OCR Text |
Show 1900] CLASSIFICATION OF INDIANS Si case of small families. Considering the extre^ variations in climate and general character whic^ the continent presents, it is not strange that widely » % different cultures should obtain in different regions. \ The shores of the Arctic Ocean and the deserts of the southwest must necessarily produce sharp contrasts in the manner of life of the inhabitants; and the same will be true for the forest- dwelling tribes of the east and the Indians of the great plains. For purposes of description it becomes necessary to devise a grouping on a combined basis of geographical distribution and general culture. It is difficult if not impossible in dealing with the complex psychological and social phenomena which go to make up what we call culture, to lay down any criteria for comparison which will be satisfactory in all fields. What is characteristic in art may not apply to religion; and the result of a comparison in social organization will not hold in industrial life. The only possible method of describing the Indian tribes is to resort to a broad basis of generalization which must, from the very nature of the subject, be inexact in details. A classification which includes considerations both of geography and culture, and which seems open to less objection than any other, is the following: I. The Eskimo; II. The_ trihe& of the north Parifir . coast; III. The tribes of the Mackenzie R& ecJbasin and the high plateaus; IV. The tribes of the Columbia River and California; V. the tribes * |