Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-17

thus apparently establishing the date OF
mans first coming at 5000 years asu at
least Some believe that they have found
here traces of man going back into and
dence Is meager that 1t seems hardly
wise to accept 1t. Some extraordinary dis
coveres OF human remains In California are
offered as evidence that man occupied this
continent before glacial times Among these
are polished stone implements dug from
gravels which biologists agree are so old
that II these implements were really buried
there it was by men who must have passed
through the savage and we'll into the bar
barous stage while 'Petheoanthropus erect
U.s. the hypothetical earliest representation
Of the human race in the old world, was
still running wild in the forests OF Java, q
ance Of this California testimony would
place the presence Of man in America far
back into a period to be reckoned not in
tens. but in hundreds Of thousands Of
years. 1 Should say that we as yet have no
satisfactory proof that man existed on
this continent until about the close OF the
glacial period. which might be eight to ten
thousand years ago. but the figures must
not to be taken too seriously
Happy Hunting Ground"
Il imagine that the researches of eth
noiogists and Psychologists are disposing Of
many fallacies regarding the Indian-many
which formerly had firm place in popular
belief
Yes. Take, for example the theories as
to the mound builders and cliff dwellers
that they were racially distinct from the
Indians or that they had reached a supe-
rior degree Of culture. The fact is that the
more thoroughly We explore the mounds
and cliff ruins the more apparent 1t Is that
the attainments Of their builders were as a
whole not markedly superior to those of
the later Indian.
THE Indians belief in the happy hunting
ground. and In one everything deity the
Great Spirit. other popular falla cies In
point. No tribe was without some idea Of
life after DEATH but to its exact nature
and whereabouts the Indians ideas. differ
ing in different tribes. were vague. They
do not seem to have evolved the idea OF
hell or future punishment. And very far
removed from a conception Of one all-pow-
erful deity. the Great Spirit. is their belief
In a multitude Of spirits that dwelt In AMI
mate and inanimate objects. These spirits
were the source Of good fortune. whether
on the hunting path or war trail. in the
pursuit Of wife or In a ball game. If sue
pealed to- offered sacrifices and made val
liable presents to 1t. If unsuccessful. he
cast his mantou away and offered his faith
to more powerful or more friendly deities.
In this world OF spirits the Indian dwelt in
perpetual fear. He feared to offend the
spirits Of the mountains, Of the dark wood.
of the lake. Of the prairie. SO you see the
real Indian was a different creature from
the joyous and untrammeled savage pic
tured and envied by the poet and philosO-
phe:.
The Indian Medicine Quacks.
"Quacks with herbs and methods Of prac-
tice which they claim to have received
FROM noted Indian doctors are largely re-
sponslble for many fallacies concerning the
red mans practice of medicine. AS mat
ter of fact. the medical art among all In
dians rooted in sorceryy. and the pre-
vailing Idea that diseases were caused by
evil spirits and could be removed only by