The Indian is endowed with a far greater acuteness of sense than the
European. Despite the dazzling brightness of the long-continued snows,
and the injurious action of the smoke of burning wood to which he is
constantly exposed, he possesses extraordinary quickness of sight. He
can also hear and distinguish the faintest sounds, alike through the
gentle rustling of the forest leaves and in the roar of the storm; his
power of smell is so delicate that he scents fire long before it becomes
visible. By some peculiar instinct the Indian steers through the
trackless forests, over the vast prairies, and even across wide sheets
of water with unerring certainty. Under the gloomiest and most obscure
sky, he can follow the course of the sun[238] as if directed by a
compass. These powers would seem innate in this mysterious race; they
can scarcely be the fruit of observation or practice, for children who
have never left their native village can direct their course through
pathless solitudes as accurately as the experienced hunter.
In the early stages of social progress, when the life of man is rude and
simple, the reason is little exercised, and his wants and wishes are
limited within narrow bounds; consequently, his intellect is feebly
developed, and his emotions are few but concentrated. These conditions
were generally observable among the rudest tribes of the American
Indians.
There are, however, some very striking peculiarities in the intellectual
character of the Red Men. Without any aid from letters or education,
some of the lower mental faculties are developed in a remarkable degree.
As orators, strategists, and politicians, they have frequently exhibited
very great power.[240] They are constantly engaged in dangerous and
difficult enterprises, where ingenuity and presence of mind are
essential for their preservation. They are vigorous in the thought which
is allied to action, but altogether incapable of speculation, deduction,
or research. The ideas and attention of a savage are confined to the
objects relating to his subsistence, safety, or indulgence: every thing
else escapes his observation or excites little interest in his mind.
Many tribes appear to make no arrangement for the future; neither care
nor forethought prevents them from blindly following a present impulse,
regardless of its consequences.
The natives of North America were divided into a number of small
communities; in the relation of these to each other, war or negotiation
was constantly carried on; revolutions, conquests, and alliances
frequently occurred among them. To raise the power of his tribe, and to
weaken or destroy that of his enemy, was the great aim of every Indian.
For these objects schemes were profoundly laid, and deeds of daring
valor achieved: the refinements of diplomacy were employed, and plans
arranged with the most accurate calculation. These peculiar
circumstances also developed the power of oratory to an extraordinary
degree.[241] Upon all occasions of importance, speeches were delivered
with eloquence, and heard with deep attention. When danger threatened,
or opportunity of aggrandizement or revenge offered itself, a council of
the tribe was called, where those most venerable from age and
illustrious for wisdom deliberated for the public good. The composition
of the Indian orator is studied and elaborate; the language is vigorous,
and, at the same time, highly imaginative; all ideas are expressed by
figures addressed to the senses; the sun and stars, mountains and
rivers, lakes and forests, hatchets of war and pipes of peace, fire and
water, are employed as illustrations of his subject with almost Oriental
art and richness. His eloquence is unassisted by action or varied
intonation, but his earnestness excites the sympathy of the audience,
and his persuasion sinks into their hearts.[242]
The want of any written or hieroglyphic records of the past among the
Northern Indians was, to some extent, supplied by the accurate memories
of their old men; they were able to repeat speeches of four or five
hours' duration, and delivered many years before, without error or even
hesitation, and to hand them down from generation to generation with
equal accuracy, their recollection being only assisted by small pieces
of wood corresponding to the different subjects of discourse. On great
and solemn occasions, belts of wampum were used as aid to recollection
whenever a conference was held with a neighboring tribe, or a treaty or
compact is negotiated. One of these belts, differing in some respects
from any other hitherto used, was made for the occasion; each person who
speaks holds this in his hand by turns, and all he says is recorded in
the "living books" of the by-standers' memory in connection with the
belt. When the conference ends, this memorial is deposited in the hands
of the principal chief. As soon as any important treaty is ratified, a
broad wampum belt of unusual splendor is given by each contracting party
to the other, and these tokens are deposited among the other belts, that
form, as it were, the archives of the nation. At stated intervals they
are reproduced before the people, and the events which they commemorate
are circumstantially recalled. Certain of the Indian women are intrusted
with the care of these belts: it is their duty to relate to the children
of the tribe the circumstances of each treaty or conference, and thus is
kept alive the remembrance of every important event.
On the matters falling within his limited comprehension, the Indian
often displays a correct and solid judgment; he pursues his object
without hesitation or diversion. He is quickly perceptive of simple
facts or ideas, but any artificial combination, or mechanical
contrivance he is slow to comprehend, especially as he considers every
thing beneath his notice which is not necessary to his advantage or
enjoyment. It is very difficult to engage him in any labor of a purely
mental character, but he often displays vivacity and ardor in matters
that interest him, and is frequently quick and happy in repartee.[243]
The Red Man is usually characterized by a certain savage elevation of
soul and calm self-possession, that all the aid of religion and
philosophy can not enable his civilized brethren to surpass. Master of
his emotions, the expression of his countenance rarely alters for a
moment even under the most severe and sudden trials. The prisoner,
uncertain as to the fate that may befall him, preparing for his dreadful
death, or racked by agonizing tortures, still raises his unfaltering
voice in the death song, and turns a fearless front toward his
tormentors.[245]
The art of numbering was unknown in some American tribes, and even among
the most advanced it was very imperfect; the savage had no property to
estimate, no coins to count, no variety of ideas to enumerate. Many
nations could not reckon above three, and had no words in their language
to distinguish a greater number; some proceeded as far as ten, others to
twenty; when they desired to convey an idea of a larger amount, they
pointed to the hair of the head, or declared that it could not be
counted. Computation is a mystery to all rude nations; when, however,
they acquire the knowledge of a number of objects, and find the
necessity of combining or dividing them, their acquaintance with
arithmetic increases; the state of this art is therefore, to a
considerable extent, a criterion of their degree of progress. The wise
and politic Iroquois had advanced the farthest, but even they had not
got beyond one thousand; the smaller tribes seldom reached above ten.
