North American Indiann.adj.

1748 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 45 159 This Plant produces the most elegant Flower of all the helleborine Tribe; and is in great Esteem with the North American Indians for decking their Hair.

1790 S. W. Morton Ouâbi Introd. p. vii William Penn..describes the North-American Indians in the following terms. ‘For their persons they are generally tall, straight, well built, and of singular proportion: [etc.].’

1830 N. Amer. Rev. July 70 And the North American Indian steers his course undeviatingly through the trackless wilderness, guided only by such signs as escape the eye of the most inquisitive white man.

1870 Lives Chief Fathers New Eng. 8 It is an interesting fact that the original seal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, who arrived and settled at Salem in 1628, had on it a North American Indian, with these words proceeding from his mouth, ‘Come over and help us.’

1909 Chatterbox 203/2 The North American Indians and half-breeds rely very much upon their horses as camp-watcher.

1969 V. Bartlett Past of Pastimes x. 134 Snow-shoes, in a great variety of shapes and sizes, have long been in use everywhere near the Arctic Circle, from Mongols to Lapps to Eskimos to North American Indians.

2000 T. Robbins Fierce Invalids 71 Athapaskan is the name given to a family of very similar languages spoken by North American Indians in the Canadian Yukon, as well as by tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.

1845 L. S. Costello Falls, Lakes & Mountain N. Wales x. 207 However unmusical the language may be, it is, like many North American Indian dialects, expressive as to the name of places.

1872 J. Wyman in 5th Ann. Rep. Trustees Peabody Museum to Harvard Coll. 22 In many of the North American Indian tribes a comparatively slight amount of distortion is often met with, but among a few it was carried to an extreme condition, as in the Natchez, as recorded by Adair and Bartram.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 80/1 Salishan, the name of a linguistic family of North American Indian tribes, the more important of which [include] the Salish.., Skokomish, Spokan and Tulalip.

1946 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 59 309 Since it [sc. a Tsimshian myth] is quite unique among North American Indian tales, it would seem to deserve some attention.

2002 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Electronic ed.) 4 Mar. Sites of interest in Ashburton include the town museum, which houses a large collection of North American Indian artefacts.