Peter, The respect the Indians had for the environment is my main point in chastising the Europeans that came as settlers. Take, for instance, the plains tribes killed only enough buffalo to feed their families, provide shelter in winter, and used every bit of the animal possible. The stomachs were used like boiling pots to cook their food, the hides for tepee covers, and winter robes, the hooves for a kind of glue, the horns for drinking mugs, the large bones were fashioned into tools, and even the small bones were made into needles to sew garments, with the sinew as the thread. Then General Sherman saw that he could not, easily, beat the Indians with ordinary warfare, and ordered that all the buffalo be killed to starve the Indians into retreat, and give up.
Had the white man respected the Indians, they could have worked together to share the land, and help each other in their endeavors. The warring didn't happen until the treaties were broken by the white men, and the greedy started taking the land away without permission, or compensation.
A hundred years of conflict could have been avoided, and both sides would be better off. |
