in the end he
is worse Oh chan at the beginning
Mr.. Ward saws his Investigations
show chat 80 per cent Of the Indians
die OF tuberculosis. Whether the dis
ease was introduced by contact with
she whites he does not know. This
10 subject that is receiving the at
tention Of the authorities at Washing.
ton, and is regarded as one Of tAe
most important subjects OF isvestig=-
zion by those who are interested in
the survival Of the race that once
domi lated the continent.
"The customs Of the various tribes
is never ceasing topic Of interest,""
said Mr.. Ward. "After white man
lives while among the Indians he is
gradually taken into their confidence
and shown many curious performances,
all Of which have meaning to the
scientist. One summer, down among
the Apaohes, I was invited by the
chiefs to De present at their great
medicine dance. This ceremony has
from time immemorial been perform
ed on the banks Of stream that flows
into Sinking Lake, 90 miles from
Dulce, N. M. Two la-ge brush arbors
are built one CO each bank Of the
stream. The women take their places
in one arbor and the men in tho other.
The ceremony lasts two days. It COM
mencea af aunr;ao yvhan Aha man ond