Evening star., 1937-01-23
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook Of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Curious misconceptions OF the pSy-
chology of the aboriginal Americans
the insistence of Europeans that the red
man think like a white man-were re-
sponsible for some of the bitterest con-
flicts between the two races, according
to DR.. Mathew w. Stirling, chief OF the
Bureau of American Ethnology.
Some of these misunderstanding still
persist, Dr. Stirling points out in
statement just issued through the once
of Indian Affairs of the Department OF
the Interior.
Probably, he says, the misconception
that brought about the most ill-feellng
and bloodshed resulted from the dl1er-
ences in ideas as to the ownership OF
land. The white man had been reared
in a society where nearly all land was
owned by individuals, or by State, the
powers of which were vested in one indl-
vidual. With the Indians the land within
the tribal boundaries belonged to the
tribe as such. Neither individual nor
family possessed vested rights in land,
although each family might appropriate
for purposes of cultivation as much as
was required of any unoccupied land
within the tribal boundaries.
Thus it was impossible for any chlef,
family or section of a tribe to sell or
give away any part of the tribal holdings.
Naturally any documents dealing with
purchases of this sort had no meaning
to the early Indians. The settlers seem
never to have learned this fact. Regard
less of any negotiations carried on by
individuals, the Indians considered
themselves ousted when the whites took
possession of their lands.
A somewhat similar situation, Mr.. Stir
ling points out, was encountered by the
earlier missionaries, who ascribed to the
red men the ideas to which he himself
had been conditioned since childhood.
THE religious beliefs and PHILOSOPHERS
Of the Indian have been but little under
stood by the layman," Mr.. Stirling says.
Descriptions by Europeans were almost
invariably made in the familiar term"
nology of the Christian religion and
interpretations were strongly Influenced
by the particular religious training OF
the European observer. Attempts to
explain Indian religion by any sort OF
comparison with the so-called mono
theistic religions of the Old World are
bound to fail. Such familiar terms as
great spirit" and "happy hunting
SrOuuOS WcTc COlllCu europeans AAA
attempting to explain Christian concepts
to the Indians.
1.-THE conception of a ruling all-power-
full deity is political analogy applied to
supernatural powers which could be
conceived only by a people aware OF
permanent centralized power, such as
existed typically only In the Old World.
Such groups as the Incas and the
Natchez looked upon an individual theo-
cratic head as the human representative
of the sun, and his authority was Of
religious rather than of political
nature.
Generally far removed from any such
GENERALIZATION Of religious ideas was the
Indian belief in multitude of spirits
whose abode was to be found in nature
and in both animate and inanimate
objects. His rituals and offerings were
given with the idea of propitiating these
spirits. Behind all this was the somewhat
mystic conception u "A tmpersonal