OCR Text |
Show BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 the man. With the inroads of civilization the labor of the man has become less and less and his energy has decreased at an equal rate. The task of the woman, on the other hand, has rather been added to than lightened, and the disproportion thus brought about affords a certain basis for the popular notions on the subject. r In the every- day life of the Indian the satisfaction of his hunger was naturally his most important need. ^ The means to this end were as varied as the environment in which he lived. While it is justifiable to speak of the Indians in general as hunting and fishing folk, it is clear from the descriptions already given that a large proportion of them practised agriculture. It was only in the north- and among some of the western tribes that hunting formed the chief means of subsistence. As soon as the latitude permits the growth of berries, seeds, and edible roots, we find the hunting people turning more and more to such vegetable food as can be found in a wild state; and as still more southern climates are reached, agriculture appears and increases as we go south, until it practically affords the sole means of subsistence. The wild foods were numerous; berries and roots of all sorts are the staples in the north, where lichens and the inner bark of certain trees are also used. In the Columbia Valley and on the plateaus the root of the camass ( Camassia esGulentd) is sought and obtained in great quantities, and eaten either roasted or in cakes made from its |