Amusements.-- The !games of the American aborigines, some of which, like lacrosse, have passed over to their conquerors, are of socio logical and religious significance in many in stances. Stewart Culin has made a special study of the games of the North American Intfians, ,Fl and rejects the theory favored by Ty lor and others, that many of them (for exam e, Mexi can patolli), are imports from Asia. The games of the civilized Aztecs seem to be but °higher developments of those of the wilder tribes,° and those of the Eskimo are modifications of games found among other aboriginal peoples of Amer ica. Among characteristic Amerindian games may be mentioned the gambling game with sticks, the hoop-and-pole game, the ball-race of the southwestern United States, the ball-games of eastern North America, the.woman's game of double ball, foot-races, the snow-snake, etc. Culin holds that back of every game lurks °a ceremony in which the game was once a signifi cant part.° The variations in games do not follow linguistic lines. One centre whence games have radiated and where some of their oldest forms are still to be found is in the southwest ern United States, from which their migrations can be traced north, northeast, east and south. Interesting modifications arise from conditions of environment.
Arts and The arts and inven tions of the American Indians correspond to the extent and variety of their environment. The mass of the inhabitants of the continent at the time of its discovery were hunters and fish ers, or agriculturalists of the Stone Age, most of whom had some knowledge of pottery-mak ing. The house followed the lines of climate and culture, from the snow iglu of the Eskimo and the rude wickitsp of the Utes to communal houses of the Mohegans, the Iroquoian 'long house,' phalansteries of the Pueblan and Cen tral American areas, and the stone dwellings of a more or less pretentious sort of the civil ized peoples of Mexico, Central America and Peru. The cavate lodges and cliff-dwellings of Arizona and New Mexico, the wooden (sometimes underground) houses of the north west Pacific coast, the skin-tents of the plains tribes and the wigwams of the Algonkians, the earth-lodges of the Mandans, etc., correspond to environmental stimuli. A like variation may be seen in the cradles of the American aborig ines, studied by Mason, and in their means of transport on the water,— kayaks, abull-boats,° woodskins and balsas, dug-outs, canoes of pine and birch bark, large and small, and of all vari eties of design and finish. In North America the Algonkians and Iroquois, and in South America the Indians of the great Brazilian water-ways, have made themselves celebrated for their skill in navigation. So too has the Eskimo with his kayak and the Peruvian with his balsa. The Algonkian Etchemins are liter ally •the canoe-men .° The seagoing canoes of the fishing tribes of the coast of Alaska and British Columbia also deserve mention. On land some of the American Indian tribes have used the dog (Eskimo in particular) and the sled (the Algonkian toboggan, adopted by the whites for amusement purposes, is a special form), while in Peru the llama has been em ployed for ages for '°packing,° but not for draft purposes. The use of the horse and the modifications of primitive culture thereby in duced in the Indians of the plains of the Mis souri-Mississippi Valley, the llanos of Vene zuela, the pampas of the Argentine, etc., are, of course, post-Columbian. So, too, the influ ence of sheep culture upon the Navaho and their primitive industries, and of the cow among certain South American tribes. The only animals domesticated by the Indians whose use amounted to a considerable factor in their social and religious life were the dog and the llama, the latter in Peru and Bolivia only. The other half-domesticated animals and birds are of little importance as culture elements. The domesticated dogs of pre-Columbian America represent several diverse species of Cani&e. The absence of such domesticated animals as the cow, the horse, the sheep, etc., in pre-Co lumbian America accounts for certain limita tions of its culture as compared with that of the Old World. Pets, however, bird and beast,
were very common, especially in Brazil and Guiana. The disappearance of the wild buffalo and other animals of the chase, since the com ing of the whites, has been fateful for some tribes,— the contact with the latter as repre sented by the various "fur companies,' etc., has caused many changes in the life of the aborigines, seldom for the better.
As Mason has pointed out, the Amerindian traps and other devices for the capture of wild animals indicate intellectual skill and marvelous adaptation to the habits and actions of these creatures. The Eskimo harpoon and its appur tenances, the simple and composite bow, the arrow-poisons of some North American and many South American peoples, the manufac tures of obsidian and jade in ancient Mexico, cotton weaving and dyeing in the more south ern regions, maguey-paper making in Mexico and Central America, stone carving (from Mexico to the Argentine), feather-work (in the southern United States, Mexico, Central Amer ica and parts of South America), gold working (in the Isthmian region, Colombia, etc.), the hammocks of the Venezuelan tribes, the fish poisoning, devices of many peoples of South America in particular, the fine pottery of many regions of the continent, the quipus or knotted record-strings of the ancient Peruvians, the primitive drum-telephone of certain Brazilian Indians, the blow-gun (southeast United States and South America), cassava preparation (northern South America), the bolas of the Pampean tribes, etc., represent the diversity of invention and manufacturing skill among the American aborigines. The lamp of the Eskimo and some of the Indian tribes of northwestern North America is -sal generis (its importance has been emphasized by Hough). Methods of computing time, season, etc., vary from the slanting stick of the Algonkian Naskopi to the elaborate calendar systems of Mexico and Cen tral America. Of musical instruments, the drum, the flute, the pan-pipe, and the °musical bow° were known to the American Indians. Songs and dances to the accompaniment of these were in vogue. Practically all stages of primitive culture were to be found in pre-Co lumbian America, if we may judge from the tribes now surviving, from the savage Seris to the ancient Mexicans, Mayas and Peruvians. Moreover, within the bounds of the same lin guistic stock, as noted above, there may be found tribes representing a high and a low stage of development; as for example, the Aztecs and the Utes of the Shoshonean stock, the Dogribs and the Navahos of the Athapas can, etc. Some tribes were pre-eminently fish ers, others hunters. Many excelled in both, like the Eskimo and some of the peoples of the northwest Pacific Coast. Some sort of agricul ture was widespread in America— the cultiva tion of corn, beans, varieties of pumpkin and squash, etc., was known all over eastern North America, and the regions of the southwest, etc.; and typical trokucal and semi-tropical and other plants and fruits (potato, tomato, maize, pineapple, tobacco, varieties of cotton, manioc, sweet-potato, cacao, coca, etc.) were cultivated in the more southern regions of Mexico, Cen tral and South America. The spread of tobacco and maize in North America and of certain other plants in Central and South America indi cates agricultural receptiveness on the part of the many tribes concerned. The capacity of the American Indians generally for agriculture has been underrated probably, as both the born cultivation of the Pueblo Indians and the tropically stimulated cultivation of the Indians of South America indicate. The arid regions of the Peruvian coast offer another example of considerably developed agriculture. In America utilization of the gifts of the earth varied from the seed picking and root digging of the Utes to the market gardens and chinampas of ancient Mexico. How the necessities of agriculture can shape a religious system may be seen from the rites and ceremonies of the Pueblo In dians, the cult of °mother corn' etc. With some tribes tobacco was more or less of a sa cred plant, also the mescal.