Listen! Ha! Now where the white thread has been let down, quickly we
are about to examine into (the fate of) the admirers of the ball play.
They are of--such a (iyu´stĭ) descent. They are called--so and so
(iyu´stĭ). They are shaking the road which shall never be joyful.
The miserable Terrapin has come and fastened himself upon them as they
go about. They have lost all strength. They have become entirely blue.
But now my admirers of the ball play have their roads lying along in
this direction. The Red Bat has come and made himself one of them.
There in the first heaven are the pleasing stakes. There in the second
heaven are the pleasing stakes. The Pewee has come and joined them.
The immortal ball stick shall place itself upon the whoop, never to be
defeated.
As for the lovers of the ball play on the other side, the common
Turtle has come and fastened himself upon them as they go about. Under
the earth they have lost all strength.
The pleasing stakes are in the third heaven. The Red Tlăniwă has
come and made himself one of them, that they may never be defeated.
The pleasing stakes are in the fourth heaven. The Blue Fly-catcher
has made himself one of them, that they may never be defeated. The
pleasing stakes are in the fifth heaven. The Blue Martin has made
himself one of them, that they may never be defeated.
The other lovers of the ball play, the Blue Mole has come and fastened
upon them, that they may never be joyous. They have lost all strength.
The pleasing stakes are there in the sixth heaven. The Chimney Swift
has made himself one of them, that they may never be defeated. The
pleasing stakes are in the seventh heaven. The Blue Dragon-fly has
made himself one of them, that they may never be defeated.
As for the other admirers of the ball play, the Bear has just come and
fastened him upon them, that they may never be happy. They have lost
all strength. He has let the stakes slip from his grasp and there
shall be nothing left for their share.
The examination is ended.
Listen! Now let me know that the twelve are mine, O White Dragon-fly.
Tell me that the share is to be mine--that the stakes are mine. As for
the player there on the other side, he has been forced to let go his
hold upon the stakes.
Now they are become exultant and happy. Yû!
_Explanation._
This formula, from the A‛yûⁿinĭ manuscript is one of those used
by the shaman in taking the ball players to water before the game.
The ceremony is performed in connection with red and black beads,
as described in the formula just given for destroying life. The
formulistic name given to the ball players signifies literally,
“admirers of the ball play.” The Tlă´niwă (să´niwă in the Middle
dialect) is the mythic great hawk, as large and powerful as the roc of
Arabian tales. The shaman begins by declaring that it is his purpose
to examine or inquire into the fate of the ball players, and then
gives his attention by turns to his friends and their opponents,
fixing his eyes upon the red bead while praying for his clients, and
upon the black bead while speaking of their rivals. His friends he
raises gradually to the seventh or highest _galû´ⁿlatĭ_. This
word literally signifies height, and is the name given to the abode
of the gods dwelling above the earth, and is also used to mean heaven
in the Cherokee bible translation. The opposing players, on the other
hand, are put down under the earth, and are made to resemble animals
slow and clumsy of movement, while on behalf of his friends the
shaman invokes the aid of swift-flying birds, which, according to
the Indian belief, never by any chance fail to secure their prey.
The birds invoked are the He´nilû or wood pewee (_Contopus virens_),
the Tlăniwă or mythic hawk, the Gulĭ´sgulĭ´ or great crested
flycatcher (_Myiarchus crinitus_), the Tsûtsû or martin (_Progne
subis_), and the A´nigâsta´ya or chimney swift (_Chætura
pelasgia_). In the idiom of the formulas it is said that these “have
just come and are sticking to them” (the players), the same word
(_danûtsgû´lani’ga_) being used to express the devoted attention of
a lover to his mistress. The Watatuga, a small species of dragon-fly,
is also invoked, together with the bat, which, according to a Cherokee
myth, once took sides with the birds in a great ball contest with the
four-footed animals, and won the victory for the birds by reason of
his superior skill in dodging. This myth explains also why birds, and
no quadrupeds, are invoked by the shaman to the aid of his friends.
In accordance with the regular color symbolism the flycatcher, martin,
and dragon-fly, like the bat and the tlă´niwă, should be red, the
color of success, instead of blue, evidently so written by mistake.
The white thread is frequently mentioned in the formulas, but in this
instance the reference is not clear. The twelve refers to the number
of runs made in the game.
* * * * *
* * * *
Errata for Sacred Formulas:
Missing or superfluous quotation marks have been silently corrected.
... while closely watching the motions ...
[_original has “the / the” at line break_]
formulas obtained from Tsiskwa, A´wanita, and / Takwtihi
[_error for Takwati´hĭ?_]
Sgĕ! Ha-nâ´gwa hûⁿhatû´ⁿgani´ga
[_all parentheses in this paragraph shown as printed_]
(hetsatsa´ûⁿtani´ga
[_mismatched parenthesis in original_]
* * * * *
* * * *
* * * * *
INDEX.
Page.
A.
Abnaki, population 48
Achastlians, Lamanon’s vocabulary of the 75
Acoma, a Keresan dialect 83
population 83
Adair, James, quoted on Choctaw villages 40
Adaizan family 45-48
Adaizan and Caddoan languages compared 46
Adam, Lucien, on the Taensa language 96
Agriculture, effect of, on Indian population 38
region to which limited 41
extent of practice of, by Indian tribes 42
Aht division of Wakashan family 129, 130
Ahtena tribe of Copper River 53
population 55
Ai-yan, population 55
Akansa, or Quapaw tribe 113
Akoklako, or Lower Cootenai 85
Aleutian Islanders belong to Eskimauan family 73
population 75
Algonquian family 47-51
list of tribes 48
population 48
habitat of certain western tribes of 113
Alibamu, habitat and population 95
Alsea, habitat 134
Al-ta-tin, population 55
Angel de la Guardia Island, occupied by Yuman tribes 138
Apache, habitat 54
population 56
Apalaches, supposed by Gallatin to be the Yuchi 126
Apalachi tribe 95
Arapaho, habitat 48, 109
population 48
Arikara, habitat 60
population 62
Arizona, work in XVIII, XXV-XXVIII
Assinaboin, habitat 115
population 117
Atfalati, population 82
Athapascan family 51-56
Atnah tribe, considered distinct from Salish by Gallatin 103
Attacapan family 56-57
Attakapa language reputed to be spoken by the Karankawa 82
Auk, population 87
A‛wanita, or Young Deer, Cherokee formulas furnished by 316
Ayasta, Cherokee manuscript obtained from 313
A‛yûⁿ´inĭ, or Swimmer, Cherokee manuscripts
obtained from 310-312