THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
PAGE 4
THE TALE OF THE LOST CHILDREN
(Continued from page 1)
found their parents, but when the chief found out who
they were, he gave the parents orders to tie them to
the trees and leave them there to starve, while the
tribe left. The parents did not seem to care for their
children, so did as the chief told them to do. All the
time they were packing there was a certain kind wo
man who was preparing food for the children, and she
was the last one on the trail. Before she started she
gave her dog orders to go and chew the rope with
which the children were tied, and then to give them the
food which she had prepared. When they were all
out of sight the dog did as he was told, and later
followed the rest.
Now after the children were free they wandered all
over the moutain country, always keeping away from
their people. Never had they forgotten to pray to
the Great Spirit. Sometimes they would meet this
lady who had saved their lives. One night the boy
had a dream. He was to make his sister touch him to
every lodge pole, so he would soon become a man.
The next morning he told his dream to his sister.
When she heard it, she »aid it would be wonderful, as
they would not be helpless any longer. So she im
mediately did as this dream had told. When the boy
grew into a man they left the country, and went to
another tribe. Here the man married a girl from this
tribe. And they in turn always denied their parents
and their own people.
Such is the tale of the Blackfeet Indians.
ESKIMOS AND INDIANS
The subject of the origin of the American Indian is
one which never loses its fascination. A new interest
in it has been aroused by the recent tour of Dr. Ales
Hrdlicka through Alaska in search of evidence in those
regions. “The ancient inhabitants of the Bering sea
coasts and islands, who developed the fossil ivory
culture,’’ says Dr. Hrdlicka, whois curator of physical
anthropology in the national museum, “reached a de
gree of industrial differentiation and art so high that
we have nothing to compare with them in America,
except among the most highly developed tribes of the
northwest coast and of Mexico, Yucatan and Peru.
“We cannot be sure yet who these people were,”
continues the scientist, “though it is probable that
they were the ancestors of the present Eskimo or
Indian, or both. However, there seems to be a dis
tinction between their art and that of the Eskimo of
today. The outstanding characteristic of the former
is their mastery of form and line in curves; of the pres
ent day Eskimo it is the geometric design, with the
drawing and carving of animals in their natural form.
This might indicate that some other people were
responsible for the older culture. But when we ex
amine the skeletal remains, there is no indication that
any other people except Eskimo and Indian lived in
these regions at any period thus far represented in the
collections.”
The aiea over which evidences of the old culture are
found is very extensive. Traces of it are found far
down the American coasts. But it is not certain
that it was actually practiced everywhere along these
coasts. In these parts of the world one of the most
striking phenomena is the evidence of extensive trade
carried on in implements and other cultural objects.
There is, for example, on the Kobuk river a mountain
called Jade mountain. It was early known to the
Indians and the Eskimo of the river, and its green
stone was made into adzes, drills, knives, lamps and
other objects. Though this is the sole source of green
stone, objects of it occur all the way from Barrow and
Point Hope to Seward peninsula, the Asiatic coast,
the Diomedes, the St. Lawrence and down toNunivak
island.
Similarly, one finds the highly decorated objects of
new fossil ivory on the Diomedes, the St. Lawrence,
the Asiatic coast, Seward peninsula and from Barrow
again down to Nunivak island and possibly much
farther. The designs seem to connect with the char
acteristic art of the northwest coast. The indications
would seem to point to the old ivory culture having
been central in northwestern Asia whence it spread
by trading along the American coasts.
With the
evidence now in our hands, there can no longer be
any hesitation in believing that the Eskimo and Indian
originally were not any two distinct races nor even
widely distinct and far-away types, but that if we
could go a little back in time they would be found to
be like two neighboring fingers of one hand, both
proceeding from the same palm, or source.
IOWA’S WALLED LAKE
One of the wonders of the country as well as one of
its mysteries, is the “Walled Lake” of Iowa. There
seems to be nothing authentic regarding when or by
whom this lake was “walled” and we cannot escape
the conviction that some of our Indian ancestors may
have had something to do with it, “far fetched” as it
may seem. The following is of unusual interest:
The greatest wonder in the state of Iowa, and per
haps any state, is what is called the “Walled Lake,”
in Wright county, 12 miles north of the Dubuque
and Pacific Railway and 150 miles west of Dubuque
city. The lake is from two to three feet higher than
the surrounding surface of the earth. In some places
the wall is 10 feet high, 15 feet wide at the bottom
and five feet wide on top. The stones used in its con
struction vary in weight from three tons down to 100
pounds. There is an abundance of stones in Wright
county, but surrounding the lake to the extent of five
or ten miles there is none. No one can form an idea as
to the means employed to bring them to the wall or
who constructed it. Around the entire lake is a belt
of woodland a half a mile in width composed of oak.
With this exception the country is a rolling prairie.
The trees must have been planted there at the time of
the building of the wall. In the spring of the year
1856 there was a great storm and the ice on the lake
broke the wall in several places and the farmers in the
vicinity were compelled to repair the damages to pre
vent inundation. The lake occupies a ground surface
of 2800 acres; depth of water as great as 25 feet. The
water is clear and cold; soil sandy and loamy. It is
singular that no one has been able to ascertain where
the water comes from or where it goes, yet it is always
clear and fresh.