and the Indian American, which has not a great many prepositions. The
Indians, like the Hebrews, have none in separate and express words. They
are forced to join certain characters to words, in order to supply that
great defect. The Hebrew consonants, called _serviles_, were tools to
supply the place of the prepositions. The Indians, for want of a
sufficient number of radical words, are forced to apply the same noun
and verb, to signify many things of a various nature. With the Cheerake,
_Eeankke_, signifies a _prisoner_, _captive_, _slave_, _awl_, _pin_,
_needle_, &c.; which occasions the Indian dialects to be very difficult
to strangers. The Jewish Rabbins tell us, that the Hebrew language
contains only a few more than a thousand primitive words, of which their
whole language is formed. So that the same word very often denotes
various, though not contrary things. But there is one radical meaning,
which will agree to every sense that word is used in.
By custom, a Hebrew noun frequently supplied the place of a pronoun; by
which means, it caused a tedious, and sometimes an ambiguous
circumlocution. From this original defective standard of speech, the
Indians have forgotten all their pronouns, except two primitives and two
relatives; as, _Anòwah_, _Ego_, and _Ishna_, _Tu_: the latter bears a
great many significations, both as singular and plural, viz. _Eeàpa_ and
_Eeàko_; which signify he, she, this, that, &c.: And they are likewise
adverbs of place; as here, there, &c. הוא _Hewa_, signifies he or she;
אני _Ani_ we; and אנ, _Anowa_, he, she, him, her, &c. {39}
The Hebrew language frequently uses hyperboles, or magnifying numbers,
to denote a long space of time: the Indians, accordingly, apply the
words, _Neetak akroohah_, “all days,” or, in other words, “for ever,” to
a long series of years. With the Jews, sitting, signified dwelling; and,
with the Indians, it is the very same; for, when they ask a person where
he dwells, they say, _Katèmuk Ishbeneele_ (_chuak?_), which is literally
“where do you sit?” And when they call us irreligious, they say _Nãna
U-bat_, “_No thing_,” or literally, “a relation to nothing;” for _Nãna_
signifies a relation: and the other is always a negative adverbial
period; which seems also to proceed from a religious custom of the
Hebrews, in giving despicable borrowed names to idols; as to בעלים,
Baalim, “Particles of air,” meaning, _nothing_. To which the Psalmist
alludes, saying, “I will not take up their names in my lips.” And St.
Paul says, “We know that an idol is _nothing_.” This expression the
Indians apply, in a pointed metaphor, to the white people, but never to
each other.
Like the Hebrews, they seldom, if ever, double the liquid consonant _R_;
for they generally seem desirous of shuffling over it, at any rate: And
they often give it the sound of _L_; but, if it precedes a word, where
the other consonant soon follows, they always give it its proper sound,
contrary to the usage of the Chinese: as the name of a stone, they often
call, _Tahle_, instead of _Tahrè_; but the Indians say, _“Tahre
lakkana”_, literally, “Yellow stone,” _i. e._ gold.
The Hebrews subjoined one of their serviles, to words, to express the
pronoun relative, _thy_ or _thine_: And as that particle was also a note
of resemblance, it shews the great sterility of that language. As a
specimen—They said אביך, (Abiche) “your father,” and אמך, (Ameche) “Your
mother,” &c. Only that the Hebrew period is initial, in such a case, to
the Indian nouns, they always use the very same method of expression.
This I shall illustrate with two words in the dialects of the Chikkasah
and Cheerake—as _Chinge_ and _Chatokta_, “your father;” _Angge_ and
_Aketohta_ signifying “my father,” in resemblance of אב, _Abba_, of the
same import; likewise _Chishka_ and _Chacheeah_, “your mother;” for
_Saske_ and _Akachee_ signify “my mother,” in imitation of אשה, _Ashe_.
