‘They proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord’
JER. IX, 3.
The indifference of Tisquantum on the subject of the religious opinions
that his daughter might imbibe from her Christian companion, may seem
strange. But the Sachem, though a heathen, was, in fact, no fanatic. He
believed--or professed to believe--that he was himself in the
possession of supernatural powers; and so long as these pretensions
were acknowledged, and he continued to enjoy the confidence and
veneration of his ignorant countrymen, he was perfectly satisfied.
Henrich had also, on their first acquaintance, distinctly professed his
faith in the existence and the power of the Great Mahneto, or _Master
of Life;_ and this was all the _religion_--properly so called--of which
Tisquantum had any idea. He did not, therefore, give himself any
concern as to the other objects of his adopted son's belief or worship;
neither did he care to prevent Oriana from listening to the doctrines
of the pale-face, so long as she continued obedient and gentle, and
neglected none of the duties of an Indian squaw.
The feelings of Coubitant were different. Not only did he burn with an
eager desire to deprive his rival of the Sachem's love and esteem, but
he also entertained a strong abhorrence of the religion of the white
men, as he had seen it practiced, and knew it was disseminated, by the
Spanish settlers in Mexico, whither he had traveled in his early youth.
In his eyes, these Christians were base idolaters; for such was the
impression made on him by the images and crucifixes that he beheld, and
the marks of veneration that were paid to these idols of wood and
stone, by the superstitious and degenerate Spaniards of that district.
When, therefore, he heard Henrich endeavoring to inculcate the worship
of Jesus, as the Son of God, on Oriana and Jyanough, he not unnaturally
regarded him as a believer in all the deities whose images he had seen
associated with that of Jesus, and receiving equal homage.
Such, unhappily, has too often been the impression made on the minds of
the heathen, in every quarter of the globe, by the vain and
superstitious observances of the Roman Church, when her ministers have
proposed to their acceptance so corrupt a form of Christianity, instead
of the pure and holy doctrines of unadulterated Scripture. To those
nations already given over to idolatry it has appeared that their
civilized teachers were only offering them another kind of image-
worship; but to the Indians of North America--who make use of no images
of their deity, and generally acknowledge but one Great Spirit of
universal power and beneficence, and one Spirit of evil--the carved and
painted figures of the Spanish invaders naturally gave the idea of a
multitude of gods; and, in some of them, excited unbounded indignation
and hatred. This was the case with Coubitant; who, though totally
uninfluenced by any love or fear of the Great Mahneto whom he professed
to worship, was yet--like many other bigots of various countries and
creeds--keenly jealous of any innovations in the religion of his
nation; and ready to oppose, and even to exterminate, all who attempted
to subvert it.
He now regarded Henrich as such an aggressor on the national faith and
practice; and he consequently hated him with a redoubled hatred, and
ceased not to plot in secret his ultimate destruction.
Meanwhile, his intended victim was passing his time in considerable
enjoyment, and with a sense of perfect security, among the Crees. This
tribe was at that time remarkable for hospitality, and likewise for
courage and integrity. These good qualities have sadly degenerated
since their intercourse with Europeans has enabled them to gratify the
passion of all savages for intoxicating liquors: but at the period of
which we are speaking, they were a singularly fine race of Indians, and
their renown as warriors enabled them to extend protection to such of
the neighboring tribes as entered into alliance with them. Disease had,
indeed, recently reduced their numbers in many of the villages that
were situated in the dense forest, and were thus deprived of a free
circulation of air; and the wigwams at which Tisquantum's party had
arrived were among those that had suffered most severely. Several of
the lodges had been altogether deserted, in consequence of the death of
the proprietors; in which case the Indians frequently strip off the
thick mats which form the outer covering of the wigwam, and leave the
bare poles a perishing monument of desolation! This is only done when
the head of the family dies. The property of which he has not
otherwise disposed during his life, is then buried with him; and his
friends continue, for a long period, to revisit the grave, and make
offerings of food, arms, and cooking utensils. These articles are
deemed sacred to the spirit of the departed, and no Indian would think
of taking them away unless he replaced them with something of equal
value. This is permitted; and the custom must often afford relief to
the hungry traveler through the forests, who comes unexpectedly upon
the burial grounds of some of his race, and finds the graves amply
supplied with maize and tobacco--more useful to the living than to the
dead.
