idiom, only asks a question; and that the religious waiters say YAH,
with a profound reverence, in a bowing posture of body, immediately
before they invoke YO HE WAH,—the one reflects so much light upon the
other, as to convince me, that the Hebrews, both invoked and pronounced
the divine tetragrammaton, YO HE WAH, and adjured their witnesses to
give true evidence, on certain occasions, according to the Indian usage;
otherwise, how could they possibly, in a savage state, have a custom of
so nice and strong-pointing a standard of religious caution? It seems
exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on
the like religious occasions—who being sworn, by the name of the great
living God, openly to declare the naked truth, hold up their right hand,
and answer, אמנ אמנ _Amen Amen_, or “very true;” “I am a most faithful
witness.” The Hebrew word signifies faithful, and by being repeated
twice, becomes a superlative, and O E A—YAH is one of the highest
degree.
St. John, in his gospel, according to the Hebrew method of adjuration,
often doubles the _Amen_. And the same divine writer, at the beginning
of each of his seven epistles, in describing the glorious and
transcendant qualities of Jesus Christ, and particularly in the epistle
to the church of Laodicea, points at the same custom, “These things
saith the _Amen_, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the
creation of God.” {49}
The Cheerake use another expression, which bears a strong analogy to the
former method of adjuration; though it is not so sacred in their
opinion, because of one letter prefixed, and another subjoined. The
judge, in small controversies, asks the witness, _To e u (sko?)_ To
which he answers, _To e u_, or _To e u hah_, “It is very true,” or “a
most certain truth.” Such an addition of any letter, or letters, to the
vowels of the supposed divine, four-lettered name, seems to proceed from
a strict religious custom of proportioning them to the circumstances of
persons and things, lest, otherwise, they should blaspheme, or prophane
the emblems of the great divine name. And the vowel _U_ seems to allude
to אחד, _i. e._ ONE—a name of God, figuratively—for, in their dialect,
when it is a period, it makes a superlative, according to their usage in
applying the rest of the divine appellatives, symbols, or names.
They esteem _To e u hah_ so strong an assent to any thing spoken, that
_Cheesto Kaiēhre_, “the old rabbet,” (the name of the interpreter) who
formerly accompanied seven of their head warriors to London,[24] assured
me, they held there a very hot debate, in their subterranean lodgings,
in the dead hours of the night of September the 7th, 1730, whether they
should not kill him, and one of the war-chieftains, because, by his
mouth, the other answered _To e u hah_ to his Majesty’s speech, wherein
he claimed, not only their land, but all the other unconquered countries
of the neighbouring nations, as his right and property. When they
returned home, they were tried again, by the national sanhedrim, for
having betrayed the public faith, and sold their country, for
acknowledged value, by firm compact, as representatives of their
country; they having received a certain quantity of goods, and a
decoying belt of white wampum: but, upon serious deliberation, they were
honourably acquitted, because it was judged, the interpreter was bound,
by the like oath, to explain their speeches; and that surprise,
inadvertence, self-love, and the unusual glittering show of the
courtiers, extorted the sacred assent, _To e u hah_, out of the other’s
mouth, which spoiled the force of it; being much afraid, lest they
should say something amiss, on account of the different idiom of the
English, and Indian American dialects[XII]. As there is no alternative
between a falsehood, and a lie, they {50} usually tell any person, in
plain language, “You lie,” as a friendly negative to his reputed
untruth. The cheerful, inoffensive _old rabbet_ told me, he had urged to
them, with a great deal of earnestness, that it was certain death by our
laws, to give his Majesty the lie to his face; and cautioned them to
guard their mouths very strongly from uttering such dangerous language:
otherwise, their hearts would become very heavy, and even sorrowful to
death; as he would be bound as firmly by our holy books, to relate the
bare naked truth, as they were by repeating _To e u ah_, or even
O-E-A—YAH.