The first ideas are suggested to the mind of man by the senses: the
Indian acquires no other. The objects around him are all important; if
they be available for his present purposes, they attract his attention,
otherwise they excite no curiosity: he neither combines nor arranges
them, nor does he examine the operations of his own mind upon them; he
has no abstract or universal ideas, and his reasoning powers are
generally employed upon matters merely obvious to the senses. In the
languages of the ruder tribes there were no words to express any thing
that is not material, such as faith, time, imagination, and the like.
When the mind of the savage is not occupied with matters relating to his
animal existence, it is altogether inactive. In the islands, and upon
the exuberant plains of the south, where little exertion of ingenuity
was required to obtain the necessaries of life, the rational faculties
were frequently dormant, and the countenance remained vacant and
inexpressive. Even the superior races of the north loiter away their
time in thoughtless indolence, when not engaged in war or the chase,
deeming other objects unworthy of their consideration. Where reason is
so limited in a field for exertion, the mind can hardly acquire any
considerable degree of vigor or enlargement. In civilized life men are
urged to activity and perseverance by a desire to gratify numerous
artificial wants; but the necessities of the Indian are few, and
provided for by nature almost spontaneously. He detests labor, and will
sometimes sit for whole days together without uttering a word or
changing his posture. Neither the hope of reward nor the prospect of
future want can overcome this inveterate indolence.
Among the northern tribes, however, dwelling under a rigorous climate,
some efforts are employed, and some precautions taken, to procure
subsistence; but the necessary industry is even there looked upon as a
degradation: the greater part of the labor is performed by women, and
man will only stoop to those portions of the work which he considers
least ignominious. This industry, so oppressive to one half of the
community, is very partial, and directed by a limited foresight. During
one part of the year they depend upon fishing for a subsistence, during
another upon the chase, and the produce of the ground is their resource
for the third. Regardless of the warnings of experience, they neglect to
apportion provision for their wants, or can so little restrain their
appetites, that, from imprudence or extravagance, they often are exposed
to the miseries of famine like their ruder neighbors. Their sufferings
are soon forgotten, and the horrors of one year seem to teach no lesson
of providence for the next.
The Indians, for the most part, are very well acquainted with the
geography of their own country. When questioned as to the situation of
any particular place, they will trace out on the ground with a stick, if
opportunity offer, a tolerably accurate map of the locality indicated.
They will show the course of the rivers, and, by pointing toward the
sun, explain the bearings of their rude sketch. There have been recorded
some most remarkable instances of the accuracy with which they can
travel toward a strange place, even when its description had only been
received through the traditions of several generations, and they could
have possessed no personal knowledge whatever of the surrounding
country.
The religion of the natives of America can not but be regarded with an
interest far deeper than the gratification of mere curiosity. The forms
of faith, the rites, the ideas of immortality; the belief in future
reward, in future punishment; the recognition of an invisible Power,
infinitely surpassing that of the warrior or the chief; the dim
traditions of a first parent, and a general deluge--all these, among a
race so long isolated from the rest of the human family, distinct in
language, habits, form, and mind, and displaying, when societies began
to exist, a civilization utterly dissimilar from any before known,
afford subject for earnest thought and anxious inquiry. Those who in the
earlier times of American discovery supplied information on these
points, were generally little qualified for the task. Priests and
missionaries alone had leisure or inclination to pursue the subject;
and their minds were often so preoccupied with their own peculiar
doctrines, that they accommodated to them all that fell under their
observation, and explained it by analogies which had no existence but in
their own zealous imaginations. They seldom attempted to consider what
they saw or heard in relation to the rude notions of the savages
themselves. From a faint or fancied similarity of peculiar Indian
superstitions to certain articles of Christian faith, some missionaries
imagined they had discovered traces of an acquaintance with the divine
mysteries of salvation: they concluded that the savage possessed a
knowledge of the doctrine of the Trinity,[247] of the Incarnation, of
the sacrifice of a Saviour, and of sacraments, from their own
interpretation of certain expressions and ceremonies.[248] But little
confidence can be placed in any evidence derived from such sources.
The earlier travelers in the interior of the New World received the
impression that the Indians had no religious belief; they saw neither
priests, temples, idols, nor sacrifices among any of the various and
numerous tribes. A further knowledge of this strange people disproved
the hastily-formed opinion, and showed that their whole life and all
their actions were influenced by a belief in the spiritual world.[249]
It is now known that the American Indians were pre-eminent among savage
nations for the superior purity of their religious faith,[250] and,
indeed, over even the boasted elegance of poetical mythology. From the
reports of all those worthy of credence, who have lived intimately among
these children of the forest, it is certain that they firmly believe in
the power and unity of the Most High God, and in an immortality of
happiness or misery. They worship the Great Spirit, the Giver of life,
and attribute to him the creation of the world, and the government of
all things with infinite love, wisdom, and power. Of the origin of their
religion they are altogether ignorant. In general they believe that,
after the world was created and supplied with animal life by the Great
Spirit, he formed the first red man and woman, who were very large of
stature, and lived to an extreme old age; that he often held council
with his creatures, gave them laws and instructed them, but that the red
children became rebels against their Great Father, and he then withdrew
himself in sorrowful anger from among them, and left them to the
vexations of the Bad Spirit. But still this merciful Father, from afar
off, where he may be seen no more, showers down upon them all the
blessings they enjoy. The Indians are truly filial and sincere in their
devotions; they pray for what they need, and return hearty thanks for
such mercies as they have enjoyed.[251] They supplicate him to bestow
courage and skill upon them in the battle; the endurance which enables
them to mock the cruel tortures of their enemies is attributed to his
aid; their preparation for war is a long-continued religious ceremony;
their march is supposed to be under omnipotent guidance, and their
expeditions in the chase are held to be not unworthy of divine
superintendence. They reject all idea of chance on the fortune of war,
and believe firmly that every result is the decision of a Superior
Power.[252] Although this elevated conception of the One God[253] is
deeply impressed upon the Indian's mind, it is tainted with some of the
alloy which ever must characterize the uninspired faith. Those who have
inquired into the religious opinions of the uneducated and laborious
classes of men, even in the most enlightened and civilized communities,
find that their system of belief is derived from instruction, and not
from instinct or the results of their own examination: in savage life
it is vain to expect that men should reason accurately, from cause to
effect, and form a just idea of the Creator from the creation. The
Indian combines the idea of the Great Spirit with others of a less
perfect nature. The word used by him to indicate this Sovereign Being
does not convey the notion of an immaterial nature; it signifies with
him some one possessed of lofty and mysterious powers, and in this sense
may be applied to men and even to animals.
