OCR Text |
Show HRDLICKA] TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CERTAIN INDIAN TRIBES 11 OGLALA SIOUX This tribe occupies a. reservation in South Dakota nearly 5,000 square miles in extent. It numbers according to the last count 6,663 individuals, of whom 3,325 are males and 3,328 females. The population is suffering a gradual diminution owing to the high death rate, due mainly to tuberculosis. About three- fifths of the Oglala are still full- bloods, the remainder being nearly all half- breeds, the result of clandestine unions of the Indian women with white men. This mixture is nearly all of quite recent date. The writer examined in this tribe 100 pure- blooded families. The region in which the Oglala live, while not identical with the one over which they roamed when free, is, nevertheless, quite similar in essential points, so that change of climate need not be considered in discussing the morbidity of the tribe, particularly that due to tuberculosis. The reservation is, for the most part, gently rolling in the south, and broken and hilly farther north, while the northwestern, portion presents, on an extensive scale, the characteristic barrenness of the Bad Lands. There are no mountains. The average altitude is somewhat more than 3,000 feet. Though there are no forests, scattered pines are found on the ridges, and other trees along the waterways. The soil on the elevations is sandy or gravelly and for the most part barren, but the valleys along the creeks and rivers are filled with fertile silt. Water is not abundant, there being no large rivers and only a few small shallow lakes. Drinking water is obtained mainly from the creeks and from springs; it is of fairly good quality, containing little or no alkali. The annual precipitation averages about 25 inches, but varies much in different places and seasons. There are no fogs, and dew is observed but seldom. Snow is rarely deep, except in drifts. The country is hot in summer, when the thermometer rises occasionally above 100° F., and cold in winter, the mercury falling as low as 40° below zero. The nights, as a rule, are cold, even in summer. A strong breeze usually prevails, and there are occasionally high winds. In regard to civilization, the Oglala are in the transition period, which generally means partial degeneration. They live in small or fair- sized log houses of one room, each provided with one or two small windows that are never opened. The houses have earthen floors and sod roofs. In summer almost every family constructs from poles and boughs, or from young pine trees, a more or less open shelter in which, while it is warm, they spend most of their time. Usually, each family has also a light, easily portable tent, which represents the ancient tipi. These tents are erected near the house and are occupied by the aged, by some relative or visitor of the |