Indian red

“ The most forlorn and repulsive aspect in which an Indian is ever presented to us is when he is in the state that may be called semi-civilization, — with a show and pretence, often a mockery of the white man's ways, in shiftlessness, wastefulness, and squalor, both in aspect and reality. The Indian roaming in free vigor, — with fresh air and soil and simple food, with the odor about him of the forest-pine and the berry, lifting the brook-water to his lips, — is in some sort a pleasing, never repulsive, object. ”

“ Having to remain an hour there, we went ashore, up the long straight street, to a frame-house, or store, where there was an extensive display of Indian work. The Lake Superior and Huron Red Indians are particularly noted for the beauty of their embroidery on skins, silk, birch bark, and cloth, in beads, porcupine quills, or silk. Their imitative genius is so great that the squaws can copy anything, and I know people who have had their crests and coats-of-arms embroidered upon their tobacco-pouches and belts, from an impression on paper or sealing-wax. ”

“ Red Jacket's face, too, is much more intellectual than almost any other. But, in becoming so, it loses nothing of the peculiar Indian stamp, but only carries these traits to their perfection. Irony, discernment, resolution, and a deep smouldering fire, that disdains to flicker where it cannot blaze, may there be read. Nothing can better represent the sort of unfeelingness the whites have towards the Indians, than their conduct towards his remains. ”

“ Great varieties, however, exist in the shade of the red or copper [217] color of the Indians. There are two extremes of complexion among mankind—those of the northern European and the African negro; between these there is a series of shades, that of the American Indian being about midway. The structure of the New World, and the circumstances of its inhabitants, may account for the generally equal color of their skin. The western Indian never becomes black, even when dwelling directly under the equator. ”

“ The usual manner of painting iron, etc., in red lead is to first give a priming coat of pure lead and then a second coat of any colour desired. An excellent second coat is formed of equal parts by weight of red lead and good iron oxide. Any finishing coat may be applied.
Indian Red. —This is shown by analysis to consist almost wholly of oxide of iron. The paler Indian red is, the greater is its tinting strength and the rosier is the tint obtained from it by mixing it with white. Indian red should be always tested for fineness and tint. ”

“ F the red men have been benefited by their intercourse with the whites, they have also received much degradation from the same cause. Created with strong and active physical powers, united with keen sensibility, they have an innate love of excitement, of which the white man has taken advantage to work their ruin. For a few bottles of any kind of ardent spirits, which the Indians term “firewater,” keen traders have purchased the produce of weeks of hunting and toil, and even the land which contains within its bosom the bones of the red man’s ancestors. ”

“ INDIAN ARROW HEADS, &c.
By far the most numerous relics of the Red Race, now found in those parts of our country from which it has disappeared, are the small stones with which they headed their arrows. Being made of the most durable substances, they have generally remained in the soil, unaffected by time and the changes of season. They most abound in those rich meadows which border some of our rivers, and in other spots of peculiar fertility, though of less extent, where the pasture, or other attractions, collected game for the Red men. ”

“ But the charm which is the very soul of European fashion, is scorned by the Indian. Change—the “Cynthia of the minute,” the morning thought and midnight dream of the dilettanti in human drapery—has no captivation for the red man. He may like variety in his scalps or his squaws; but not a feather, not a stripe of yellow on one cheek, or of green on another, exhibits a sign of the common mutabilities of man. ”

“ Even now we annihilate the Red Indian because he is not subservient, while we are content to degrade the negro who doesn’t threaten our domination.
Is it wise to desire only one flower in this garden of a world? Is it wise to blot out the better varieties while preserving the inferior? ”

“ It was then that Indian finery was in requisition! Then the Indian women combed and braided their long black hair, tying the plaits with gay-colored ribbons, and the Indian braves tied anew their streaming scalp-locks, sticking them full of flaunting eagle's plumes, and not despising a bit of ribbon either. Paint was in demand both for the rider and his horse. Gay blankets, red and blue, buckskin fringed shirts, worked with beads and porcupine quills, and handsomely embroidered moccasins, were eagerly sought after. ”

“ The colour of the skin in the Indian is generally described as red or copper-coloured; or, according to Mr. Lawrence’s more precise177 definition, it is “an obscure orange or rusty iron colour, not unlike the bark of the cinnamon-tree.” Although we believe that climate is the chief cause of the diversities in human colour, yet it is certain that all savages are dark-tinted. This peculiarity may be accounted for by their constant exposure to the inclemency of the seasons, to sun, air, and tempests ”

“ Indian Red. —This is a good permanent pigment to be bought ready made, and is most useful in mixing with other colours.
Light Pink. —Tint white lead with a little pure vermilion.
Light Salmon. —Tint white lead with raw Italian sienna, burnt Italian sienna, and burnt Turkey umber. Or tint white with any bright red, toning down with sienna. ”

“ A ring of red paint encircled it, at the first narrowed point of its circumference, to give it the resemblance of a human neck; and there were some rude dabs to denote other features. The Indian is not precise in the matter of proportion, either in his drawing, or in his attempts at statuary. He seizes upon some minute and characteristic trait, which is at once sufficient to denote the species, and he is easily satisfied about the rest. Thus a simple cross, with a strait line from shoulder to shoulder, and a dot, or circle above, to serve for a head, is the symbol of the human frame ”

“ He shows the Indian as a man subject to like passions and infirmities with ourselves. He shows us how the Indian wooed and fought, how he hunted and prayed, how he ate and slept in short, we are admitted to the real life of the red man, and as we learn to know him we discard two familiar images: the red man of the would-be philanthropic sentimentalist, and the raw-head-and-bloody -bones figure that has whooped through so many pages of fiction. ”

