Race-Fusion.-- The intermingling of the American Indians with the intruding white race has been much greater than is generally, ,be. lieved. The extent of this fusion of races varies from certain parts of North America with'their classic Pocahontas examples to Uruguay, in South America, where 90 per cent of the lation are said to be of mixed blond. The Eskimo of Greenland have intermarried with the whites (Danish fathers, native mothers), se that except in the parts remote from settlementS no pure-blood Eskitao exists; and the same is true of a good deal of Labrador, where the contact has been with fishermen of English descent. The Micmac, Abnaki and related gonkian tribes of Maine, New Brunswick, etc.; have a large admixture of white blood (French fathers, native mothers), and all over Canada and the northwestern United States in the early days of colonization and exploration the French traders, trappers, voyageurs and coureurs del Bois mingled freely with the native women, par ticularly those of the various Algonkian peopleS of the Great Lakes and the West. The Hud son's Bay Company, by introducing employees of English and Scotch descent into the Can, adian Northwest, made possible other eittis, of which those of Scotch descent on the father's side are said to be healthy and sturdy speci mens of humanity with more than ordinary capacities. As indicated by the present condi:: tion of the Iroquois on the reservations in Quebec, Ontario and New York, some infusion of white blood has taken place from very early times. Here the combination of white mother (often an adopted i captive) and ,native father is more common than is usual in race-mixture, The Cherokee had an admixture of white blood in ante-Revolutionary days, to which Mooney attributes much of their culture-achievements since that time. In Mexico, Central America and South America generally, as Talcott Wil liams has very recently noted, the half-breed element is very large indeed, for the native population was never exterminated by the whites as some histories still teach. Of the 40,000,000 inhabitants of South America it has been estimated that less than 1U,000,000 can lay any claim to pure white blood. There is reason to believe that the future of some of the South American countries will be as much in the hands of the Indians as in those of the whites, In Mexico, parts of Central America, Colom bia, Peru and Chile, the strain of Indian blood represents able and intellectual aboriginal pee: pies. In certain parts of South America, and, sporadically in northeastern North America; in termingling of Indians and negroes ocv stirred, giving rise to the so-called Cafusos, etc, of Brazil, and a few other small groups. The mixture of white-Indian-negro is also found here and there. In some of the Spanish., American countries there is a special lary to designate the numerous degrees of mhissage. In the Canadian Northwest the half-breeds have taken a prominent part in the development of the country (one noted milk, Norquay, was premier of the province of Mani Iona), and they are likewise noteworthy in the annals of the northwestern United States. In Mexico and CeilUT.1 America, not alone the mins but the Indians themselves have pto duced celebrated men. Juarez, the liberator of a really great man, was a full-blood Zapotec and President Barrios of Guatemala Cakchiquel (Mayan stock).
Treatment by Whites.— The ill treatment of the American Indian by the whites has often been such as to stamp with eternal dis honor the conquering race. Massacres, broken treaties. land-robbing, commercial swindles, etc, mark the path of advancing ;civilization.* English, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Span. ish have all been guilty at some time or other. The English in Newfoundland, the Americans in the West, the Castilians in northers Mex ico and Yucatan, have exterminated qr sought to exterminate whole tribes. We must, how ever, believe that the accounts of the early chroniclers concerning the gmillionsp of In. clans slaughtered by the Spaniards were the customary exaggerations of those who sing the victor's deeds. Peru and Mexico, for exam ple, would not contain so many Indians to-day were those stories literally true. Against the
centuries of dishonor in the treatment of the Indians by the whites we may place the effort3 of missionaries of all faiths, from the goo Las Casasin New Spain to Duncan of 4let lakahtla. The Jesuits' among the Iroquois and Algonkians in North America, the Moravians among the Eskimo and some of the Algon kians and Iroquois, have all done good work, which only the incapacity or worse of govern mental authorities has made null. The missions in California and the in various parts of South America (Paraguay in particu lar) might have succeeded in keeping the In dians gentle and loyal sons of the Church had the good fathers been forever in charge, but the oncome of the more strenuous life of the whites doomed them to helplessness. The story of the Paraguayan experiment is one of the most interesting in the annals of mankind, but also one of the most disheartening. Against such failures a few bright spots may be set,— the Fuegian mission for example. A better treatment of the Indians still within the borders of the United States has been in progress for several years. See INDIAN AvvAms.
Influence on Civilisation.— The contribu tions of the aborigines of America to the world's stock of civilizing factors and influences are much more numerous and of greater im portance than is thought. Beside the innumerable ace-names in all parts of America of Indian origin, the Algonkian, Peruvian, Brazilian, West Indian, Guianian, Venezuelan and Mexican words in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese (whence many of them have spread into all the civilized lan guages of the world) are able remembrancers of the conquered race. The literature of the Spanish-American countries and of Brazil has been more or less affected by the stimuli of native theme and treatment. Many of the old dances and folk-customs still survive even where Christianity has been at least outwardly accepted and have sometimes been adopted by the descendants of the European colonists. The 'Hiawatha' of Longfellow and the tales and dramas based upon the deeds, adventures and romantic episodes in the lives of King Philip, Pocahontas, Pontiac, Tecumseh, etc., to say nothing of the novels of Cooper and his suc cessors, indicate that the Aryan mind of the Anglo-Saxon order has found treasure in the soil. In Mexico and other parts pf Spanish• America the cathedrals and other religious edifices, by intention or by happy chance often occupy sites sacred to pagan dei ties ages before Columbus' discovery— so the new religion gathers strength from the old, and the dislocation of faith so common in Protestant countries is avoided to a very large extent. Of more material things, we owe largely to the Indian the paths over which our highnvays and our railroads run, while many of our cities and towns have only sprung up on the old camp-sites of our predecessors. The great importance of some of these (Indian ways" in the history of the United States has been pointed out by Hulbert. The Indians knowledge of the great water-ways of the country, of portages and trails through forest and over mountain, has made possible coloniza tion and settlement otherwise utterly out of the question. Indian hunters and fishers, scouts, guides, canoe-men, Farriers and packers, in all sections of the American continent, have been indispensable to the progress of white civiliza tion. Nor have Indian slaves and servants been few or without social significance in some quarters; while French, Spanish and English have at times availed themselves of the services of Indian warriors,— the Iroquois enlisted for the North' and some of the Cherokee for the South in the Civil War, and then the govern ment has sometimes set one tribe off against another. In Canada and part of the northwest of the United States, where commingling of the races has taken place, the civilization of the land owes even more to the half-breed, voyagenr, coureur des bois, etc, than to the Indian himself. See CANADA — POPULATION RACIAL, DISTRIBUTION AND IMMIGRATION.