Also _Sas Kish_ signifies podex meus, _Chish Kish_, podex tuus, and
_Kish Kish_, podex illius; which I guess to be an {40} opprobrious
allusion to Kish the father of Saul, for the son’s assuming the throne
at the end of the Jewish theocracy. In their adjectives and verbs, they
use the same method of speech; as _Nahoorèso Chin-Chookoma_, “Your book
is good.” The former word is compounded of נא (_Na_) now, or the present
time, and _Hoorèso_, delineated, marked, or painted. _Aia_ signifies _to
go_, and _Maia-Cha_, “Go along,” or _Maia_, the same; for, by prefixing
מ to it, it implies a requisite obedience. In like manner, _Apeesah_, to
see, and _Peesàcha_, look, or “see you.” And, when that particle is
prefixed to a verb, it always expresses the accusative case of the same
pronoun; as _Chepeesahre_, “I saw you,” and _Chepeesahras_, “I shall see
you.” Each of the Hebrew characters are radicals; although half of them
are _serviles_, according to that proper term of the scholiasts; for,
when they are prefixed, inserted, or subjoined, either at the beginning,
middle, or end of a radical word, _they serve_ to form its various
augments, inflexions, and derivatives. According to this difficult
standard of speech, the Indian nouns, moods, and tenses, are variously
formed to express different things. As there is no other known language
or dialect, which has the same tedious, narrow, and difficult
principles; must we not consider them to be twin-born sisters? The want
of proper skill to observe the original fixed idea of the Indian words,
their radical letters, and the due sounds in each of them, seems to have
been the only reason why the writers on the American Aborigines, have
not exhibited the true and genuine properties of any one of their
dialects; as they are all uniform in principle: so far at least, as an
extensive acquaintance reaches.
The Hebrew nouns are either derived from verbs, or both of them are one
and the same; as ברכה, (Beroche) “Blessing,” from ברך, (Beroch) “to
bless,” and דבר חבר, (Dabar Daber) “he spoke the speech.” This proper
name signifies “loquacious,” like the Indian _Sekàkee_, signifying the
“grasshopper.” The Indian method of expression, exactly agrees with that
Hebrew mode of speech; for they say _Anumbole Anumbole (kis)_ “I spake
the speaking;” and _Anumbole Enumbole (kis)_, “he spoke the speaking, or
speech.” And by inserting the name of God between these two words, their
meaning is the very same with those two first Hebrew words. I shall
subjoin another word of the same sort—_Hookseeleta_ signifies “a
shutting instrument;” and they say _Ishtookseelèta_, or _Hookseelèta,
Ish-hookseetas_, or _Hookseetà Cha_, “You shall, or, shut you the door.”
Their period of the last word, always denotes the second person singular
of the imperative mood; {41} and that of the other preceding it, either
the first or second person singular of the indicative mood; which is
formed so by a fixed rule, on account of the variegating power of the
serviles, by affixing, inserting, or suffixing them, to any root.
According to the usage of the Hebrews, they always place the accusative
case also before the verb; as in the former Indian words.
With the Hebrews, תפלח signified “a prayer,” or a religious invocation,
derived from פלח, Phelac, “to pray to, or invoke the Deity.” In a strong
resemblance thereof, when the Indians are performing their sacred dance,
with the eagles tails, and with great earnestness invoking _Yo He Wah_
to bless them with success and prosperity, _Phale_ signifies, “waving,”
or invoking by waving, _Ishphāle_, you wave, _Phalècha_, wave you,
_Aphalàle_, I waved, _Aphalèlas_, I will wave, &c. Psalmodists seem to
have borrowed the notes _fa_, _la_, from the aforesaid Hebrew words of
praying, singing to, or invoking Elohim. פעל, (Phoole) “to work,” is
evidently drawn from the former Hebrew word, which signifies to invoke
(and probably to wave the feathers of the cherubic eagle before) _Yo He
Wah_. The greatest part of the Levitical method of worshipping,
consisted in laborious mechanical exercises, much after the Indian
manner; which the popish priests copy after, in a great many instances,
as pulling off their clothes, and putting on others; imagining that the
Deity is better pleased with persons who variegate their external
appearances, like Proteus, than with those who worship with a steady,
sincere disposition of mind; besides a prodigious group of other
superstitious ceremonies, which are often shamefully blended with those
of the old pagans.
