The North American Indian | Page 3

the esoteric rites and
ceremonies could be gleaned.
At times the undertaking was made congenial by our surroundings in beautiful mountain
wild, in the depths of primeval forest, in the refreshing shade of cañon wall, or in the
homes and sacred places of the Indians themselves; while at others the broiling desert sun,
the sand-storm, the flood, the biting blast of winter, lent anything but pleasure to the task.
The word-story of this primitive life, like the pictures, must be drawn direct from Nature.
Nature tells the story, and in Nature's simple words I can but place it before the reader. In
great measure it must be written as these lines are--while I am in close touch with the
Indian life.
At the moment I am seated by a beautiful brook that bounds through the forests of
Apacheland. Numberless birds are singing their songs of life and love. Within my reach
lies a tree, felled only last night by a beaver, which even now darts out into the light,
scans his surroundings, and scampers back. A covey of mourning doves fly to the water's
edge, slake their thirst in their dainty way, and flutter off. By the brookside path now and
then wander prattling children; a youth and a maiden hand in hand wend their way along
the cool stream's brink. The words of the children and the lovers are unknown to me, but
the story of childhood and love needs no interpreter.
[Illustration: By The Sycamore - Apache]
By The Sycamore - Apache

From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis
It is thus near to Nature that much of the life of the Indian still is; hence its story, rather
than being replete with statistics of commercial conquests, is a record of the Indian's
relations with and his dependence on the phenomena of the universe--the trees and shrubs,
the sun and stars, the lightning and rain,--for these to him are animate creatures. Even
more than that, they are deified, therefore are revered and propitiated, since upon them
man must depend for his well-being. To the workaday man of our own race the life of the
Indian is just as incomprehensible as are the complexities of civilization to the mind of
the untutored savage.
While primarily a photographer, I do not see or think photographically; hence the story of
Indian life will not be told in microscopic detail, but rather will be presented as a broad
and luminous picture. And I hope that while our extended observations among these
brown people have given no shallow insight into their life and thought, neither the
pictures nor the descriptive matter will be found lacking in popular interest.
Though the treatment accorded the Indians by those who lay claim to civilization and
Christianity has in many cases been worse than criminal, a rehearsal of these wrongs does
not properly find a place here. Whenever it may be necessary to refer to some of the
unfortunate relations that have existed between the Indians and the white race, it will be
done in that unbiased manner becoming the student of history. As a body politic
recognizing no individual ownership of lands, each Indian tribe naturally resented
encroachment by another race, and found it impossible to relinquish without a struggle
that which belonged to their people from time immemorial. On the other hand, the white
man whose very own may have been killed or captured by a party of hostiles forced to
the warpath by the machinations of some unscrupulous Government employé, can see
nothing that is good in the Indian. There are thus two sides to the story, and in these
volumes such questions must be treated with impartiality.
Nor is it our purpose to theorize on the origin of the Indians--a problem that has already
resulted in the writing of a small library, and still with no satisfactory solution. The object
of the work is to record by word and picture what the Indian is, not whence he came.
Even with this in view the years of a single life are insufficient for the task of treating in
minute detail all the intricacies of the social structure and the arts and beliefs of many
tribes. Nevertheless, by reaching beneath the surface through a study of his creation
myths, his legends and folklore, more than a fair impression of the mode of thought of the
Indian can be gained. In each instance all such material has been gathered by the writer
and his assistants from the Indians direct, and confirmed, so far as is possible, through
repetition by other members of their tribe.
Ever since the days of Columbus the assertion has been made repeatedly that the Indian
has no religion and no code of ethics, chiefly for the reason that in his primitive state he