Sea animals were probably most important to the Subarctic and Arctic culture. The native people were very spiritual and would praise the whales they were going to kill for being their main resource in hopes that the whales would continue to come back. Although the Native Americans valued their land, their perspectives differed greatly from the European colonists. Essentially the land was to be shared, passed down, and appreciated. There was a connection to the earth that the Native Americans felt. They had no negative interactions with the land and the land was spiritual and helpful to them. The land held value. An Indian Proverb states "treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." We need to treat the Earth how we want the Earth to treat us. Massasoit, leader of the Wampanoag Tribe says "what is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs to only him?" This reveals that the land is more to us than we think it is. The Indians believe that the land belongs to not just them but their ancestors and the people before them as well. Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk American Indian tribe states, "my reason teaches me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live uponnothing can be sold but such things as can be carried away." Black Hawk believes the land is also spiritual and can provide endless beauty if allowed. Land can not be sold but lessons and values can be taken from it. The white people did not understand where the Indians were coming from. The Indian perspective was a lot different than how the white people thought about land.