Footnote XII:
The strong sentiments, natural wit, and intense love of liberty, which
the Indians shew themselves possessed of, in a high degree, should
direct our colonists to pursue a different method of contracting
Indian covenants than they have commonly used. First, let them
consider the general good of the community, who chose them for that
end; and then make a plain agreement with the Indians, adapted to
their fixed notion of liberty, and the good of their country, without
any deluding sophisms. If they do not keep these essential points of
amity in view, we shall fare again, as hath Georgia; for, by a
childish treaty with the Muskohge Indians, when defeated An. 1715, its
most northern boundaries are confined to the head of the ebbing and
flowing of Savannah river. We are said to have flourished off very
commodious Indian treaties in the _council-books_, with the Muskohge,
which the community know nothing of, except a few plain common
particulars, as they some years since declared.
The Chikkasah and Choktah method of adjuring a witness to give true
evidence, is something similar to the former attestation, by _To e u
hah_: when they ask them, whether they do not lie, they adjure them
thus, _Chiklooska ke-e-u Chua?_ The termination implies a question of
the second person, singular number, and the whole oath signifies
literally, “Do not you lie? Do you not, of a certain truth?” To which he
answers by two strong negative asseverations, _Aklooska Ke-e-u-que-Ho_,
“I do not lie; I do not, of a certain truth.” When the Choktah are
averring any thing asked of them, they assert it, by saying YAH. This
shews their ignorance of the vowels of the supposed divine four-lettered
name, in comparison of the Cheerake; and that they are become less
religious, by prophaning the divine name, YAH; which confirms me in the
opinion, that the Cheerake Indians were a more civilized people than any
of the other neighbouring Indians.
We are told that the northern Indians, in the time of their rejoicings,
repeat YO HA HAN; which, if true, evinces that their corruption
advances, in proportion as they are distant from South-America, and
wanted a {51} friendly intercourse with those who had an open
communication with those southern regions[XIII]. Living in moderate high
latitudes, would naturally prevent them from sinking into effeminacy,
and inspire them with martial tempers, (as we are told of the Chili
Indians) without being originally a bloodier people than any of the
southern nations. However, we should be sparing of credit to what
unskilful writers have carefully copied from each other, and transmitted
to the learned world.
Footnote XIII:
They who have a desire to see the genuine oratory of the Indians, may
find it partly exhibited to the public, by the laborious Mr. Colden,
mostly in the manner, as I am told, he found it in the
_council-books_. As that gentleman is an utter stranger to the
language and customs of the Indians, it was out of his power to do
justice to the original. Their speech, in general, abounds with bolder
tropes and figures than illiterate interpreters can well comprehend,
or explain. In the most essential part of his copied work, he
committed a very material blunder, by writing in the first edition,
the Indian solemn invocation, YO HA HAN. I was well assured by the
intelligent Sir William Johnson, and the skilful, benevolent, pious,
and reverend Mr. John Ogilvie, that the northern Indians always
pronounce it YO HE A `AH; and so it is inserted in the second edition.
In justice to this valuable luminary of the church, and the worthy
laity of the city of New-York, I must observe, that, while the rest of
his sacerdotal brethren were much blamed for neglecting their office
of teaching, and instead thereof, were militating for an _episcopate_,
that gentleman was universally beloved by all ranks of people. He
spent his time, like a true servant of God, in performing the various
duties of his sacred office; and had the utmost pleasure in healing
breaches, both in public society, and in private families. Great
numbers of the poor negroe slaves, were instructed by him in the
principles of Christianity, while the other clergymen were earnestly
employed in disturbing the quiet of the public, for the sake of their
favourite Peter’s pence.
I shall hereafter, under another argument, shew, that the Indians
variously transpose, shorten, and lengthen, each syllable of the great
divine name, YO HE WAH, in a very extraordinary manner, when they are
singing and dancing to, and before, the divine essence: and that they
commonly derive such words as convey a virtuous idea, from, or compound
them with that divine, essential name.
I shall now shew a farther parity, between the Hebrew language, and the
Aboriginal American dialects.