As the Hebrew word נא, _Na_, signifies the present time—so when the
Indians desire a person to receive something from them speedily, they
say, _Nà_ (short and gutturally) _eescha_, “take it, now.” He replies
_Unta_, or _Omeh_, which are good-natured affirmatives. The pronoun
relative, “you,” which they term _Ishna_, is a compounded Hebrew word,
signifying (by application) the person present, or “you.”
With the Hebrews, הר הר, _Hara Hara_, signifies, “most, or very, hot;”
the repetition of the word makes it a superlative. In a strict
resemblance of that word, and mode of speech, when an Indian is baffled
by any of their {42} humorous wits, he says, in a loud jesting manner,
_Hara Hara_, or _Hala Hala_, according to their capacity of pronouncing
the liquid _R_: and it signifies, “you are very hot upon me:” their
word, which expresses “sharp,” conveys the idea of bitter-heartedness
with them; and that of bitterness they apply only to the objects of
taste.
With the Cheerake, Chikkasah, and Choktah Indians, _Nannè_ signifies “a
hill:” and _Nannéh_, with the two last-mentioned nations, “a fish;” and
_Unchàba_, “a mountain.” But they call an alligator, or crocodile,
_Nannéh Chunchāba_, literally, “the fish like a mountain;” which the
English language would abbreviate into the name of a mountain-fish; but,
instead of a hyphen, they use the Hebrew כ, a note of resemblance, which
seems to point at the language from which they derived it. In like
manner, _Aà_ signifies to walk, and _Eette_, wood; but _Eette Chanáa_,
any kind of wheel; which is consonant to the aforesaid Hebrew idiom;
with many others of the like nature: but a specimen of this sort must
suffice.
The Hebrew and Indian words, which express delineating, writing,
decyphering, marking, and painting, convey the same literal meaning in
both languages; as _Exod._ xvii. 14. כתב שפר (_Chethéba Sepháre_)
“delineate this with delineations;” and, with the Indians, _Hoorèso_ is,
in like manner, the radical name of books, delineating, &c.; and
_Ootehna_ that for numbering, instead of reading. The nearest approach
they can make to it, is, _Anumbōle hoorèso Ishanumbōlas_, “You shall
speak the speech, which is delineated.”
They call a razor, _Baspoo Shaphe_, “A shaving knife:” and _Shaphe_
always signifies to shave; probably, because when they first began to
shave themselves, they were ridiculed by the higher, or more religious
part of the people, for imitating that heathenish custom. The Hebrew שפּה
(_Shaphe_) signifying lip, confession, or worship; which divine writ
assures us, the descendants of Noah changed, when they opposed the
divine will of settling various parts of the earth, and built the great
tower of Babel, as an emblem of greatness, to get them a name[X]. {43}
Footnote X:
_Skin_ signifies an eye; and _Skeeshāpha_, one-eyed; as if proceeding
from the divine anger. They often change _i_ into _ee_.
_Loak_ signifies fire, and _Loak Ishtohoollo_, “the holy or divine
fire,” or the anger of Ishtohoollo, “the great, holy One;” which nearly
agrees with the Hebrew להט, that which flames, or scorches with vehement
heat. And it is the scripture method of conveying to us a sensible idea
of the divine wrath, according to the cherubic name אש, which likewise
signifies fire. But the Persians worshipped the burning fire, by the
name of _Oromazes_; and darkness, or the spirit, by that of _Aramanius_;
quite contrary to the religious system of the Indian Americans: and the
aforesaid Indian method of expression, seems exactly to coincide with
the Hebrew idiom.
