English Made Simple David Ives Pdf 81
Gaspard Xenos
The rhyming couplets the French love so much are made simple by Ives, delivered in an unavoidable singsong rhythm that soon becomes tedious. He peppers his plain verse with modern references: "You've got a Cadillac to smooth your ride," for example, and references to Godzilla, Tonto, and national health insurance, which received a healthy roar. Even socialism, as an alternative to "money's evil chains," gets a mention.
Quite similar to the preceding must have been the wigwam visitedby Hind in 1858. This stood a short distance from ManitobahHouse, of the Hudson's Bay Company, and belonged to an Ojibwayhunter. As Hind wrote: "His birch-bark tent was roomy and clean.Thirteen persons including children squatted round the fire in thecentre. On the floor some excellent matting was laid upon spruceboughs for the strangers; the squaws squatted on the bare ground,the father of the family on an old buffalo robe. Attached to thepoles of the tent were a gun, bows and arrows, a spear, and somemink skins. Suspended on cross pieces over the fire were fishingnets and floats, clothes, and a bunch of the bearberry to mix withtobacco for the manufacture of kinni-kinnik." (Hind, (1), II, p. 63.)Hind was accompanied on his second journey, in 1858, by a photographer,Humphrey Lloyd Hime, who made many interesting negativeswhile in the Indian country. Among the photographs made atthis time are three views of bark wigwams of the Ojibway whichstood near the banks of Red River. These are now reproduced inplates 7, b, and 8 a, b.
The first of the journals to be mentioned is that of AnthonyHendry, who left York Factory June 26, 1754. He ascended HayesRiver many miles, thence, after crossing numerous lakes and streamsand traversing forests and plains, arrived on Monday, October 14,1754, at a point not far northeastward from the present city ofCalgary, Alberta. This was in the country of the Blackfeet, mentionedin the journal as the Archithinue Natives. That same day,so the narrative continues: "Came to 200 tents of Archithinue Natives,[26]pitched in two rows, and an opening in the middle; where wewere conducted to the Leader's tent; which was at one end, largeenough to contain fifty persons; where he received us seated on aclear [white] Buffalo skin, attended by 20 elderly men. He madesigns for me to sit down on his right hand: which I did. Our Leaderset on several grand-pipes, and smoked all round, according to theirusual custom: not a word was yet spoke on either side. Smokingbeing over, Buffalo flesh boiled was served round in baskets of aspecies of bent, and I was presented with 10 Buffalo tongues." Thefollowing day he again visited the lodge of the chief, where he receivedas a gift "a handsome Bow & Arrows," and the journal continues:"I departed and took a view of the camp. Their tents werepitched close to one another in two regular lines, which formed abroad street open at both ends. Their horses are turned out tograss, their legs being fettered: and when wanted, are fastened tolines cut of Buffalo skin, that stretches along & is fastened to stakesdrove in the ground. They have hair halters, Buffalo skin pads, &stirrups of the same."
The Assiniboin living in the far northwest had another and simplerform of temporary structure, as mentioned by Kane. He wrote,when arriving at Rocky Mountain Fort, a post of the Hudson'sBay Company, April 21, 1848: "This fort is beautifully situated on[77]the banks of the Saskatchewan, in a small prairie, backed by theRocky Mountains in the distance. In the vicinity was a camp ofAssiniboine lodges, formed entirely of pine branches." (Kane, (1),p. 408.) The painting made by him showing the fort and lodges isreproduced in plate 25, a.
To quote from the Handbook: "Their linguistic relations areclosest with the Osage, and are close with the Quapaw. In the traditionalmigration of the group, after the Quapaw had first separatedtherefrom, the main body divided at the mouth of Osage River, theOsage moving up that stream and the Omaha and Ponca crossingMissouri River and proceeding northward, while the Kansa ascendedthe Missouri on the south side to the mouth of Kansa River. Herea brief halt was made, after which they ascended the Missouri onthe south side until they reached the present north boundary ofKansas, where they were attacked by the Cheyenne and compelledto retrace their steps. They settled again at the mouth of KansasRiver, where the Big Knives, as they called the whites, came withgifts and induced them to go farther west. The native narratorsof this tradition give an account of about 20 villages occupied successivelyalong Kansas River before the settlement at Council Grove,Kansas, whence they were finally removed to their reservation inIndian Ter. Marquette's autograph map, drawn probably as earlyas 1674, places the Kansas a considerable distance directly westof the Osage and some distance south of the Omaha, indicating thatthey were then on Kansas River.... It is known that the Kansamoved up Kansas River in historic times as far as Big Blue River,and thence went to Council Grove in 1847. The move to the BigBlue must have taken place after 1723."
