BAYETA
Blankets were an important resource for the Native Americans, and were made from hair, down, fur, wool, cotton, feathers, and even bark. They were used as clothing, shelter, for making partitions, and even to wrap up goods and carry them while traveling.
The bayeta—Spanish for “baize”—was the best known of all the various types of blankets made by the Navajo. They were generally a subdued reddish color, made from the baize which had been introduced as a trading item in the 19th century. The Navajo unraveled the fabric and reconstituted it into beautiful blankets.
BEADS
Just about all Native American peoples used beads as decoration. These beads were made from nuts and seeds, wood, bone, horn, shells, teeth, claws, the beaks of birds, and also minerals including turquoise, soapstone, quartz, and other stones. Beads made from the shells of shellfish such as the periwinkle were called wampum and were used as currency.
Beads were used to ornament the hair, were sewn onto clothing, and strung onto sinew to make jewelry. When the white settlers arrived, they introduced glass and ceramic beads to the Indians. Historians are able to determine the age of an item by examining any beads that were a part of it.
BEAVER
The territorial spread of the beaver ranged from west of the Mississippi to south of the Great Lakes.
The beaver was a much loved “brother” to the Native American, honored for its industry and ingenuity. Beavers, like men, were observed to live in “families,” and appeared to have their own language, laws, and a chief, and so they were considered to be the equal of human beings. The beaver was also a useful animal: some tribes ate its meat, and after killing it every single part of the animal was used; nothing was wasted. The teeth—notoriously sharp and able to chisel easily through trees to fell them—were prized as weapons, mounted onto the end of a stick which could be used either as a tool or as a weapon. The beaver skin was used to make bags, pouches, and clothing.
Beavers build ingenious homes for themselves: oval-shaped lodges of which about a third is actually in the water. The rest is coated densely with clay so that it is both airtight and watertight.
Native Americans might catch beavers by cutting holes in the ice and waiting until the animal emerged for air, when the hunter would grasp the animal quickly and kill it cleanly and efficiently.
The white settlers, however, also quickly realized the value of the beaver, and soon established a thriving fur trade with the Natives, which assisted good relations on both sides.
BEAVER (TRIBE)
Also called the Tsattine, a word that means “those who live among the beavers.” There were many beavers in what is now northwest Alberta in Canada, especially near the Peace River, whose name in the language of the tribe was the Tsades, meaning “beaver river.” The tribe belonged to the Athapascan language family.
The Beaver, among the hardy Native Americans who lived in subarctic conditions, were seminomadic, moving to follow the hunt. Their prey included not only beavers but moose, caribou, and smaller mammals such as rabbits. The Beaver used hand-made animal “calls” of birch-bark to attract their prey. They also sometimes encountered the buffalo.
The Beaver lived in cone-shaped houses which looked a little like tipis, and when hunting built lean to shelters from whatever materials were at hand. Hunting parties consisted of loose bands of families, each assigned a territory; to follow the hunt the tribe used canoes, toboggans, and snowshoes.
The shaman or medicine man of each band slept with his head toward the west, in order to allow him to speak with the spirits. The other tribal members slept toward the rising sun, facing east. They believed that this direction would help them to dream. The Beaver had a strong belief in guardian spirits, and would mutilate themselves to show grief, using methods of self-harm that ranged from chopping off a joint of a finger to piercing their chests. Their introduction to Christianity absorbed many of their traditional beliefs, and placed the priests in a role very similar to that of the shamen.
Because of the potential for the fur trade in territory that was so rich in beavers, the tribe were among the first of the Athapascans to encounter the Europeans, and in 1799 their chief asked for their own fur-trading post. By 100 years later, the Beaver tribe had handed over vast tracts of their land to the Canadian Government.
BIG ELK
“What has passed and cannot be prevented should not be grieved for.”
1770–1846
The last pure-blood chief of the Omaha people, Big Elk was known to his own people as Ontopanga. Big Elk lived during rapidly changing times, and steered his people through these changes with wisdom and perspicacity. It was not only the white men who posed a threat to the Omaha, but the Sioux. What was out of the chief ‘s control, however, was the devastation caused by European diseases: smallpox, in particular, had a shocking effect on the population of his people, which was reduced from 3,000 in 1780 to 300 in 1802.
Big Elk supported the United States in the War of 1812, hoping that a victory would mean that the Government would help protect the Omaha against the Sioux.
A progressive leader, there were many facets of the new culture of America that Big Elk thought were good, and he was happy to have two of his daughters marry successful fur traders since he believed that assimilation could work well for both parties, and that such illustrious sons-in-law would give credence to his own family. Since the Omaha tribe followed a matrilinear system, any offspring would be automatically accepted as tribal members.
One of these “good” marriages came with the betrothal of Big Elk’s daughter, named Mitain, to the Governor of the Missouri Territory, Manual Lisa, even though he was at the time still married to a white woman who had been left behind in St. Louis.
Big Elk’s daughter Me um Bane married a wealthy fur trader named Lucien Fontanelle. Their eldest son, Logan, worked as a translator for the U.S. Indian agent from the age of 15. Logan went on to become an important person within the tribe because of his abilities, especially in negotiating land deals, although he was unfortunately killed by the Sioux.
Big Elk believed that, in ceding land to the Government, his people would receive protection in exchange. Accordingly, the tribe gave up most of their land and were relocated onto a reservation in the northeastern part of Nebraska. At this time Big Elk adopted another fur trader, Joseph LaFlesche, not only into the tribe but as his son. In 1842 Big Elk informed Joseph that he would succeed him as chief, and so the young man began to train himself in the traditional ways of the tribe.
Big Elk died in 1846, after a fever. He is buried in Nebraska, at a site known as Elk Hill but also known to the Omaha people as Ong-pa-ton-ga Xiathon, meaning “The Place Where Big Elk Is Buried.”
BIG
