The Green Forest tribune., 1908-09-11

Ua lE~ssyIEf TOT lhe hdblldttoH ol A.-ss.--%ssaasaa4sssEAssa that king of animals mankind. In the course of ages the forces of nature shaped this planet into two hemispheres. which in time came to be peopled with a race Of many nations and tribes.
 The East claimed to be the cradle of the race and thought itself the whole of earth. It was therefore un- believable that new world had been found, when discovery of the great western continent was heralded But its inhabitants proved the discovery They were not like those Of any East ern country-a strange red people with a traditional history reaching back into obseurity, and showing re mains of yet another people of which the red mans oldest tradition told nothing.
 Whence, or how the North Amer ican Indian came is yet unknown though discussion has long since grown old between those who believe the people indigenous. and those who claim his coming was from contact with the East.
 But from whatever source, they were here when the first white man came, savage nomads, Worshipping the Great Spirit through strange gods and dreaming over pipes of peace Of the Happy Hunting Ground.
 Where the State Got It's Name.
 In forest and by stream the North American Indian lived and loved fought for supremacy in many con quest, died the warriors death and passed into the Great Silence until the coming of the pale face. Before his march they fell back foot by foot resisting or unresisting, it mattered not, toward the place of the Setting Sun. Progress was the dominating spirit of the Pale Face, and to the Red Man progress ment extinction.
 And yet no race has left such en during monuments to the memory ot it's people; collosal monuments built by nature in the shape of mountain chains that rib a continent, or peaks that kiss the sun beyond the clouds rivers that water a thousand valleys and empires of state ruled by the Pale Face.
 One tribe thus to be forever per petuated in the memory of mankind by a mighty river and a proud state was the Arkansa.
 When the Arkansa Indians came into tribal existence or where is a matter of conjecture, but from the formation of their language the termi nation of their words and the method of their sun-worship it is inferred they were descendants of the Aztecs.
 Among the multiplied scores ci tribal Indians many types were found ranging in kind from the feroeity ol the Iroquois of the northwest to the kindIier disposition of the ChoctaW in the south.
 The Arkansa or ArKanzas nation was one of the most civilized Of all aborigines of North America, and long before the first white man set foot on the western continent they lived in mud-walled towns, fortified with circular towers which protected them from more barbarous tribes, always engaging in wars of conquest
 Like all tribes they worshipped Q Great Spirit. Their Manito, which was sometimes an animal, sometimes bird. sometimes a snake, was con suited on every occasion and all their good fortune or bad luck was attrib- uted to it.
 Before going to war they made a great feast, to which all their allies were invited. When war had been determined upon the chiefs painted their bodies black and lasted several days. after which they washed the black off, painted themselves vermil lion red and went out to fight to the death
 Their armor consisted of war-club and bow and arrows swung to their back Their baggage consisted of g bear skin, which served as 8 bed, g buffalo skin for cover and wildcat skin for a pouch to hold calumet and tobacco Their provision was corr pounded fine and carried in smai bags. This was moistened with water and eaten with bear and buffalo meat
 If victorious, they returned witt their. prisoners to their villages where they were met by the women Such women as had husbands or son! lost in the battle might choose a cap tive to take the place of their dead If no such caDtives were selected they were tortured and burned in ; slow fire
 There were many other powerful and warlike tribes in the country 0 the Arkansa. but the great river tool it's name from this tribe. which ha; many villages around it's mouth, a..l 1he tribal names of the Choctaw, th' Quapaw, the Ozark and the Chicasay was left for other uses.