Unfortunately this
phase of the Indian character (which was shared by various tribes) was
little appreciated by the early travelers, and little record of it
remains; yet there is enough to indicate the importance of constantly
studied ceremony, or symbolic conduct, among them. The development of
affectation and self-control among the Siouan tribesmen was undoubtedly
shaped by warlike disposition, and their stoicism was displayed largely in
war--as when the captured warrior went exultingly to the torture, taunting
and tempting his captors to multiply their atrocities even until his
tongue was torn from its roots, in order that his fortitude might be
proved; but the habit was firmly fixed and found constant expression in
commonplace as well as in more dramatic actions.
INDUSTRIAL AND ESTHETIC ARTS
Since the arts of primitive people reflect environmental conditions with
close fidelity, and since the Siouan Indians were distributed over a vast
territory varying in climate, hydrography, geology, fauna, and flora,
their industrial and esthetic arts can hardly be regarded as distinctive,
and were indeed shared by other tribes of all neighboring stocks.
The best developed industries were hunting and warfare, though all of the
tribes subsisted in part on fruits, nuts, berries, tubers, grains, and
other vegetal products, largely wild, though sometimes planted and even
cultivated in rude fashion. The southwestern tribes, and to some extent
all of the prairie denizens and probably the eastern remnant, grew maize,
beans, pumpkins, melons, squashes, sunflowers, and tobacco, though their
agriculture seems always to have been subordinated to the chase.
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