_Buk-she-ah-ma_ is the name of their Indian flap, or broad slip of cloth
with which the men cover their nakedness; but the word they use to
express our sort of breeches, is a compound, _Bala-phooka_, derived from
the Hebrew באל, which signifies, behind; and the Indian _Naphooka_, a
coat, any kind of clothes, or covering; _Baloka_ signifies, behind;
silently telling us, they formerly wore a different sort of breeches to
what they use at present. They likewise say, _Neeppe-Phú-ka_, “A
flesh-covering.”
The father of King Saul was called Kish, “podex;” which signifies also
the rear of an army, or the hindermost person, according to the Hebrew
idiom. Thus the Indians, by _Kish_, express the podex of any animal—the
hindermost person—the gavel-end of an house, and the like. _Kish Kish_,
is with them a superlative, and, as before hinted, used to convey the
contempt they have for that proper name. May not the contemptible idea
the West-Florida-Missisippi Indians affix to the name of Kish, be on
account of his son’s succession to the throne, at the end of the
theocracy of Israel, and beginning a despotic regal government?
The Indians, according to the usage of the Hebrews, always prefix the
substantive to the adjective; as _Netak Chookòma_, “A good day;”
_Nakkàne_ and _Eho Chookòma_, “A goodly man and woman.” The former of
which is termed, in Hebrew, _Yoma Tobe_, signifying, according to our
method of salutation, a good-day, a merry season, a festival day, &c.
And the Indian appellatives are similarly exprest in Hebrew, _Behtobe_
and _Ashe-Tobe_, “A good, goodly, discreet, or wise man and woman.”
_Chookoma_, with the Indians, is the proper name of a comely woman, when
_A_ is prefixed to it; as _A-chookòma_, “My goodly, or beautiful:” they
use it for a warrior, {44} when it is compounded without the _A_; as
_Chookòma hummáshtàbe_, “One who killed a beautiful, great, red, or
war-chieftain;” which is compounded of _Chookoma_, comely, _Humma_, red,
אש, _Ash_, fire, and _Abe_, a contraction of אבל, _Abele_, signifying
grief, or sorrow. Hence it appears, that because the Hebrews affixed a
virtuous idea to _Tobe_, goodly; the Indians call white by the same
name, and make it the constant emblem of every thing that is good,
according to a similar Hebrew custom. Of this the sacred oracles make
frequent mention.
The Jews called that, which was the most excellent of every thing, the
_fat_; and the Indians, in like manner, say, _Oosto Neehe_, “The fat of
the pompion,” _Tranche Neehe_, “The fat of the corn.” _Neeha_ is the
adjective, signifying _fat_, from which the word _Neeta_, “a bear,” is
derived. They apply the word _heart_, only to animate beings.
As the Deity is the soul of every system—and as every nation, from the
remotest ages of antiquity, believed that they could not live well,
without some god or other; when, therefore, we clearly understand the
name, or names, by which any society of people express their notions of
a deity, we can with more precision form ideas of the nature of their
religious worship, and of the object, or objects, of their adoration. I
shall therefore here give a plain description of the names by which the
Indian Americans speak of God.
_Ishtohoollo_ is an appellative for God. Ishtohoollo points at the
greatness, purity, and goodness, of the Creator in forming איש and אישא:
it is derived from _Ishto_, GREAT, which was the usual name of God
through all the prophetic writings; likewise, from the present tense of
the infinitive mood of the active verb, _Ahoollo_, “I love,” and from
the preter tense of the passive verb, _Hoollo_, which signifies
“sanctifying, sanctified, divine, or holy.” Women set apart, they term,
_Hoollo_, _i. e._ sanctifying themselves to Ishtohoollo: likewise,
_Netakhoollo_ signifies “a sanctified, divine, or holy day;” and, in
like manner, _Ookka Hoollo_, “water sanctified,” &c. So that,
_Ishtohoollo_, when applied to God, in its true radical meaning,
imports, “The great, beloved, holy Cause;” which is exceedingly
comprehensive, and more expressive of the true nature of God, than the
Hebrew name _Adonai_, which is applicable to a human being. Whenever the
{45} Indians apply the epithet, compounded, to any of their own
religious men, it signifies the great, holy, beloved, and sanctified men
of the Holy One.
