desire for wealth--could not be bribed
or bought for gold as could the European. The leaders, democratically
selected, and held by the most enduring ties of loyalty to their tribal
oaths, were above the mercenary standards of European commerce and
statesmanship. Friendly, hospitable, courteous, generous, hostile,
bitter, ferocious they were--but they were not for sale.

The attitude of the Indian toward the land which the white men coveted
was typical of his whole relation with white civilization. "Land
ownership, in the sense in which we use the term, was unknown to the
Indians till the whites came among them."[6] The land devoted to
villages was tribal property; the hunting ground surrounding the village
was open to all of the members of the tribe; between the hunting grounds
of different tribes there was a neutral territory--no man's land--that
was common to both. If a family cultivated a patch of land, the
neighbors did not trespass. Among the Indians of the Southwest the
village owned the agricultural land and "periodically its governor,
elected by popular vote, would distribute or redistribute the arable
acres among his constituents who were able to care for them."[7] The
Indians believed that the land, like the sunlight, was a gift of the
Great Spirit to his children, and they were as willing to part with the
one as with the other.

They carried their communal ideas still farther. Among the Indians of
the Northwest, a man's possessions went at his death to the whole tribe
and were distributed among the tribal members. Among the Alaskan
Indians, no man, during his life, could possess more than he needed
while his neighbor lacked. Food was always regarded as common property.
"The rule being to let him who was hungry eat, wherever he found that
which would stay the cravings of his stomach."[8] The motto of the
Indian was "To each according to his need."

Such a communist attitude toward property, coupled with a belief that
the land--the gift of the Great Spirit--was a trust committed to the
tribe, proved a source of constant irritation to the white colonists who
needed additional territory. As the colonies grew, it became more and
more imperative to increase the land area open for settlement, and to
such encroachments the Indian offered a stubborn resistance.

The Indian would not--could not--part with his land, neither would he
work, as a slave or a wage-servant. Before such degradation he preferred
death. Oth