Many such graves, besides that of Uncas, were to be seen in the
vicinity of the Cree village: and it seemed likely that their numbers
would be still augmented; for the disease which had already proved so
fatal, had not left the wigwams, although its violence had considerably
abated. Old Terah, the uncle of Jyanough, and the chief of the present
Sachem's council, lay dangerously ill; and all the charms, and all the
barbarous remedies usually resorted to in such cases, had been employed
by the Cree Powows in vain. Terah was one of the Pinces, or Pnieses--a
dignity conferred only on men of approved courage and wisdom--and many
a successful incursion had he led into the great plains of
Saskatchawan, where dwelt the Stone Indians, with whom the Crees had
long been at enmity--and many a prisoner had he brought back to his
village, and slain as an offering to Maatche-Mahneto, while he hung the
scalp that he had torn from the quivering victim on the walls of his
lodge, as its proudest ornament.
Terah was also as wise in counsel as he was valiant in war; and,
although his age prevented his assuming the office of Sachem, or ruler
of the village,[*] on the death of his brother, yet his wisdom and
experience gave him great influence with Chingook, the present Chief,
and caused his life to be regarded as of peculiar value by the whole
community.
[Footnote: Almost every considerable village has its Sachem, or Chief,
who is subordinate to the great Sachem or Sagamore, of the whole
tribe.]
The arrival of so celebrated a Powow as Tisquantum during a time of
sickness-and especially when the death of so important a personage as
Terah was apprehended--was hailed with great joy by the whole village;
and presents of food, clothing, and arms poured into the lodge that
formed his temporary abode, from such of the Crees as desired to secure
his medical and supernatural aid for the relief of their suffering
relatives. All day he was occupied in visiting the wigwams of the sick,
and employing charms or incantations to drive away the evil spirits
from his patients; sometimes also administering violent emetics, and
other drugs from his _obee-bag,_ or medicine-pouch; which contained a
multitude of heterogeneous articles, such as herbs, bones, shells,
serpents' teeth, and pebbles--all necessary to the arts and practices
of a Powow. On the venerable Terah his skill and patience were
principally exercised, and many were the torments that he inflicted on
the dying old savage, and which were borne by the Pince with all the
calm endurance that became his dignity and reputation. Terah, like all
others of his exalted rank, had attained to the honor of being a Pince
by serving a hard apprenticeship to suffering and privation in his
early youth. He had passed through the ordeal triumphantly--and he who
had run barefoot through sharp and tearing thorns--who had endured to
have his shins beaten with a hard and heavy mallet, and his flesh
burned with red hot spears—and had not even betrayed a sense of pain--
in order to attain the rank of a great counselor, and the privilege of
attending the Sachem as one of his guard of honor--did not shrink when
his barbarous physician burned a blister on his chest with red-hot
ashes, and scarified the horny soles of his feet till the blood flowed
plentifully. Those, and strong emetic herbs, which he forced his
patient to repeat until he fainted away, constituted the medical
treatment of Tisquantum: but much greater benefit was expected--and,
such is the power of imagination in these ignorant savages, that it was
often attained--from the practice of his charms and conjurations.
As soon as Tisquantum saw his noble patient reduced to a state of
unconsciousness by his physical treatment, he commenced a course of
spiritual incantations. In a fierce and unnatural voice, he called on
Hobbamock, or Satan, who he declared was visible to him in one of his
many forms of an eagle, a deer, a fawn, and sometimes a gigantic human
being. He then adjured the evil spirit, and commanded him to remove the
disease; promising, in return, to offer to him skins, and hatchets, and
even the scalps of his foes. If any signs of returning consciousness
appeared, the Powow speedily banished them by a repetition of his wild
howling, which he continued for hours, at the same time throwing
himself about with wild and unnatural gestures, and striking his hands
violently on his legs, until he became as much exhausted as his unlucky
patient.
It was during one of these awful exhibitions of heathen cruelty and
superstition, that Henrich one evening drew nigh to the lodge of Terah,
accompanied by Oriana; and paused at the open entrance, in amazement
and horror at the scene he beheld. The dying man lay stretched on the
ground, in the center of the outer room of the hut, where he had been
placed that he might enjoy the full benefit of the great Powow's skill.
His eyes were closed and his gray hairs hung matted end disordered on
the ground, while his emaciated features appeared to be fixed in death.
A frightful wound was on his breast, and blood was trickling from his
lacerated feet; while the involuntary contractions of his limbs alone
denoted that he was yet alive, and sensible to suffering, which he was
now unable to make any effort to conceal. Around the walls of the hut
stood many of his relatives and dependants, whose countenances
expressed anxiety and hope, mingled with fear of the priestly Sachem.
