assimilate the culture of the whites and to profit by the contact of the two races. Curiously enough, some of the tribes at one time considered lowest in point of general intellectual equipment have shown not a little of this ability, and there is a marked difference in this respect between tribes belonging to one and the same stock. The Athabaskan stock e.g. shows such variations, or rather perhaps this stock in general exhibits a tendency to adopt the culture of other peoples, thus some of the Athabaskan tribes in Alaska have acquired elements of culture from the Eskimo; the Takulli have been influenced by the Tsimshian, and Nahané by the Tlingit, the Chilcotin by the Salish, the Sarcee by the western Algonkian tribes, and in the extreme south the Navaho by the Pueblos Indians. The Salishan stock has largely this same characteristic. Of these two peoples Mr C. Hill-Tout (The Salish and Déné, London, 1907, p. 50) says: “It would be difficult indeed to find two peoples more susceptible to foreign influences, more receptive of new ideas and more ready and willing to adopt and carry them out.” In the relations established between them and the whites not enough advantage in the proper way has been taken of this “philoneism,” which ought to have been the basis of their acquisition of our culture, or such aspects of it as suited them best. And perhaps there are other stocks of which, if we knew them well, similar things might be said. Of the Indians of the Shoshonian stock the Paiutes of Nevada and Arizona have shown themselves capable of making themselves necessary to the whites (farmers, &c.) of that region, and not falling victims to the “vices of civilization.” Although they still retain their primitive wickiups (or rush huts), they seem actually to have improved in health, wealth and character from association with the “superior” race, a rare thing in many respects among the lower Indian tribes of North America. This improvement of the Paiutes causes us not to be surprised when we find the more cultured Moquis and the “civilized” Aztecs of ancient Mexico to belong to the same Shoshonian stock. Acculturation by borrowing has played an important rôle in the development of North American Indian ideas and institutions. This is well illustrated by the history of the Plains Indians, with their numerous intertribal societies, their temporary and their permanent alliances, federations, &c. If ways and means for the transfer of elements of culture indicate intelligence, some of these tribes must rank rather high in the scale. The Algonkian, Iroquoian and Muskogian stocks, both in the case of individuals and in the case of whole tribes (or their remnants), have exhibited great ability in the directions indicated. Of the Caddoan stock the Pawnees seem gifted with considerable native ability expressing itself particularly in the matter of religion (the Hupas, of the Athabaskan stock, seem also to have “a religious sense”). Some tribes of the Siouan stock have, both in the case of individuals and as peoples, given evidence of marked intelligence, especially in relation to psychic phenomena and the treatment of adolescent youth. In their culture, their ceremonies and ritual proceedings, as well as in their material arts, the Pueblos Indians of the south-western United States show, in many ways, their mental kinship with the creators and sustainers of the civilization of ancient Mexico and Central America. From the table of Indian tribes it will be seen that aborigines of the most diverse stocks have shown themselves capable of assimilating white culture and of adapting themselves to the new set of circumstances. Progress and improvement are not at all confined to any one stock.
A very interesting fact in the history of the education of the aborigines north of Mexico is the success of the attempt to enable them to read and write their own language by means of specially prepared syllabaries, “alphabets,” &c. The first of these, the still existing Syllabaries. “Micmac hieroglyphics,” so-called, was the work of Father le Clercq in 1665, improved by Father Kauder in 1866; one of the most recent, the adaptation of the “Cree syllabary” of Evans by Peck to the language of the Eskimo of Cumberland Sound. The basis of many of the existing syllabaries is “the Cree syllabary,” or “Evans Syllabary,” invented about 1841 by the Rev. James Evans, a Methodist missionary in the Hudson’s Bay region from the study of the shorthand systems current at that time. This syllabary and modifications of it are now in use (with much printed literature) for both writing and printing among many tribes of the Algonkian, Athabaskan (modified by Morice for the Carriers, by Kirkby and others for Chipewyan, Slavé, &c.), Eskimo (modified by Peck), Siouan (Cree syllabary used by Canadian Stonies) stocks. Among the Salishan tribes of the Thompson river region, the Shushwap, Okanagan, &c., a stenographic modification (reproduced by mimeograph) by Father le Jeune of the Duployan system of shorthand has been used with great success. But the most remarkable of all these syllabaries is one more of Indian than missionary origin, in its application at least, the well-known “Cherokee alphabet” of Sequoyah, an uneducated Cherokee half-blood, who got part of his idea from an old spelling-book though his characters did not at all correspond to English sounds—at first 82, later 86 syllables were represented. Invented about 1821 the “Cherokee alphabet” was first used for printing in 1827, and has been in constant use since then for correspondence and for various literary purposes. The effect of this invention is thus described by Mooney (Myths of the Cherokee, 1902):—
“The invention of the alphabet had an immediate and wonderful effect on Cherokee development. An account of the remarkable adaptation of the syllabary to the language, it was only necessary to learn the characters to be able to read at once. No school-houses were built and no teachers hired, but the whole Nation became an academy for the study of the system, until, in the course of a few months, without school or expense of time or money, the Cherokee were able to read and write in their own language. An active correspondence began to be carried on between the Eastern and Western divisions, and plans were made for a national press, with a national library and museum to be established at the capital, New Echota. The missionaries, who had at first opposed the new alphabet on the ground of its Indian origin, now saw the advisability of using it to further their own work.”
In spite of absurdities of form and position in the characters of this syllabary, it serves its purpose so well that, as Pilling informs us (Amer. Anthrop., 1893), “a few hours of instruction are sufficient for a Cherokee to learn to read his own language intelligibly,” and in two and a half months the Cherokee child “acquires the art of reading and writing fluently in these rude characters.” The success of the “Cree syllabary” was also astonishing, and in 1890, according to Maclean (Canad. Sav. Folk, p. 283), “few Cree Indians can be found who are not able to read the literature printed in the syllabic characters.” Here again, “an Indian with average intelligence can memorize the whole in a day, and in less than one week read fluently any book written upon this plan,” and many Indians learn to read fluently “with no other teachers but the Indians around the camp-fires.” Morice reports equal success with his syllabary: “Through it Indians of common intelligence have learnt to read in one week’s leisurely study before they had any primer or printed matter of any kind to help them on. We even know of a young man who performed the feat in the space of two evenings.” Le Jeune’s experience with the Shuswap and Thompson Indians is the same. The creation of a “literary” class among so many Indian tribes within a comparatively brief period is certainly a very interesting result, and one which gives evidence of native intelligence among children and adults alike (Amer. Journ. Psychol., 1905).
For a general list of authorities on the American aborigines, see bibliography under America, section 3, Ethnology. The literature on the subject, already vast, is continually increasing, and it is impossible to enumerate every contribution made by the large number of expert anthropologists working in this field. The chief works of a special nature have already been cited in the text. (A. F. C.)
INDICATOR (from Lat. indicare, to point out), that which
points out or records. In engineering, the word is specifically
given to a mechanical device for registering the pressure of the
working fluid in an engine cylinder during a stroke of the piston,
the record so provided being termed the “indicator diagram”
(see Steam-Engine). In chemistry, the word is generically
applied to re-agents or chemicals which detect usually small
quantities or traces of other substances; it is, however, more
customarily restricted to re-agents which show whether a