To the first inquirers into the religious faith of the native Americans,
the subject of their mythology presented very great difficulties and
complications; those Indians who attempted to explain it to Europeans
had themselves no distinct or fixed opinions. Each man put forward
peculiar notions, and was constantly changing them, without attempting
to reconcile his self-contradictions.
Some of the southern tribes, who were more settled in their religious
faith, exhibited a remarkable degree of bigotry and spiritual pride.
They called the Europeans "men of the accursed speech," while they
styled themselves "the beloved of the Great Spirit." The Canadian and
other northern nations, however, were less intolerant, and at any time
easily induced to profess the recantation of their heathen errors for
some small advantage. Among these latter, the hare was deemed to possess
some mystic superiority over the rest of the animal creation; it was
even raised to be an object of worship, and the Great Hare was
confounded in their minds with the Great Spirit. The Algonquins believed
in a Water God, who opposes himself to the benevolent designs of the
Great Spirit; it is strange that the name of the Great Tiger should be
given to this Deity, as the country does not produce such an animal, and
from this it appears probable that the tradition of his existence had
come from elsewhere. They have also a third Deity, who presides over
their winter season. The gods of the Indians have bodies like the sons
of men, and subsist in like manner with them, but are free from the
pains and cares of mortality; the term "spirit" among them only
signifies a being of a superior and more excellent nature than man.
However, they believe in the omnipresence of their deities, and invoke
their aid in all times and places.
Besides the Great Spirit and the lesser deities above mentioned, every
Indian has his own Manitou, Okki, or guardian power; this divinity's
presence is represented by some portable object, often of the most
insignificant nature, such as the head, beak, or claw of a bird, the
hoof of a deer or cow. No youth can be received among the brotherhood of
warriors till he has placed himself, in due form, under the care of this
familiar. The ceremony is deemed of great importance: several days of
strict fasting are always observed in preparation for the important
event, and the youth's dreams are carefully noted during this period.
While under these circumstances, some object usually makes a deep
impression upon his mind; this is then chosen for his Manitou or
guardian spirit, and a specimen, of it is procured. He is next placed
for some time in a large vapor bath, and having undergone the process of
being steamed, is laid on the ground, and the figure of the Manitou is
pricked on his breast with needles of fish-bone dipped in vermilion; the
intervals between the scars are then rubbed with gunpowder, so as to
produce a mixture of red and blue. When this operation is performed, he
cries aloud to the Great Spirit, invoking aid, and praying to be
received as a warrior.
The Indian submits with resignation to the chastening will of the Great
Spirit. When overtaken by any disaster, he diligently examines himself
to discover what omission of observance or duty has called down the
punishment, and endeavors to atone for past neglect by increased
devotion. But if the Manitou be deemed to have shown want of ability or
inclination to defend him, he upbraids the guardian power with
bitterness and contempt, and threatens to seek a more effectual
protector. If the Manitou continue useless, this threat is fulfilled.
Fasting and dreaming are again resorted to in the same manner as before,
and the vision of another Manitou is obtained. The former representation
is then, as much as possible, effaced, and the figure of the
newly-adopted amulet painted in its place. All the veneration and
confidence forfeited by the first Manitou is now transferred to the
successor.[254]
It is also part of the Indian's religious belief that there are inferior
spirits to rule over the elements, under the control of the Supreme
Power, he being so great that he must, like their chiefs, have
attendants to execute his behests. These inferior spirits see what
passes on earth, and report it to their Great Ruler: the Indian,
trusting to their good offices, invokes those spirits of the air in
times of peril, and endeavors to propitiate them by throwing tobacco or
other simple offerings to the winds or upon the waters. But, amid all
these corrupt and ignorant superstitions, the One Spirit, the Creator
and Ruler of the World, is the great object of the Red Man's adoration.
On him they rest their hopes; to him they address their daily prayers,
and render their solemn sacrifice.
The worship of the Indians, although frequently in private, is generally
little regulated either by ceremonies or stated periodical devotions.
But there are, at times, great occasions, when the whole tribe assembles
for the purpose,[255] such as in declaring war or proclaiming peace, or
when visited by storms or earthquakes. Their great feasts all partake of
a religious character; every thing provided must be consumed by the
assembly, as being consecrated to the Great Spirit. The Ottawas seem to
have had a more complicated mythology than any other tribe: they held a
regular festival in honor of the sun; and, while rendering thanks for
past benefit, prayed that it might be continued to the future. They have
also been observed to erect an idol in their village, and offer it
sacrifice: this ceremony was, however, very rare. Many Western tribes
visit the spring whence they have been supplied with water during the
winter, at the breaking up of the ice, and there offer up their grateful
worship to the Great Spirit for having preserved them in health and
safety, and having supplied their wants. This pious homage is performed
with much ceremony and devotion.
Among this rude people, who were at one time supposed to have been
without any religion, habitual piety may be considered the most
remarkable characteristic: every action of their lives is connected with
some acknowledgment of a Superior Power. Many have imagined that the
severe fasts sometimes endured by the Indians were only for the purpose
of accustoming themselves to support hunger; but all the circumstances
connected with these voluntary privations leave no doubt that they were
solemn religious exercises. Dreams and visions during these fasts were
looked upon as oracular, and respected as the revelations of Heaven. The
Indian frequently propitiates the favor of the inferior spirits by vows;
when for some time unsuccessful in the chase, or suffering from want in
long journeys, he promises the genius of the spot to bestow upon one of
his chiefs, in its honor, a portion of the first fruits of his
success;[256] if the chief be too distant to receive the gift, it is
burned in sacrifice.
