The Indians of North America

CHAPTER I. The subject introduced

Pape . 1

Chapter II

Some account of the fur trade—The lakes, rivers, and moun¬ tains of North America—Indian hunters—Courreurs des hois—Voyageurs—North-men—Comers and goers—A d^- charge—A portage—Trappers—Beaver hunting—Adven¬ ture with a bear—Peltries and furs—Deer hunting—A cache—Fur companies—Bisons, bears, deer, wolves, badg¬ ers, beavers, minxes, martins, foxes, racoons, lynxes, hares, rabbits, musk-rats, squirrels, and stoats .

Chapter III

Difficulty in ascertaining who were the Aborigines of Ame¬ rica, and from whence they came—Various opinions on the subject—Catlin’s publication on the “ Manners, Cus¬ toms, and Condition of the North American Indians”— Census of the different tribes—Locality of the Crows, Blackfeet, Sioux, and Creeks—The names of some of the Indian chiefs and remarkable characters . 27

Chapter IV

Wigwams—Crow Indians quitting an encampment—Villages —Food—Pomme blanche—Pemican—Marrow fat—Fruit- Dress—Full Dress of Mah-to-toh-pa, “the four bears”— Bows and arrows, quivers, tomahawks, spears, shields, and scalping knives—Scalping—War clubs—Indian warfare— Warfare of white men—Language—Names of the sun and moon, a buffalo, and the Great Spirit, in different languages —Indian method of signing treaties . 43

CONTENTS.

vi

CHAPTER V. Page

The history of Black Hawk—Na-na-ma-kee’s dream—Black Hawk’s hirth-place—Becomes a brave—Fights agaiust the Osages—His father killed—Destroys forty lodges of the Osages—Sac chiefs go to St. Louis—Americans deceive the Sacs, and Black Hawk joins the British—He returns home —Kee-o-kuk made chief—Black Hawk again goes to war^—

He gives himself up to the Americans—A buffalo hunt. 61