Among the bystanders, Henrich instantly recognized his friend Jyanough;
and he shuddered to see the ingenious and inquiring youth assisting at
such satanic rites. But the figure that chiefly attracted his
attention, and to which his eyes became riveted, was that of
Tisquantum--the father of his gentle and beloved Oriana! There stood
the Sachem: he whose countenance he had seldom seen disturbed from his
usual expression of gravity and composure, and whose dignity of manner
had hitherto always commanded his respect. There he now stood--a victim
to satanic influence! His tall figure was dilated to its utmost height
by excitement and violent muscular effort, as he stood by the side of
the sick man. His eyes were fixed with a fearful and unmeaning glare on
the darkest corner of the hut, and seemed to be starting from their
sockets; while his hands, stiff and motionless, were extended over the
body of Terah, as if to guard him from the assault of some demons
visible to the conjuror alone. In this statue-like posture he remained
for some moments, while his breast heaved convulsively, and foam
gathered on his parted lips. Then, suddenly, he uttered a yell--so loud
and so unearthly that Henrich started with surprise and terror: and
Oriana caught his hand, and tried to draw him away from a scene that
now filled her soul with shame and sorrow.
But Henrich did not move: he did not heed the beseeching voice, and the
gentle violence of his companion, whose wishes were generally commands
to her white brother.
That yell had recalled the patient to partial consciousness, and he
rolled his blood-shot eyes around him, as if endeavoring to collect his
wandering senses; and then his haggard countenance again resumed the
expression of imperturbable composure and firm endurance that an Indian
warrior thinks it a disgrace to lose, even in the extremity of
suffering. Then Tisquantum sank on one knee beside him, and burst forth
into a passionate address to his deities--the powers of good and evil--
whom he regarded as almost equally mighty to decide the fate of the
patient.
'O, Mahneto!' he exclaimed, in a hoarse and howling voice; 'O,
Richtan-Mahneto,[1] who created the first man and woman out of a stone,
and placed them in these forests to be the parents of thy red children;
is it thy will that Terah shall leave his brethren to mourn his
departed goodness and wisdom, and go on that long and toilsome journey
that leads to the hunting-grounds of our forefathers? Surely when his
spirit _knocks at the door,_ it will be opened to him, and the warriors
of our tribe will welcome him, while his foes will be driven away with
the awful sentence, _Quachet!_[2] Yes, Terah, the wise in counsel, and
the fearless in war, shall surely dwell in the fields of happiness, and
again strike the prey with the renewed strength and skill of his youth.
But not yet, Mahneto! O, not yet!…I see Hobbamock lurking there in the
gloom! I see his fiery eagle eyes, and I hear the flap of his heavy
wing; and I know that he hovers here to suck the blood of Terah, with
all his murderous Weettakos around him![3] But Tisquantum's charms are
too strong for him: he cannot approach the sick man now. Ha! Maatche-
Mahneto!' he cried--and again he fixed his glaring eyes on the dark
space in the far corner of the hut, from which the spectators had
shrunk trembling away--' Ha! spirit of evil! I behold thee--and I defy
thee! Terah is not thine; and my power has compelled thee to send the
_Ashkook,_[4] with his healing tongue, to lick my brother's wounds; and
_Wobsacuck,_ with eagle beak, to devour the venom that clogs his veins,
and makes his breath come short and thick. I feel them on my shoulders,
as they sit there, and stretch out their necks to do my bidding! Terah
shall live!'
[Footnote 1: _‘Richtan,’_ supposed to signify old--‘Ancient of Days’--
the Maker]
[Footnote 2: _Quachet,_ begone, or _march off;_ supposed to be the
sentence of condemnation uttered against the souls of the wicked, when
they present themselves, and _‘knock at the door'_ that leads to the
Indian Paradise.]
[Footnote 3: _Weettako,_ a kind of vampire or devil, into which the
Crees and other tribes suppose all who have ever fed on human flesh to
be transformed after death.]
[Footnote 4: _Ashkooke,_ a demon in the form of a snake, who, with his
brother-fiend, _Wobsacuck,_ are supposed to be sent by Hobbamock to
heal the sick, when forced, by the potent spells of the great Powow, to
work good instead of evil.]