The belief of the Indian in a future state, although deeply cherished
and sincere, can scarcely be regarded as a defined idea of the
immortality of the soul.[257] There is little spiritual or exalted in
his conception. When he attempts to form a distinct notion of the
spirit, he is blinded by his senses; he calls it the shadow or image of
his body, but its acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its
earthly existence. He only pictures to himself a continuation of present
pleasures. His Heaven is a delightful country, far away beyond the
unknown Western seas, where the skies are ever bright and serene, the
air genial, the spring eternal, and the forests abounding in game; no
war, disease, or torture are known in that happy land; the sufferings of
life are endured no more, and its sweetest pleasures are perpetuated and
increased; his wife is tender and obedient, his children dutiful and
affectionate. In this country of eternal happiness, the Indian hopes to
be again received into the favor of the Great Spirit, and to rejoice in
his glorious presence.[258] But in his simple mind there is a deep and
enduring conviction that admission to this delightful country of souls
can only be attained by good and noble actions in this mortal life. For
the bad men there is a fate terribly different--endless afflictions,
want, and misery; a land of hideous desolation; barren, parched, and
dreary hunting-grounds, the abode of evil and malignant spirits, whose
office is to torture, whose pleasure is to enhance the misery of the
condemned. It is also almost universally believed that the Great Spirit
manifests his wrath or his favor to the evil and the good in their
journey to the land of souls. After death the Indian believes that he is
supplied with a canoe; and if he has been a virtuous warrior, or
otherwise worthy, he is guided across the vast deep to a haven of
eternal happiness and peace by the hand of the Great Spirit; but if his
life be stained with cowardice, vice, or negligence of duty, he is
abandoned to the malignity of evil genii, driven about by storms and
darkness over that unknown sea, and at length cast ashore on the barren
land, where everlasting torments are his portion.[259]
The Indians generally believe in the existence of a Spirit of Evil, and
occasionally pray to him in deprecation of his wrath. They do not doubt
his inferiority to the Great Spirit, but they believe that he has the
power to inflict torments and punishments upon the human race, and that
he has a malignant delight in its exercise.
The souls of the lower animals are also held by the Red Man to be
immortal: he recognizes a certain portion of understanding in them, and
each creature is supposed to possess a guardian spirit peculiar to
itself. He only claims a superiority in degree of intelligence and power
over the beasts of the field, Man is but the king of animals. In the
world of souls are to be found the shades of every thing that breathes
the breath of life. However, he takes little pains to arrange or develop
these strange ideas. The enlightened heathen philosophers of antiquity
were not more successful.
To penetrate the mysteries of the future has always been a favorite
object of superstition,[260] and has been attempted by a countless
variety of means. The Indian trusts to his dreams for this revelation,
and invariably holds them sacred. Before he engages in any important
undertaking, particularly in war, diplomacy, or the chase, the dreams of
his principal chiefs are carefully watched and examined; by their
interpretation his conduct is guided. In this manner the fate of a whole
nation has often been decided by the chance visions of a single man. The
Indian considers that dreams are the mode by which the Great Spirit
condescends to hold converse with man; thence arises his deep veneration
for the omens and warnings they may shadow forth.[261]
Many other superstitions, besides those of prognostics from dreams, are
cherished among the Indians. Each remarkable natural feature, such as a
great cataract, a lake, or a difficult and dangerous pass, possesses a
spirit of the spot, whose favor they are fain to propitiate by votive
offerings: skins, bones, pieces of metal, and dead dogs are hung up in
the neighborhood, and dedicated to its honor. Supposed visions of ghosts
are sometimes, but rarely, spoken of: it is, however, generally believed
that the souls of the dead continue for some time to hover round the
earthly remains: dreading, therefore, that the spirits of those they
have tortured watch near them to seek opportunity of vengeance, they
beat the air violently with rods, and raise frightful cries to scare the
shadowy enemy away.
Among some of the Indian tribes, an old man performed the duty of a
priest at their religious festivals; he broke the bread and cast it in
the fire, dedicated the different offerings, and officiated in the
sacrifice. It was also his calling to declare the omens from dreams and
other signs, as the warnings of Heaven. These religious duties of the
priest were totally distinct from the office of the juggler, or
"medicine-man," although some observers have confounded them together.
There were also vestals in many nations of the continent who were
supposed to supply by their touch a precious medicinal efficacy to
certain roots and simples.
The "medicine-men," or jugglers, undertook the cure of diseases, the
interpretation of omens, the exorcising of evil spirits, and magic in
all its branches. They were men of great consideration in the tribe, and
were called in and regularly paid as physicians; but this position could
only be attained by undergoing certain ordeals, which were looked upon
as a compact with the spirits of the air. The process of the vapor bath
was first endured; severe fasting followed, accompanied by constant
shouting, singing, beating a sort of drum, and smoking. After these
preliminaries the jugglers were installed by extravagant ceremonies,
performed with furious excitement and agitation. They possessed,
doubtless, some real knowledge of the healing art; and in external
wounds or injuries, the causes of which are obvious, they applied
powerful simples, chiefly vegetable, with considerable skill. With
decoctions from ginseng, sassafras, hedisaron, and a tall shrub called
bellis, they have been known to perform remarkable cures in cases of
wounds and ulcers. They scarified the seat of inflammation or rheumatic
pain skillfully with sharp-pointed bones, and accomplished the cupping
process by the use of gourd shells as substitutes for glasses. For all
internal complaints, their favorite specific was the vapor bath, which
they formed with much ingenuity from their rude materials. This was
doubtless a very efficient remedy, but they attached to it a
supernatural influence, and employed it in the ceremonies of solemn
preparation for great councils.
All cases of disease, when the cause could not be discovered, were
attributed to the influence of malignant spirits. To meet these, the
medicine-man, or juggler, invested himself with his mysterious
character, and endeavored to exorcise the demon by a great variety of
ceremonies, a mixture of delusion and imposture. For this purpose, he
arrayed himself in a strange and fanciful dress, and on his first
arrival began to sing and dance round the sufferer, invoking the
spirits with loud cries. When exhausted with these exertions, he
attributed the hidden cause of the malady to the first unusual idea that
suggested itself to his mind, and in the confidence of his supposed
inspiration, proclaimed the necessary cure. The juggler usually
contrived to avoid the responsibility of failure by ordering a remedy
impossible of attainment when the patient was not likely to recover. The
Iroquois believed that every ailment was a desire of the soul, and, when
death followed, it was from the desire not having been accomplished.