They make this divine name point yet more strongly to the supreme author
of nature; for, as אב, signifies father; and as the omnipresent Spirit
of the universe, or the holy father of mankind, is said to dwell above,
they therefore call the immense space of the heavens, _Aba_, _Abáse_,
and _Abatàra_: and, to distinguish the King of kings, by his attributes,
from their own _Minggo Ishto_, or great chieftains, they frequently name
him _Minggo Ishto Aba_, &c.; _Ishto Aba_, &c.; _Minggo Aba_, &c.; and,
when they are striving to move the passions of the audience,
_Ishtohoollo Aba_. The Hebrew servants were not allowed to call their
master or mistress אב, _Abba_, till they were adopted: to which custom
St. Paul alludes, _Rom._ viii. 15.
They have another appellative, which with them is the mysterious,
essential name of God—the _tetragrammaton_, or great four-lettered
name—which they never mention in common speech,—of the time and place,
when, and where, they mention it, they are very particular, and always
with a solemn air.
There is a species of tea, that grows spontaneously, and in great
plenty, along the sea-coast of the two Carolinas, Georgia, and East and
West Florida, which we call _Yopon_, or _Cusseena_:[22] The Indians
transplant, and are extremely fond of it; they drink it on certain
stated occasions, and in their most religious solemnities, with awful
invocations: but the women, and children, and those who have not
successfully accompanied their holy ark, _pro Aris et Focis_, dare not
even enter the sacred square, when they are on this religious duty;
otherwise, they would be dry scratched with snakes teeth, fixed in the
middle of a split reed, or piece of wood, without the privilege of warm
water to supple the stiffened skin.
When this beloved liquid, or supposed holy drink-offering, is fully
prepared, and fit to be drank, one of their _Magi_ brings two old
consecrated, large conch-shells, out of a place appropriated for
containing the holy things, and delivers them into the hands of two
religious attendants, who, after a wild ceremony, fill them with the
supposed sanctifying, bitter liquid: then they approach near to the two
central red and white seats, (which the {46} traders call the war, and
beloved cabbins) stooping with their heads and bodies pretty low;
advancing a few steps in this posture, they carry their shells with both
hands, at an instant, to one of the most principal men on those red and
white seats, saying, on a bass key, Y’AH, quite short: then, in like
manner, they retreat backward, facing each other, with their heads
bowing forward, their arms across, rather below their breast, and their
eyes half shut; thus, in a very grave, solemn manner, they sing on a
strong bass key, the awful monosyllable, O, for the space of a minute:
then they strike up majestic HE, on the treble, with a very intent
voice, as long as their breath allows them; and on a bass key, with a
bold voice, and short accent, they at last utter the strong mysterious
sound, WAH, and thus finish the great song, or most solemn invocation of
the divine essence. The notes together compose their sacred, mysterious
name, Y-O-HE-WAH.[23]
That this seems to be the true Hebrew pronunciation of the divine
essential name, יהוה, JEHOVAH, will appear more obvious from the sound
they seem to have given their characters. The Greeks, who chiefly copied
their alphabet from the Hebrew, had not _jod_, but ιοτα, very nearly
resembling the sound of our _Y_. The ancient Teutonic and Sclavonian
dialects, have _Yah_ as an affirmative, and use the consonant _W_
instead of _V_. The high importance of the subject, necessarily would
lead these supposed red Hebrews, when separated from other people in
America, to continue to repeat the favourite name of God, YO HE WAH,
according to the ancient pronunciation.
