4.  When the white men landed in America, the villages of the Red men were to be found all over the country.  Each of these villages was the home of a tribe.  The houses were tents made of skin or huts made of wood.

5.  The women or squaws did all the hard work.  They planted and tilled the fields, cooked the food, and made the clothes.  The babies were put into little bark cradles, which were sometimes hung from the branches of trees, and were rocked to and fro by the wind.

6.  The Red men were nearly always at war, either amongst themselves or against the white men.  In battle they were very crafty and skilful.  Those who fell into their hands were sometimes treated very cruelly.

7.  Before the Red men went on the “warpath” they painted their faces, so as to frighten their foes.  Then they took up their bows and hatchets, and, following their leader, strode silently away.

8.  The Red men did not care to fight in the open.  They always tried to catch their foes asleep or to take them by surprise.

9.  In those days the land was full of deer and other wild animals.  On the great plains where the wheat now grows huge herds of bison used to feed.

10.  The Red men hunted the bison on their swift little ponies.  When they were close to the animals they shot at them with arrows.  If the arrows missed their mark, the Red men killed the bison with their knives.

[Illustration:  {Red men on horseback hunting bison}]

11.  When the white men came they hunted the bison with guns, and soon killed them off.  Only a few bisons remain, and these are now kept in parks.

12.  There are not many Red men left in North America.  Most of them have died off.  Many of those who now remain have given up their old way of living.

* * * * *

27.  The Eskimos.

1.  Here is another picture for you.  Look at it carefully.  It shows you the people who live in the far north of Canada.  They are called Eskimos.

[Illustration:  Amongst the Eskimos.]

2.  In the upper part of the picture you see a man on a sledge.  He is dressed in furs, and has fur gloves on his hands.  His head and ears are covered with a hood.  In the far north of Canada the cold is so bitter in winter that men’s hands and ears would be frost-bitten if they were not kept warm in this way.

3.  In winter the sea and the land are thickly frozen over.  The whole country is covered with ice and snow.  The Eskimo has to travel over the ice to get from place to place.  He uses a sledge drawn by dogs.  There is a team of dogs in the upper part of the picture.

4.  Sometimes the sledge is overturned, and the men and dogs are thrown into deep, wide cracks in the ice.  Sometimes fierce storms arise, and men and dogs perish together.  Sometimes food runs short, and they die of hunger.

5.  In the middle part of the picture you see a tent.  The Eskimos can only live in tents during the short summers; during the long dark winters they live in huts.  The walls are made of stones and sods.  The roof is of wood which has drifted to their shores.  You must remember that no trees will grow in these very cold lands.