Among many of the Indian tribes, the barbarous custom of putting to
death those who were thought past recovery, existed, and still exists.
Others abandoned these unfortunates to perish of hunger and thirst, or
under the jaws of the wild beasts of the forest. Some nations put to
death all infants who had lost their mother, or buried them alive in her
grave, under the impression that no other woman could rear them, and
that they must perish by hunger. But the dreadful custom of deserting
the aged and emaciated among the wandering tribes is universal.[262]
When these miserable creatures become incapable of walking or riding,
and there is no means of carrying them, they themselves uniformly insist
upon being abandoned to their fate, saying that they are old and of no
further use--they left their fathers in the same manner--they wish to
die, and their children must not mourn for them. A small fire and a few
pieces of wood, a scanty supply of meat, and perhaps a buffalo skin, are
left as the old man's sole resources. When in a few months the wandering
tribe may revisit the spot where he was deserted, a skull and a few
scattered bones will be all that the wolves and vultures have left as
tokens of his dreadful fate.
The Indian father and mother display great tenderness for their
children,[263] even to the weakness of unlimited indulgence; this
affection, however, appears to be merely instinctive, for they use no
exertion whatever to lead their offspring to the paths of virtue.
Children, on their part, show very little filial affection, and
frequently treat their parents, especially their father, with indignity
and violence. This vicious characteristic is strongly exemplified in the
horrible custom above described.
When the Indian believes that his death is at hand, his conduct is
usually stoical and dignified. If he still retain the power of speech,
he harangues those who surround him in a funeral oration, advising and
encouraging his children, and bidding them and all his friends farewell.
During this time, the relations of the dying man slay all the dogs they
can catch, trusting that the souls of these animals will give notice of
the approaching departure of the warrior for the world of spirits; they
then take leave of him, wish him a happy voyage, and cheer him with the
hope that his children will prove worthy of his name. When the last
moment arrives, all the kindred break into loud lamentations, till some
one high in consideration desires them to cease. For weeks afterward,
however, these cries of grief are daily renewed at sunrise and sunset.
In three days after death the funeral takes place, and the neighbors are
invited to a feast of all the provisions that can be procured, which
must be all consumed. The relations of the deceased do not join in the
banquet; they cut off their hair, cover their heads, blacken their
faces, and for a long time deny themselves every amusement.[264]
The deceased is buried with his arms and ornaments, and a supply of
provisions for his long journey; the face is painted, and the body
arrayed in the richest robes that can be obtained; it is then laid in
the grave in an upright posture, and skins are carefully placed around,
that it may not touch the earth. At stated intervals of eight, ten, or
twelve years, the Indians celebrate the singular ceremony of the
Festival of the Dead; till this has been performed, the souls of the
deceased are supposed still to hover round their earthly remains. At
this solemn festival, the people march in procession to the
burial-ground, open the tombs, and continue for a time gazing on the
moldering relics in mournful silence. Then, while the women raise a loud
wailing, the bones of the dead are carefully collected, wrapped in fresh
and valuable robes, and conveyed to the family cabin.[265] A feast is
then held for several days, with dances, games, and prize combats. The
relics are next carried to the council-house of the nation, where they
are publicly displayed, with the presents destined to be interred with
them. Sometimes the remains are even carried on bearers from village to
village. At length they are laid in a deep pit, lined with rich furs;
tears and lamentations are again renewed, and for some time fresh
provisions are daily laid, by this simple people, upon the graves of
their departed friends.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 238: "At night the savages direct their course by the polar
star; they call it the _motionless star_. It is a curious coincidence
that the constellation of the Bear should be called by the savages the
Bear. This is certainly a very ancient name among them, and given long
before any Europeans visited the country. They turn into ridicule the
large imaginary tail which astronomers have given to an animal that has
scarcely any such appendage, and they call the three stars that compose
the tail of the Bear, three hunters who are in pursuit of it. The second
of these stars has a very small one very close to it. This, they say, is
the kettle of the second hunter, who is the bearer of the baggage and
the provision belonging to all three.[239] The savages also call the
Pleiades 'the Dancers,' and Hygin tells us that they were thus called by
the ancients, because they seem, from the arrangement of their stars, to
be engaged in a circular dance."--Lafitau, vol. ii., p. 236. Hygin.,
lib. ii., art. Taurus.]
[Footnote 239: "Even at the present time" (1720), Lafitau writes, "these
three stars are called in Italy, _i tre cavalli_"--the three knights--on
the celestial globe of Caronelli.]
[Footnote 240: See Appendix, No. L. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 241: Charlevoix says that the eloquence of the savages was
such as the Greeks admired in the barbarians, "strong, stern,
sententious, pointed, perfectly undisguised."
Decanesora's oratory was greatly admired by the most cultivated among
the English: his bust was said to resemble that of Cicero. The
celebrated address of Logan is too well known to be cited here. Mr.
Jefferson says of it, "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, and of any other more eminent orator, if Europe has
furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the
speech of Logan." An American statesman and scholar, scarcely less
illustrious than the former, has expressed his readiness to subscribe to
this eulogium.--Clinton's _Historical Discourse_, 1811.]
[Footnote 242: Catlin gives the following account of a native preacher,
known by the name of the Shawnee Prophet: "I soon learned that he was a
very devoted Christian, regularly holding meetings in his tribe on the
Sabbath, preaching to them, and exhorting them to a belief in the
Christian religion, and to an abandonment of the fatal habit of
whisky-drinking. I went on the Sabbath to hear this eloquent man preach,
when he had his people assembled in the woods; and although I could not
understand his language, I was surprised and pleased with the natural
case, and emphasis, and gesticulation which carried their own evidence
of the eloquence of his sermon. I was singularly struck with the noble
efforts of this champion of the mere remnant of a poisoned race, so
strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his people from the
deadly bane that has been brought among them by enlightened Christians.
