Hodge, Frederick Webb, Compiler. The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Government Printing Office. 1906.
Native American Fasting – A rite widely observed among the Indians and practiced both in private and in connection with public ceremonies. The first fast took place at puberty, when the youth was sometimes sent to sequestered place and remained alone, fasting and praying from 1 to 4 days, or even longer (see Child life). […]
These pages provide the reader with information regarding the intra-tribal workings (culture) of many tribes, their relationship with other tribes and tribal members, and tribal structure known in 1880. No changes have been made from the original text. Some of the information may differ greatly from present day facts, some may be offensive to some
[box type=”warning”] AccessGenealogy Note: Please keep in mind that this was part of an historical manuscript published by the US Government back in 1906. It’s written with an academic bluntness that some may be offended by. It’s also written with the sensibilities of the time, that today may appear racist, or at least insensitive to
In the various accounts of the American Indian tribes references to formal adoption and incorporation of one people by another are abundant. It is natural that formal adoption as a definite institution was most in vogue wherever the clan and gentile systems were more or less fully developed.
Nation du Boeuf Indians. Mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1662 as a tribe against which the Iroquois that year sent out an expedition. The name signifies Buffalo Nation, but to what people it refers is unknown; it may have designated either the Buffalo clan or gens of some tribe or one of the buffalo-hunting
Natchitoch Indians (Caddo form, Näshi´tosh). A tribe of the Caddo confederacy which spoke a dialect similar to that of the Yatasi but different from that of the Kadohadacho and its closely affiliated tribes. Their villages were in the neighborhood of the present city of Natchitoches, near those of another tribe called Doustioni. Whether the army
Natchez Indians. A well-known tribe that formerly lived on and about St. Catherine’s Creek, east and south of the present city of Natchez, Mississippi. The name, belongings to a single town, was extended to the tribe and entire group of towns, which included also peoples of alien blood who had been conquered by the Natchez
Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry. Often very little information is known or they no longer exist. We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Grigras. A French nickname and the only known name of a small tribe already incorporated with the Natchez confederacy in 1720; it was
Narraganset Indians (‘people of the small point,’ from naiagans, diminutive of naiag, ‘small point of land,’ with locative ending -et). An Algonquian tribe, formerly one of the leading tribes of New England. west of Narragansett Bay, including the Niantic territory, form Providence River on the northeast to Pawcatuck River on the southwest. On the northwest
Napochi Indians. A tribe living near Coosa river, Alabama at war with the Coças (Creek) in 1560. They were probably a Muskhogean people, more nearly affiliated to the modern Choctaw.
Napissa Indians (Choctaw: nanpisa, ‘spy,’ ‘sentinel’) A tribe mentioned in 1699 by Iberville as united with the Chickasaw living in villages adjoining those of the later, and speaking the same or a cognate language. As they disappeared from history early in the 18th century, it is probably that they were absorbed by the Chickasaw, if
Nanticoke Indians (from Nentego, var. of Delaware Unechtgo, Unalachtgo, ‘tidewater people’). An important Algonquian tribe living on Nanticoke River of Maryland, on the east shore, where Smith in 1608 located their principal village, called Nanticoke. They were connected linguistically and ethnically with the Delaware and the Conoy, notwithstanding the idiomatic variance in the language of
Nanatsoho Indians. Probably a subdivision of one of the tribes of the Caddo confederacy which resided in a village on Red river, of Louisiana, and, according to Joutel, were allies of the Kadohadacho, Natchitoch and Nasoni in 1687. They probably drifted southward in the middle of the 18th century, gradually lost, their distinctive organization, and
Nanaimo Indians, Nanaimo People, Nanaimo First Nation (contraction of Snanaímux). A Salish tribe, speaking the Cowichan dialect, living about Nanaimo Harbor, on the east coast of Vancouver Island and on Nanaimo Lake, British Columbia. Population 161 in 1906. Their gentes are Anuenes, Koltsiowotl, Ksalokul, Tewethen, and Yesheken.
Nanabozho. The demiurge of the cosmologic traditions of the Algonquian tribes, known among the various peoples by several unrelated names, based on some marked characteristic or dominant function of this personage. Among these names are Jamurn, Kloskap (Gloskap), Manabozho, Messou, Michabo, Minahuzho, Misahos, Napiwa, Nenabozho, Wieska, Wisakedjak, and their dialectic variants.The etymologies proposed for these
Nakotchokutchin Indians, Nakotchokutchin People, Nakotchokutchin First Nation. A Kutchin tribe dwelling on the lower Mackenzie river, north of the Kawchodinneh, in lat. 68° north, lon. 133° west Their hunting grounds are east of the Mackenzie as far as Anderson River, and their chief game is the caribou. In former days they waged intermittent warfare against
Nahane Indians, Nahane People, Nahane First Nation (‘people of the west.’). An Athapascan division occupying the region of British Columbia and Yukon Territory between the Coast range and the Rocky mountains, from the north border of the Sekani, about 57° north, to that of the Kutchin tribes, about 65° north. It comprises the Tahltan and
Nacogdoche Indians (Na-ko-hodó-tsi). A tribe of the Hasinai confederacy of Texas. It has been said that their language differed from that of the Hasinai group in general, but there is much evidence to indicate that this is not true. For example, Ramón, who founded missions at the Neche, Hainai, Nasoni, and Nacogdoche villages in 1716,