Tisquantum closed his wild oration with another loud and prolonged
yell, to which all the spectators, who crowded the sides of the hut,
replied by a short and yelping cry: and the Powow sank on the ground by
the side of his patient, faint and exhausted by the violent and
sustained exertions to which both his mind and body had been subjected
for several hours without intermission. The attendants, among whom
Jyanough was foremost, hastened to his assistance, and administered to
him some needful refreshment; and Henrich turned away, grieved and
disgusted, and fall of sympathy for his once heathen companion, who, he
now remembered, was standing by his side, and witnessing the wild and
degrading extravagances of a father whom she both loved and respected.
He looked into her deep expressive eyes, and saw that they were filled
with tears of humiliation and mental agony. How could it be otherwise?
How could she--who had learned to love a God of mercy, and to believe
in a meek and lowly Savior--bear to see her father thus the slave of
Satan, and the minister of cruel and heathen superstition? Especially,
how could she bear that so degrading a scene should he witnessed by him
from whom she had derived all she knew of the gospel of joy and peace,
and whose esteem was more precious to her than the opinion of all the
world beside?
Silently she walked by Henrich's side for neither of them were inclined
to speak the thoughts that filled their minds. And silently they would
have proceeded to Oriana's dwelling, where her white brother proposed
to leave her with her attendants, and then to return and seek his
deluded friend Jyanough; but ere they reached Tisquantum's lodge, they
were overtaken by the Indian youth.
Jyanough had been too much engrossed by the exciting scene that took
place in Terah's dwelling--and too eagerly watching for some favorable
appearances that might encourage him to hope for the life of his only
surviving relative--to observe that Henrich was also a spectator of
these heathen rites, until all was concluded, and the patient and his
physician were alike overpowered by heat and exhaustion. Then he had
glanced towards the door, and had seen the saddened expression that
clouded the open features of the Christian youth, and the look of
anguish that Oriana cast on her degraded father; and then all the
truths that Henrich had endeavored so simply and so patiently to
impress upon his mind--all the arguments that his white friend had
employed to win him from heathen darkness, and guide him into Divine
truth--rushed at once upon his memory. He felt ashamed of the remaining
superstition that had led him to take part in such vain ceremonies, and
to deem that they could conduce to his uncle's recovery, after he had
heard, and even assented to, the holy belief of the Christians in the
universal power of Almighty God, and the victory of His Son Jesus
Christ over the devil and all his angels. And he was grieved, also,
that his kind and anxious young teacher should regard him as an
ungrateful, and, possibly, even as a deceitful hearer.
He, therefore, hastened after Henrich and Oriana, and overtook them as
they approached the lodge appropriated to the Nausett Sachem.
'Are you angry with your red brother?' he inquired earnestly, as he
laid his hand on Henrich's shoulder, and looked sadly in his face. 'Do
you think that Jyanough is a deceiver, and that he has listened to the
teaching of the white stranger only to gain his friendship, and then to
forsake him, and betray him, and return to the religion of his own
people? O, no! Jyanough's heart is open and clear before the eyes of
his friend; and he will gladly listen again to all the good things that
Henrich tells him, for his heart says that they are true. But his soul
is still very dark; and when he saw Terah ready to die, and felt that,
when he was gone, there would be none to love him among all his tribe,
the cloud grew thicker and thicker; and Maatche-Mahneto seemed to look
out of the midst of the deep gloom with wrathful eyes of fire, and
beckon him to follow to Terah's lodge, and join in the worship which
the great Powow was about to offer. Will your Mahneto forgive him,
Henrich?
The heart of the Christian boy was penetrated with joy and thankfulness
at this frank confession of the young Indian. He clearly saw that the
struggle--the universal and enduring struggle--between the powers of
good and evil, had already commenced in the soul of the red man; and he
had full confidence in the blessed declaration, that 'He who hath begun
a good work of grace in the immortal spirit, will surely perfect it
unto the end.' Therefore, he replied without hesitation, 'He will
certainly forgive you, Jyanough; and if you desire His help to make
your soul light, and strong, and joyful, and ask for that help in
sincerity and truth, He will most assuredly give it to you. Let us
enter the lodge, and there unite our prayers to the Great Spirit, who
is the God and Father of all his creatures, that He will graciously
shed His light and His truth into all our hearts; and, especially, that
He will remove all the doubts and fears that still lie sadly and
heavily on our brother's spirit.'
The three young friends did so: and in the deserted chamber of the
great heathen Powow, Tisquantum, the voice of Christian supplication
ascended to the throne of a prayer-answering God. Could it ascend
unheeded? or fail to bring down, in His own good time, an answer of
peace?