It is quite certain that his exemplary endeavors have completely
abolished the practice of drinking whisky in his tribe."--Catlin, vol.
ii., p. 98.]
[Footnote 243: "Whatever may be the estimate of the Indian character in
other respects, it is with me an undoubting conviction, that they are by
nature a shrewd and intelligent race of men, in no wise, as regards
combination of thought or quickness of apprehension, inferior to
uneducated white men. This inference I deduce from having instructed
Indian children.[244] I draw it from having seen the men and women in
all situations calculated to try and call forth their capacities. When
they examine any of our inventions, steamboats, steam-mills, and cotton
factories, for instance; when they contemplate any of our institutions
in operation, by some quick analysis or process of reasoning, they seem
immediately to comprehend the principle or the object. No spectacle
affords them more delight than a large and orderly school. They scorn
instinctively to comprehend, at least they explained to me that they
felt, the advantages which this order of things gave our children over
theirs."--Flint's _Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi_, 1831.
Mr. Flint, an experienced and intelligent observer, takes so dark a view
of the moral character of the Red Indian that his favorable opinion of
their mental faculties may be looked upon as probably accurate, though
differing strongly from that more generally held. On the other side of
the question, among the early writers may be cited M. Bouguer, _Voyage
au Perou_, p. 102; _Voyage d'Ulloa_, tom. i., p. 335-337. "They seem to
live in a perpetual infancy," is the striking expression of De la
Condamine, _Voyage de la Riv. Amazon_, p. 52, 53. Chauvelon, _Voyage a
la Martinique_, p. 44, 50. P. Venegas, _Hist. de la Californie_.]
[Footnote 244: All those who have expressed an opinion on the subject
seem to agree that _children_ of most native races are fully, or more
than a match, for those of Europeans, in aptitude for intellectual
acquirement. Indeed, it appears to be a singular law of Nature, that
there is less precocity in the European race than almost any other. In
those races in which we seem to have reason for believing that the
intellectual organization is lower, perception is quicker, and maturity
earlier.--Merivale _On Colonization_, vol. ii., p. 197.]
[Footnote 245: "Thus, on the whole, it may be said that the virtues of
the savages are reducible to intrepid courage in danger, unshaken
firmness amid tortures, contempt of pain and death, and patience under
all the anxieties and distresses of life. No doubt these are useful
qualities, but they are all confined to the individual, all selfish, and
without any benefit to the society. Farther, they are proofs of a life
truly wretched, and a social state so depraved or null, that a man,
neither finding nor hoping any succor or assistance from it, is obliged
to wrap himself up in despair, and endeavor to harden himself against
the strokes of fate. Still it may be urged that these men, in their
leisure hours, laugh, sing, play, and live without care for the past as
well as for the future. Will you then deny that they are happier than
we? Man is such a pitiable and variable creature, and habits have such a
potent sway over him, that in the most disastrous situations he always
finds some posture that gives him ease, something that consoles him,
and, by comparison with past suffering, appears to him well-being and
happiness; but if to laugh, sing, or play constitute bliss, it must
likewise be granted that soldiers are perfectly happy beings, since
there are no men more careless or more gay in dangers or on the eve of
battle. It must be granted, too, that during the Revolution, in the most
fatal of our jails, the Conciergerie, the prisoners were very happy,
since they were, in general, more careless and gay than their keepers,
or than those who only feared the same fate. The anxieties of those who
were at large were as numerous as the enjoyments they wished to
preserve; they who were in the other prisons felt but one, that of
preserving their lives. In the Conciergerie, where a man was condemned
in expectation or in reality, he had no longer any care; on the
contrary, every moment of life was an acquisition, the gain of a good
that was considered as lost. Such is nearly the situation of a soldier
in war, and such is really that of the savage throughout the whole
course of his life. If this be happiness, wretched indeed must be the
country where it is an object of envy. In pursuing my investigation, I
do not find that I am led to more advantageous ideas of the liberty of
the savage; on the contrary, I sees in him only the slave of his wants,
and of the freaks of a sterile and parsimonious nature. Food he has not
at hand; rest is not at his command; he must run, weary himself, endure
hunger and thirst, heat and cold, and all the inclemency of the elements
and seasons; and as the ignorance in which he was born and bred gives
him or leaves him a multitude of false and irrational ideas and
superstitious prejudices, he is likewise the slave of a number of errors
and passions, from which civilized man is exempted by the science and
knowledge of every kind that an improved state of society has
produced."--Volney's _Travels in the United States_, p. 467.
"Their impassible fortitude and endurance of suffering are, after all,
in my mind, the result of a greater degree of physical insensibility. It
has been told me, and I believe it, that in amputation and other
surgical operations, their nerves do not shrink, do not show the same
tendency to spasm with those of the whites. When the savage, to explain
his insensibility to cold, called upon the white man to recollect how
little his own face was affected by it, in consequence of its constant
exposure, he added, 'My body is all face.'[246] This increasing
insensibility, transmitted from generation to generation, finally
becomes inwrought with the whole web of animal nature, and the body of
the savage seems to have little more sensibility than the hoofs of
horses."--Flint's _Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi_. See,
also, Ulloa's _Notic. Amer._, p. 313.
Charlevoix quotes a passage from Cicero to the effect that "l'habitude
au travail donne de la facilite a supporter la douleur."--2 _Tusc._,
25.]
[Footnote 246: Delicacy of skin is observed to be in proportion to
civilization among nations, in proportion to degrees of refinement among
individuals.--Sharon Turner.]
[Footnote 247: Conical stones, wrapped up in 100 goat skins, were the
idols preserved in the temple of the Natchez. Many authors assert that
the Amazons and many Eastern people had nothing in their temples but
these pyramidal stones, which represented to them the Divinity....