“ The Indigo Plantation. My father was an indigo planter; his name was Randolph. I bear his name in full—George Randolph.
There is Indian blood in my veins. My father was of the Randolphs of Roanoke—hence descended from the Princess Pocahontas. He was proud of his Indian ancestry—almost vain of it.
It may sound paradoxical, especially to European ears; but it is true, that white men in America, who have Indian blood in them, are proud of the taint. Even to be a “half-breed” is no badge of shame—particularly where the sang mêlé has been gifted with fortune. ”

“ Their paternal and fraternal affections, have long been known to be very strong, as well as their veneration for the dead. It has been his province in these departments, to add some striking examples of their intensity of feeling and affection, and truthfulness to nature.
The most powerful source of influence, with the Red man, is his religion. Here is the true groundwork of his hopes and his fears, and, it is believed, the fruitful source of his opinions and actions. It supplies the system of thought by which he lives and dies, and it constitutes, indeed, the basis of Indian character. ”

“ But my people shall not be unavenged—as the red man is going, the white man too shall go.
“The strength of the Indian was the red strength of the mountains and deserts and forests and streams. The Indian is dying because the white man stole his red strength and turned it into a white man’s strength, which is yellow gold. But the white man’s yellow strength is his weakness. ”

“ Red Jacket delivered for them, saying that they fully concurred in the opinion of their Sachems, that the white people had been the cause of all the Indians’ distresses. The white people had pressed and squeezed them together, until it gave them great pain at their hearts. ”

“ The so-called red is a higher ethnic type than the black man; so, in the United States, [81] where all admixture of African blood is deemed impure, the aboriginal American entails no disgrace—some of the noblest of the land are descended from “Indian princesses.” The half-breed girls resemble their mothers in point of industry, and they barter their embroidered robes and moccasins, and mats and baskets, made of bark and bulrush, in exchange for blankets, calicoes, glass beads—an indispensable article of dress—mirrors, needles, rings, vermilion, and other luxuries. ”

“ The spathe too is much valued by the Indian, furnishing him with an excellent and durable cloth. Taken off entire it forms bags in which he keeps the red paint for his toilet or the silk cotton for his arrows, or he even stretches out the larger ones to make himself a cap,—cunningly woven by nature without seam or joining. ”

“ With them, it may be hoped, have passed away, every obstacle to the exercise of the most enlarged charity, and enlightened philanthropy, respecting the native tribes.
Nationality is sometimes as well characterized by small as by great things—by names, as by customs. And this may be observed in the treatment of the Indians, so far as respects the subject of ardent spirits. Under the French government they were liberally supplied with brandy. Under the English, with Jamaica rum. Under the Americans, with whisky. These constitute the fire, the gall, and the poison ages of Indian history. ”

“ In the struggle between the white and the red man it became evident that the latter must yield, assume habits of industry, and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow or be exterminated. It may be said that neither of these seemingly inevitable results has occurred; the Indian has not been exterminated, and possibly not seriously reduced in numbers, and to a great extent is not self-supporting. ”

“ Then, suddenly, crushing under his horse's hoofs the sand and gold-studded pebbles sparkling in the sun, appears, as if by enchantment, an Indian, with his red skin glistening like new copper, robust limbs, gestures stamped with majesty and grace, and a commanding eye; a Navajo, Pawnee, Comanche, Apache or Sioux, who, whirling his lasso or lakki round his head, drives before him a herd of startled buffaloes or wild horses, or else a panther, ounce, or jaguar, that fly his presence with hoarse roars of rage and terror. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sometimes our great men talk loud and long at our council fires, but if you shed one drop of white men's blood, our young warriors, as thick as stars of the night, will leap on board our great boats, which fly on the waves, and over the lakes, swift as the eagle of the air, then penetrate the woods, make the big guns thunder, and the whole heavens red with the flames of the dwellings of their enemies. ”

“ COLORS AND METHODS OF APPLICATION. IN THE UNITED STATES.
Since the establishment of traders’ stores most colors of civilized manufacture are obtained by the Indians for painting and decoration. Frequently, however, the primitive colors are prepared and used when Indians are absent from localities where those may be obtained. The ferruginous clays of various shade of brown, red, and yellow, occur so widely distributed in nature that these are the most common and leading tints. Black is generally prepared by grinding fragments of charcoal into a very fine powder. ”

“ Amid the throng of many colours move white people from every land of Europe, and the babel of tongues is as astonishing as the mingling of costumes.
Here is struck at once the note of colour which enlivens every street scene in India. The people wear robes of every shade, and turbans or caps of every hue—black, white, red, green, yellow, purple, pink, every colour of the rainbow—and a hundred shades of every colour meet and mingle as the crowds flow to and fro. ”

“ The Indians know better than to designate between each other their natural color as red, and have been known to give the designation red man to the visiting Caucasian, whose blistered skin often better deserves the epithet, which they only apply to themselves in converse with the conquering race that insisted upon it. ”

“ The red tint is considered characteristic of the New World. We must, however, observe, that the traveller Adair, who lived upward of thirty years among the Indians, positively asserts that it is artificially produced; that in the oil, grease, and other unctuous substances with which they keep their skin constantly smeared, there is dissolved the juice of a root which gradually tinges it of this colour. ”

“ The earliest people of whom we know loved to paint their bodies; the American Indians made ready for feast or war by painting their bodies in startling colors, and the tribes lowest today in the social scale—tribes of Central Australia—have a similar practice. Dark skinned tribes have frequently painted themselves with white; fair skinned tribes with dark colors. The use of colors among primitive peoples is an interesting study, and it is significant to note that red has always been a favorite. ”