coal
they use wood and dried grass. They make their fire on the ground.
Their food is very simple. They have meat and fish and berries, and
cakes made of corn. The meat they eat is the flesh of the deer and
other wild animals.
[Illustration: An Indian Chief.]
The Indians are of a copper color. They are sometimes called "Red
Men." They have high cheek bones, black eyes, and straight black hair.
The Indian men spend their time hunting and fishing. They do not have
bows and arrows now. They shoot with guns as white men do.
The Indian women do all the work. They cook the food, make the clothes,
and plant the corn. They also put up the wigwams and take them down.
For the Indians do not live always in the same place, but often move
about.
An Indian woman is called a squaw, and an Indian baby is called a
pa-poose'. You would wonder if you saw the Indian baby's cradle. It
is a bag made of skin fixed to a flat board. It is just large enough
for baby to fit in. The little papoose is wrapped up warm and put into
the bag. The mother carries the baby on her back in this cradle.
Often she hangs the cradle up on a branch of a tree. Then the little
red baby swings while its mother is cooking or working in the field.
[Illustration: An Indian Baby.]
The men, women, and children wear clothes made of skin. They often
wear blankets as shawls are worn by white people. Their shoes are made
of deerskin and have no soles. They are called moccasins.
[Illustration: Moccasins.]
In many places the Indians now have schools, and the little Indian boys
and girls go to school every day. Our government has sent teachers to
teach them. They learn to read and write and count.
But the Indian boys and girls learn a great many things at home. Their
fathers tell them about birds and beasts and trees and rivers. And
they teach the boys to hunt and fish, and train them up to be brave in
war.
The Indian boys and girls have a great many games. The boys play with
bows and arrows. They play "blindman's buff," and "hunt the slipper,"
and handball and football. The girls take part in the football. One
of their games is the "stick and ring" game. The ring is made of skin
and is sometimes covered with beads. Each boy has a stick, and he
throws it at the ring while it is rolling along the ground. The game
is to send the stick through the ring. Every boy tries to strike every
other boy's stick to stop it from going
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