"Peut-etre aussi vouloient ils (les fondateurs des Pyramides) figurer en
meme tems la Divinite, et ce qui leur restoit d'idees du mystere de la
Sainte Trinite, dans les trois faces de ces pyramides. Du moins est ce
ainsi qu'aux Indes un Brame paroissoit concevoir les choses et
s'expliquer d'apres les anciennes. 'Il faut,' disoit il, 'se representer
Dieu et ses trois noms differents qui repondent a ces trois principaux
attributs, a peu pres sous l'idee de ces Pyramides triangulaires qu'on
voit elevees devant la poste de quelques temples."--_Lettre du Pere
Bouchet a M. Huet, Eveque d'Avranches._ Three logs are always employed
to keep up the fire in the Natchez temple.--Lafitau, vol. i., p. 167.
Extract from a dialogue between John Wesley and the Chickasaw Indians:
"_Wesley._ Do you believe there is One above who is over all things?
"_Answer._ We believe there are four beloved things above--the clouds,
the sun, the clear sky, and He that lives in the clear sky.
"_Wesley._ Do you believe there is but One who lives in the clear sky?
"_Answer._ We believe there are two with Him, three in all."--Wesley's
_Journal_, No. 1., p. 39.]
[Footnote 248: See Stephens's "Incidents of Travel in Central America,"
vol. ii., p. 346.
"Les croix qui ont tant excite la curiosite des conquistadores a
Coqumel, a Yucatan, et dans d'autres contrees de l'Amerique ne sont pas
'des contes de moines,' et meritent, comme tout ce qui a rapport au
culte des peuples indigenes du Nouveau Continent, un examen plus
serieux. Je me sers du mot culte, car un relief conserve dans les ruines
de Palenque, de Guatemala, et dont je possede une copie, ne me parait
laisser ancun doute qu'une figure symbolique en forme de croix etoit un
objet d'adoration. Il faut faire observer cependant qu'a cette croix
manque le prolongement superieur, et qu'elle forme plutot la lettre
_tau_. Des idees qui n'ont ancun rapport avec le Christianisme ont pu
etre symboliquement attachees a cet embleme Egyptien d'Hermes, si
celebre parmi les Chretiens depuis la destruction du temple de Serapis a
Alexandrie sous Theodose le Grand. (Rufinus, _Hist. Eccles._, lib. ii.,
cap. xxix., p. 294; Zozomenes, _Eccl. Hist._, lib. iii., cap. xv.) Un
baton termine par une croix se voit dans la main d'Astarte sur les
monnaies de Sidon au 3me siecle avant notre ere. En Scandinavie, un
signe de l'alphabet _runique_ figurait le _marteau de Thor_, tres
semblable a la croix du relief de Palenque. On marquoit de cette _rune_,
dans les tems payens, les objets qu'on vouloit sanctifier." (Voyez
l'excellent Traite de M. Guillaume Grimm. _Ueber Deutsche Runen_, p.
242.)--Humboldt, _Geographie de Nouveau Continent_, vol. ii., p. 356.
"Laet avoue qu' Herrera parle d'une espece de bapteme, et de confession
usitee dans Yucatan et dans les isles voisines, mais il ajoute qu'il est
bien plus naturel d'attribuer toutes ces marques equivoques de
Christianisme qu'on a cru apercevoir en plusieurs provinces du Nouveau
Monde au demon qui a toujours affecte de contrefaire le culte du vrai
Dieu." Charlevoix adds, "Cette remarque est de tous les bons auteurs qui
out parle de la religion des peuples nouvellement decouverts, et fondee
sur l'autorite des peres de l'Eglise."--Charlevoix, tom. v., p. 28.]
[Footnote 249: See Appendix, No. LI. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 250: "The most sensual, degraded, and least intellectual
tribes of Northern Asia and America have purer notions of a Spiritual
Deity than were possessed of old by the worshipers of Jupiter and Juno
under Pericles."--_Progression by Antagonism._ This, according to Lord
Lindsay's theory, is to be accounted for by the absence of imagination,
these nations being only governed by Sense and Spirit, to the exclusion
of intellect in either of its manifestations, Imagination, or
Reason.--P. 21, 26.]
[Footnote 251: "At the breaking up of the winter," says Hunter, "after
having supplied ourselves with such things as were necessary and the
situation afforded, all our party visited the spring from which we had
procured our supplies of water, and there offered up our orisons to the
Great Spirit for having preserved us in health and safety, and for
having supplied all our wants. This is the constant practice of the
Osages, Kansas, and many other nations of Indians on breaking up their
encampments, and is by no means an unimportant ceremony." The habitual
piety of the Indian mind is remarked by Heckewelder, and strongly
insisted upon by Hunter, and it is satisfactorily proved by the whole
tenor of his descriptions, where he throws himself back, as it were,
into the feelings peculiar to Indian life. And, indeed, after hearing at
a council the broken fragments of an Indian harangue, however
imperfectly rendered by an ignorant interpreter, or reading the few
specimens of Indian oratory which have been preserved by translation, no
one can fail to remark a perpetual and earnest reference to the power
and goodness of the Deity. "Brothers! we all belong to one family; we
are all children of the Great Spirit," was the commencement of
Tecumthe's harangue to the Osages; and he afterward tells them: "When
the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had
no places on which to spread their blankets or to kindle their fires.
They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers
commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the
Great Spirit has given to his red children."--_Quarterly Review._]
[Footnote 252: On the remarkable occasion on which our forces were
compelled, in 1813, to evacuate the Michigan territory, Tecumthe, in the
name of his nation, refused to consent to retreat; he closed his denial
with these words: "Our lives are in the hand of the Great Spirit: He
gave the lands which we possess to our fathers; if it be his will, our
bones shall whiten upon them, but we will never quit them." An old
Oneida chief, who was blind from years, observed to Heckewelder, "I am
an aged hemlock; the winds of one hundred years have whistled through my
branches; I am dead at the top. Why I yet live, the great, good Spirit
only knows." This venerable father of the forest lived long enough to be
converted to Christianity.--_Quarterly Review._]
[Footnote 253: A Huron woman under the instruction of a missionary, who
detailed to her the perfections of God, exclaimed, in a species of
ecstasy, "I understand, I understand; and I always felt convinced that
our Areskoui was exactly such a one as the God you have described to
me."--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 127. The Great Spirit was named Areskoui
among the Huron, Agriskone among the Iroquois, Manitou among the
Algonquins.]
