When the people from the Old World first settled in this country, they found a race here whom they called Indians. This same race still inhabit this country, but they are few in numbers as compared with the whites, and they live mostly in the far West.

The Indians then did not dress like those you may see now, but their faces and figures have not changed very much. They have a dark skin, straight, black hair, black eyes, high cheek-bones, flat noses, white teeth, and wear no beards. In stature they are tall and straight.

The houses in which the Indians lived were not at all like our homes, and they were called huts or wigwams. These wigwams were sometimes made of poles set in the ground in a circle. But when a large hut was wanted, the poles were planted in two long rows. The poles were bent over at the top, then fastened together and all covered with bark. Sometimes the poles were driven into the ground in such a way that they met at the top. A hole was left for smoke near the top, and the rest of the pole frame was covered with bark on the outside and with skins on the inside.

The Indians had no furniture, not even beds, and every one sat and slept on skins or on mats made from rushes by the squaws. These mats and skins were kept upon the ground, but each person had a place for his own.

The food of the Indians consisted of fish and game, together with such fruits and nuts as they were able to pick and gather, besides the corn for cakes. Potatoes and corn are both natives of this country and were first used by the Indians. For drinking purposes, water was commonly used, but they made a great many drinks with berries, leaves, and roots.

The faces of the Indians were frequently painted in many colors, and to make the paint last long, holes were sometimes pricked into the skin by means of thorns. The painting then was much like the tattooing done now in many islands of the sea. Sometimes they tattooed in this way nearly the whole of their bodies.

In the warm parts of the country they wore little in the way of dress, often no more than a kind of short skirt which did not reach to the knees; but they took great delight in having large strings of beads round their necks, besides birds’ claws, squirrels’ heads, and the like. Where it was colder, bearskins were worn in winter, with the fur left on the pelt. In summer lighter skins were chosen, and sometimes the fur was taken off. Large garments were, in the main, made from the skins of the otter, beaver, or raccoon. The men had a sort of leather breeches which they used when hunting, and they wore moccasins for shoes.

Feathers, sometimes in head-dresses, sometimes in garments, were used by the Indians, to show degrees of honor won in war. Bows and arrows were used by them for hunting, and likewise for weapons to defend themselves. The work of making bows and arrows must have taken a great deal of time, for the arrow shafts were whittled out of wood, and the arrow-heads were chipped out of flint and other stones. They used spears with which to fish, as well as hooks and lines.

The wood for their boats was obtained by burning down trees near the ground, and then burning off the branches and tops. In this way they managed to get logs the right length, and then they burned them out on one side, after which they scraped out the charred parts with shells. These made very strong boats. A lighter canoe was built of a frame covered with bark.

In times of peace the Indians hunted and fished. Such a thing as a store or market was not needed. Each family had to catch all the fish or kill all the game that might be required for its wants. The boys early learned the art of fishing and hunting, and in summer they fished from the shore or from a canoe. In winter they bored holes through the ice and used a hook and line or a long spear. This spear, at the pointed end, was shaped like a fish.

Many stories are told how these hunters and fishermen by tricks took their game. Sometimes they would drive a whole herd of deer or buffalo out upon a narrow neck of land running far into the water, and then cut off all escape by building a row of fires across the neck. In this way they kept the herd together until they killed all they wanted.

The war-dance was a great thing among Indians, and they thought the only way to get honor was by following the war-path. Therefore many hours were spent in learning war-dances and in being able to hit a small mark a great way off with the bow and arrow. By the time an Indian lad reached sixteen and was able to do these things well, he was old enough to go to war and to help fight the battles which so often took place among the tribes.

Hunting and fishing and going to war were, however, not all the things that the Indians did. They had many sports and games for children, and also many for those who were grown up. They played ball on the grass, a game like hockey with sticks on the ice, and lacrosse, which we have now adopted as our national game.—Selected.