"The lodge, in which we reside, is larger than any other in thetown, and being that of the grand chief, it serves as a council housefor the nation. The roof is supported by two series of pillars, orrough vertical posts, forked at top for the reception of the transverseconnecting pieces of each series; twelve of these pillars form the outerseries, placed in a circle; and eight longer ones, the inner series, alsodescribing a circle; the outer wall, of rude frame work, placed at aproper distance from the exterior series of pillars, is five or six feethigh. Poles, as thick as the leg at base, rest with their butts upon thewall, extending on the cross pieces, which are upheld by the pillarsof the two series, and are of sufficient length to reach nearly to thesummit. These poles are very numerous, and, agreeable to the positionwhich we have indicated, they are placed all around in a radiatingmanner, and support the roof like rafters. Across these are laidlong and slender sticks or twigs, attached parallel to each other bymeans of bark cord; these are covered by mats made of long grass, orreeds, or with the bark of trees; the whole is then covered completelyover with earth, which, near the ground, is banked up to the eaves. Ahole is permitted to remain in the middle of the roof to give exit tothe smoke. Around the walls of the interior, a continuous series ofmats are suspended; these are of neat workmanship, composed of asoft reed, united by bark cord, in straight or undulated lines, betweenwhich, lines of black paint sometimes occur. The bedsteads are elevatedto the height of a common seat from the ground, and are aboutsix feet wide; they extend in an uninterrupted line around three-fourthsof the circumference of the apartment, and are formed in thesimplest manner of numerous sticks, or slender pieces of wood restingat their ends on cross pieces, which are supported by short notchedor forked posts, driven into the ground; bison skins supply themwith a comfortable bedding. Several medicine or mystic bags arecarefully attached to the mats of the wall, these are cylindrical, andneatly bound up; several reeds are usually placed upon them, and a[93]human scalp serves for the fringe and tassels. Of their contents weknow nothing. The fireplace is a simple shallow cavity, in the centerof the apartment, with an upright and a projecting arm for the supportof the culinary apparatus." (Op. cit., pp. 120-121.)
That some of the Osage constructed very long structures is toldby Morse, but if the dimensions given in his account are accurate[104]they refer to the unusual rather than to the usual form of habitationerected by members of that tribe. He said: "The Osages of theArkansaw occupy several villages. The principal village containsabout three hundred lodges or huts, and about three thousand souls.The lodges are generally from fifty to a hundred feet in length;and irregularly arranged, they cover a surface of about half a milesquare. They are constructed of posts, matting, bark and skins.They have neither floors nor chimneys. The fire is built on theground, in the centre of the lodge, and the family, and the guests,sit around in a circle, upon skins or mats." (Morse, (1), p. 219.)These various statements appear grossly exaggerated, and on page225 of the same work appears the statement that "Their villagesare nothing more than what they can remove on the shortest notice,one horse being capable of carrying house, household furniture, andchildren all at one load." Morse included in his notes on the Osageseveral letters written by missionaries then working among thetribe. One communication from Dr. Palmer, dated at Union, March18, 1820, contained a note on their habitations: "Their houses aremade of poles, arched from fifteen to twenty feet, covered bymatting made of flags. At the sides they set up rived planks, liningthe inside with neatly made flagg matting. They build several firesin the lodge, according to its size, or the number of wives the ownerhas. For a fire-place, they dig a hole about as big as a bushel-basket,leaving the smoke to ascend through a hole in the roof.Around the fire they spread their mats to sit or eat." And whenvisiting the settlement, "Having entered the lodge, and had ourhorses turned out, we took a humble seat around the fire. Presentlythere was brought to us a wooden bowl, filled with food made ofcorn. In a short time we were invited to eat at another lodge, andbefore we had finished, at another, and another." And anotherletter, from W. C. Requa, dated February 3, 1822, told of the nativedwellings. He wrote at that time: "I live at present among theOsages, at one of their villages about fifty miles from Union. Thisunhappy people live in low huts, covered with long grass or flag,but so badly put together that they leak considerably in a storm ofrain. They have very little furniture, merely a few pots or kettlesin which they boil their provisions. The art of cooking their meatin any other way than boiling is unknown among them, exceptroasting it on a stick before the fire. They have very little varietyin their food. Wild game, corn, dried pumpkins, and beans constituteabout all on which they subsist. With this, however, theyare contented. They have wooden bowls, out of which they eat,drink, wash themselves." (Op. cit., pp. 227-233.) Union, where thetwo communications were written, was probably Union Agency,[105]which stood on the right bank of the Arkansas River, just southwestof Fort Gibson, in the present Muskogee County, Oklahoma. Thesettlement "about fifty miles from Union" may have been on theVerdigris, near the center of the present Rogers County, Oklahoma.
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