[Footnote 254: See Appendix, No. LII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 255: Every spring the Arkansas go in a body to some retired
place, and there turn up a large space of land, which they do with the
drums beating all the while. After this they call it the _Desart_, or
the Field of the Spirit, and thither they go when they are in their
enthusiastic fits, and there wait for inspiration from their pretended
deity. In the mean while, as they do this every year, it proves of no
small advantage to them, for by this means they turn up all their land
by degrees, and it becomes abundantly more fruitful.--Tonti.]
[Footnote 256: Lafitau asserts that the first beast killed by a young
hunter was always offered in sacrifice.--Vol. i., p. 515. See Catlin's
description of the sacrifices and ceremonies practiced when the first
fruits of corn are ripe.--Catlin, vol. i., p. 189.]
[Footnote 257: Peter Martyr speaks of the general opinion among the
early discoverers that the Indians believed in a species of immortality.
"They confess the soul to be immortal; having put off the bodily
clothing, they imagine it goeth forth to the woods and the mountains,
and that it liveth there perpetually in caves; nor do they exempt it
from eating or drinking, but that it should be fed there. The answering
voices heard from caves and hollows, which the Latines call echoes, they
suppose to be the souls of the departed wandering through those
places."--Peter Martyr, Decad. VIII., cap. ix., M. Lock's translation,
1612.]
[Footnote 258: "Une jeune sauvagesse voyant sa soeur mourante, par la
quantite de cigue qui elle avoit pris dans un depit, et determine a ne
faire aucun remede pour se garantir de la mort, pleuroit a chaudes
larmes, et s'efforcoit de la toucher par les liens du sang, et de
l'amitie qui les unissoit ensemble. Elle lui disoit sans cesse, 'C'en
est donc fait; in veux que nous ne nous retrouvions jamais plus, et que
nous ne nous revoyions jamais?' Le missionnaire, frappe de ces paroles,
lui en demanda la raison. 'Il me semble,' dit-il, 'que vous avez un pays
des ames, ou vous devez tous vous reunir a vos ancetres; pourquoi donc
est ce que tu parles ainsi a la soeur?' 'Il est vrai,' reprit-elle, 'que
nous allons tous au pays des ames; mais les mechants, et ceux en
particulier, qui se sont detruits eux-memes par un mort violente, y
portent la peine de leur crime; ils y sont separes des autres, et n'ont
point de communication avec eux: c'est la le sujet de mes
peines.'"--Lafitau, tom. i., p. 404. See Appendix, LII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 259: Hunter gives the following view of the Indian mythology,
while describing his own and his companions' first sight of the Pacific
Ocean: "Here the surprise and astonishment of our whole party was
indescribably great. The unbounded view of waters, the incessant and
tremendous dashing of the waves along the shore, accompanied with a
noise resembling the roar of loud and distant thunder, filled our minds
with the most sublime and awful sensation, and fixed on them as
immutable truths the tradition we had received from our old men, that
the great waters divide the residence of the Great Spirit from the
temporary abodes of his red children. We have contemplated in silent
dread the immense difficulties over which we should be obliged to
triumph after death before we could arrive at those delightful
hunting-grounds, which are unalterably destined for such only as do
good, and love the Great Spirit. We looked in vain for the stranded and
shattered canoes of those who had done wickedly; we could see none, and
were led to hope they were few in number. We offered up our devotions,
or, I might say, our minds were serious, and our devotions continued all
the time we were in this country, for we had ever been taught to believe
that the Great Spirit resided on the western side of the Rocky
Mountains; and this idea continued throughout the journey,
notwithstanding the more specific boundary assigned to Him by our
traditionary dogmas."--_Memoirs of a Captivity among the North American
Indians from Childhood to the Age of Nineteen_. By John D. Hunter, p.
69. 1824.--See Appendix, No. LIII. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 260: See Appendix, No. LIV. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 261: See Appendix, No. LV. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 262: See Appendix, No. LVI. (see Vol II)]
[Footnote 263: "While I remained among the Indians, a couple, whose tent
was adjacent to mine, lost a son of four years of age. The parents were
so much affected at the death of their child, that they observed the
usual testimonies of grief with such extreme rigor as through the weight
of sorrow and loss of blood to occasion the loss of the father. The
woman, who had hitherto been inconsolable, no sooner saw her husband
expire than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned.
I took an opportunity of asking her the reason of so extraordinary a
transition, when she informed me that her child was so young it would
have been unable to support itself in the world of spirits, and both she
and her husband were apprehensive that its situation would be far from
happy. No sooner, however, did she behold her husband depart for the
same place, who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection,
but was a good hunter, and would be able to provide plentifully for its
support, than she ceased to mourn. She said she had now no reason to
continue her tears, as the child on whom she doted was under the care
and protection of a fond father, and she had now only one wish remaining
ungratified, that of herself being with them."--Carver.]
[Footnote 264: Captain Franklin says of the Chippewyans, "No article is
spared by these unhappy men when a near relative dies; their clothes and
tents are cut to pieces, their guns broken, and every other weapon
rendered useless if some person do not remove these articles from their
sight."
"When the French missionaries asked the Indians why they deprived
themselves of their most necessary articles in favor of the dead, they
answered, 'that it was not only to evidence their love for their
departed relatives, but that they might avoid the sight of objects
which, having been used by them, would continually renew their grief.'
The same delicacy of feeling, so inconsistent with the coarseness of the
Red Man's nature, was manifested in their custom of never uttering the
names of the dead; and if these names were borne by any of the other
members of the family, they laid them aside during the whole of their
mourning. And it was esteemed the greatest insult that could be offered
to say to any one, 'Your father is dead, your mother is
dead.'"--Charlevoix, tom. vi., p. 109.]
[Footnote 265: Pere Brebeuf, _Relation de la Nouvelle France_;
Charlevoix; Lafitau. Catlin describes the same ceremonies.
It has been often said that the care taken by the Indians for the
deceased corpses of their ancestors was in consequence of a universally
received tradition that these corpses were to rise again to immortal
life.]