Contrary to the usage of all the ancient heathen world, the American
Indians not only name God by several strong compounded appellatives,
expressive of many of his divine attributes, but likewise say YAH at the
beginning of their religious dances, with a bowing posture of body; then
they sing YO YO, HE HE, and repeat those sacred notes, on every
religious occasion: the religious attendants calling to YAH to enable
them humbly to supplicate, seems to point to the Hebrew custom of
pronouncing, יה, _Yah_, which likewise signifies the divine essence. It
is well known what sacred regard the Jews had to the four-lettered
divine name, so as scarcely ever to mention it, but once a year, when
the high-priest went into the holy sanctuary, at the expiation of sins.
Might not the Indians copy from them, this sacred invocation? Their
method of invoking God, in a {47} solemn hymn, with that reverential
deportment, and spending a full breath on each of the two first
syllables of the awful divine name, hath a surprizing analogy to the
Jewish custom, and such as no other nation or people, even with the
advantage of written records, have retained.
It may be worthy of notice, that they never prostrate themselves, nor
bow their bodies, to each other, by way of salute, or homage, though
usual with the eastern nations, except when they are making or renewing
peace with strangers, who come in the name of YAH; then they bow their
bodies in that religious solemnity—but they always bow in their
religious dances, because then they sing what they call divine hymns,
chiefly composed of the great, beloved, divine name, and addressed to YO
HE WAH. The favoured persons, whom the religious attendants are invoking
the divine essence to bless, hold up the shells with both hands, to
their mouths, during the awful sacred invocation, and retain a mouthful
of the drink, to spirt out on the ground, as a supposed drink-offering
to the great self-existent Giver; which they offer at the end of their
draught. If any of the traders, who at those times are invited to drink
with them, were to neglect this religious observance, they would reckon
us as godless and wild as the wolves of the desart[XI]. After the same
manner, the supposed holy waiters proceed, from the highest to the
lowest, in their synedrion: and, when they have ended that awful
solemnity, they go round the whole square, or quadrangular place, and
collect tobacco from the sanctified sinners, according to ancient
custom; “For they who serve at the altar, must live by the altar.”
Footnote XI:
The Mosaic law injoined the offering of libations; as _Exod._ xxix.
and _Numb._ xv. And the heathens, especially the ancient Greeks and
Romans, mimicked a great deal of the Mosaic institution. They observed
the like ceremonies in their idolatrous sacrifices. The priests only
tasted, and then spilt some wine, milk, or other liquor, in honour of
the Deity, to whom the sacrifice was offered. Alexander is said to
have sacrificed a bull to Neptune, and to have thrown a golden vessel
used for the libation, into the sea.
The Cheerake method of adjuring a witness to declare the truth, strongly
corroborates the former hints, and will serve as a key to open the
vowels of the great, mysterious, four-lettered name of God. On small
affairs, the judge, who is an elderly chieftain, asks the witness,
_Cheeakõhgà (sko?)_ “Do you lie?” To which he answers, _Ansa
Kai-e-koh-gà_, “I do not lie.” But {48} when the judge will search into
something of material consequence, and adjures the witness to speak the
naked truth, concerning the point in question, he says “O E A (_sko_?)”
“What you have now said, is it true, by this strong emblem of the
beloved name of the great self-existent God?” To which the witness
replies, O E A, “It is true, by this strong pointing symbol of YO HE
WAH.” When the true knowledge of the affair in dispute, seems to be of
very great importance, the judge swears the witness thus: O E A—YAH
(_sko_?) This most sacred adjuration imports, “Have you now told me the
real truth by the lively type of the great awful name of God, which
describes his necessary existence, without beginning or end; and by his
self-existent literal name, in which I adjure you.” The witness answers,
O E A—YAH, “I have told you the naked truth, which I most solemnly
swear, by this strong religious picture of the adorable, great, divine,
self-existent name, which we are not to prophane; and I likewise attest
it, by his other beloved, unspeakable, sacred, essential name.”