The American Indian/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
The term anthropology now stands for the specific science of man. Ethnology, archæology, and somatology are merely divisions, or convenient groups of problems within the scope of this science. The ideal of anthropology is to coordinate all the data concerning man's culture, language and anatomy, past and present, with a view to solving the problems of his origin and the interpretation of his culture. To this end, it must employ the methods of history, zoology, psychology, geology, and the exact sciences, as the case may require. Its pursuit will prove no light task, but to him who has a grasp of some of these subjects and a working insight into the others, anthropology offers problems of the most enticing sort. Naturally, but few of us can hope to grapple first-hand with these great inquiries, but the anthropology of today has moved forward so far that no man who wishes to be considered well educated can afford to ignore its fundamentals any more than he can those of zoology or sociology.
This book, however, is not designed to serve as an introduction to anthropology in general. On the other hand, it deals with one of the two grand world divisions under which the subject matter of anthropology is comprehended, for as we shall see in the course of this discussion, the native culture of the American Indian stands out in sharp contrast to the culture of the Old World. This contrast is due to fundamental differences in the specific cultures of the two hemispheres, which differences naturally tend to form two groups of problems. Yet, the problems that arise in the anthropology of the New World have a great deal in common with those pertaining to the Old. The functions of culture seem to be the same in each; hence, a review of the New World, such as we are now to take up, will at the same time introduce us to the methods and viewpoints of anthropology in general.
Yet, aside from these academic considerations, the American Indian makes an appeal to popular interest. The name occupies so large a place in our own culture that it may be doubted if there is anywhere in all the land a normal individual who has not acquired some interest in the Indian's history. On every hand we hear: How came the Indian here? Who were his ancestors? What knowledge and habits did he bring with him? What has he accomplished of his own initiative and how did he achieve it? And it is right and proper that every one of us should be interested in these questions, because we have not only displaced the Indian in this land but we have absorbed a great deal of his culture. For instance, what a void we should create if, by some magical power, we could strike from our history, geography and literature all that pertains to his race! Again, what havoc would be wrought by his withdrawal from painting, sculpture and decorative art! But these losses, incalculably great as they are, would be lost in the overwhelming economic vacuity that would result from the obliteration of maize, cacao, manioc, the potato, the squash, coca, quinine, tobacco and all the other numerous and nameless contributions the Indian has made to our culture. From that eventful day in 1492 when Columbus first laid eyes upon the Indian, down to this very hour, he has been the most studied of peoples. No other race of the world can so stir the imagination of the European. It is thus plain that we have before us one of our greatest cultural assets, the source of the most original traits of our present-day culture and a heritage upon which we may realize more and more. Just the other day a student of Indian life in Dakota conceived the idea of training our farmers to raise maize in the great Northwest, in spite of the short season, by using the methods developed by the Indians of the same locality long before the white man's foot intruded. Again, the fashionable lady who goes shopping tomorrow will select new and striking designs on ribbons and silks that are the advance products of a great revival in American decorative art, the foundation for which was laid by our museum collectors and scientific students of Indian life. It behooves us, therefore, to systematize and extend our knowledge of this vanishing race whose life has been trampled under foot in the ruthless march of culture's evolution, but whose own cultural achievements were too virile and too finely adjusted to local geographical conditions to be obliterated.
Further, the chief concern of scientific anthropology is to solve the very questions of origin that actuate the popular mind. As applied to the New World, the sole objective of anthropology is to discover the origin and conditions which have produced the Indian and his culture. Such questions of origin look simple and innocent enough but, my dear Reader, here are problems whose final solution shall surely put the intellect of man and his scientific methods to a supreme test. Positive and complete answers can not now be given to any of these questions, yet anthropology has something definite to offer on every point, though so far this information lies hidden from the uninitiated reader in the accumulated mass of published data and special literature for the reason that no formal attempt has as yet been made to summarize or to present a general review of New World anthropology as a whole. It is to make up in some measure for this deficiency that the following handbook of the subject is projected.
At the outset, we shall introduce the reader to what appear to be the most important facts in the culture of the native peoples. Such facts are conveniently comprehended under three main headings: Material Traits of Culture (Chapters I to VIII), the Fine Arts (Chapter IX), and Social Traits (Chapters X to XIII). The thirteen chapters devoted to these topics are offered as a review of the data necessary to a more searching and constructive view of our subject. Turning from this descriptive task, we shall first consider the classifications under which all these data may be assembled. The historical development of anthropology as a whole, commits us to a historical and geographical point of view, consequently the basic principle of classification in every case will be geographical distribution. Hence, we take up in turn the problems of the grouping of the living tribes according to culture; the evidences for the distribution of the extinct tribes, if such there be; the distribution of languages; and finally, the problem of somatic types. The completion of this task should leave us with a systematic view of the New World as a whole.
We may, then, profitably consider such synthetic problems as suggest themselves. Among these, by far the most popular, are those dealing with the origins of New World peoples and their culture, their relation to the races of the Old World, and the antiquity of their arrival in the New. These subjects have been many times discussed, but they are here considered as interpretations based upon empirical classifications of scientific data.
As we proceed, the reader will become conscious of a certain asymmetry in the descriptive chapters, but this is unavoidable, for it so happens that we have much more complete data for the United States and Canada than for other parts of the New World. For South America, in particular, the data are quite unsatisfactory. Consequently, most of the illustrative examples and the inductive interpretations in this book are drawn from the best known parts of North America. On the other hand, the data at large are sufficient to reveal the main characteristics of the whole New World and to make clear the fundamental unity that exists throughout. In addition, the limitations of space have necessitated passing over many topics in silence. For example, we have omitted all discussions of warfare and fighting customs, chiefly because these are the most familiar to general readers. Moreover, these subjects are rather fully treated in historical books and tales of adventure, but the reader who wishes to go deeper into the problem may, with profit, consult the writings of Bandelier and Friederici. Another very important point that might be considered is the density of native populations in pre-Columbian times, a subject we should have gladly made room for if there were available reliable estimates. Recently this problem has been taken up by Mr. James Mooney, who is now preparing a publication on the subject. However, when we take into account the modes of life followed in the different areas, it appears a fair assumption that in 1492 the native population was about at its maximum; that is, the hunting areas contained as many people as the fauna would support and the agricultural areas about all that could be provided for under the existing systems. Yet, this may prove an error when more data are available. Again, the choice of topics has been governed by the importance of the problems involved. Thus, so far, no very important problems have been found in war customs, population, etc., but in forms of social organization, certain industries, art, etc., we do find problems that bear upon the very fundamentals of anthropology. In the preparation of this volume our ideal has been to treat these fundamental problems rather than to present a digest of all possible phases of New World native life.