_Pushkoosh_ signifies an infant, _Neetta_ a bear, _Nassooba_ a wolf,
&c.——By joining the word _Ooshe_, to the end of the names of animals, it
makes a {52} distinction; as _Nassoob-ooshe_, a wolf-cub, _Neett’-ooshe_
a bear-cub: but though the word _Oophe_ signifies a dog, as an exception
to their general method of speech, they call a puppy _Ooph-ishik_,
because he is so domestic, or sociable, as ישק, to kiss, or fondle. In
like manner, _Pishi_ signifies milk; and _Pishik_ a woman’s breast, or
the udder of any animal; as the young ones, by kissing, or sucking,
shade the breast, פי, with their mouth, and thereby receive their
nourishment. With the Hebrews,עפך (_Oophecha_) signifies active, or
restless: which, according to the Indian idiom, expresses the quality of
a dog; _Oophe_ is therefore the name of this animal, and their period
denotes a similarity, according to the usage of the Hebrews.
_Shale_ and _Shatèra_, signify to carry, _Shapore_, a load. The former
word consists of _Sheth_ and _Ale_. _Illeh_ imports dead, and _Kaneha_
lost. They say _Shat Kaneha_, to carry a thing quite away, or to
Canaan.—Likewise, _Illeht Kaneha_, literally, dead, and lost, or
probably, gone to Canaan. Several old Indian American towns are called
_Kanāai_; and it hath been a prevailing notion with many Jews, that when
any of their people died in a strange land, they passed through the
caverns of the earth, till they arrived at Canaan, their attractive
centre. And the word _Oobèa_, likewise imports dead, or cut off by O E
A, or _Yohewah_; for they firmly believe, as before hinted, they cannot
outlive the time the Deity has prescribed them. They likewise say,
_Hasse Ookklīlle Cheele_, “the sun is, or has been, caused to die in the
water,” _i. e._ sun-set. When they would say, “Do not obscure, or darken
me,” they cry _Ish-ookkīlle Chīnna_, verbatim, “Do not occasion _Ish_,
me, to become like the sun, dead in the water.” They call the new moon,
_Hasse Awáhta_, “the moon is called upon to appear by Yohewah:” which
plainly shews, that they believe the periodical revolutions of the moon
to be caused, and the sun every day to die, or be extinguished in the
ocean, by the constant laws of God. When we ask them, if to-day’s sun is
drowned in the western ocean, how another can rise out of the eastern
ocean to-morrow? they only reply, _Pilla Yammi_, or _Yammi mung_; or
such is the way of God with his people. It seems to be a plain
contraction of יה and אממי _Ammi_; which was the name of Israel during
the theocracy. Besides, _Aeemmi_ signifies, “I believe;” as the peculiar
people believed in Yohewah. And it likewise imports, “I am the owner of,
&c.”——according to the Hebrew idiom, the words and meaning nearly agree.
{53}
_Ette_ signifies wood; and they term any kind of chest, box, or trunk,
_Eette Oobe_; and frequently, _Oobe_; which seems to point to the “ark
of the purifier,” that was so fatal to the laity even to touch; a strong
emanation of the holy fire, light, and spirit, residing in it, as well
as in that which the priests carried to war, against the devoted enemy.
The Chikkasah settled a town, in the upper, or most western part of the
Muskohge country, about 300 miles eastward of their own nation, and
called it _Ooe-ása_;[25] which is derived from O E A, and _Asa_,
“there,” or “here, is;” _i. e._ “YO HE WAH presides in this place.” And,
when a person is removing from his former dwelling, they ask him,
_Ish-ooè-à (tūm?)_ “are you removing hence, in the name, or under the
patronage, of YO HE WAH?” And it both signifies to ascend, and remove to
another place. As, O E A, ABA, the omnipresent father of mankind, is
said to dwell above, so the Indian hopes to remove there from hence, by
the bounty of Ishtohoollo, the great holy One: according to their fixed
standard of speech, had they made any nearer approach to O E A, the
strong religious emblem of the beloved four-lettered name, it would have
been reckoned a prophanation.
_Phutchik_ signifies a star, and _Oonna_ “he is arrived:” but _Phutchik
Oonnache_, “the morning-star;” because he is the forerunner of light,
and resembles the sun that reflects it. And _Oonna-hah_ signifies
to-morrow, or it is day. The termination denotes their gladness, that
the divine light had visited them again: and, when they are asking if it
is day, they say _Onna He (tak?)_. The last monosyllable only asks a
question; and the fæminine gender treble note is the mid syllable of the
great divine name—which may reflect some light upon the former
observations.
Although the Hebrews had a proper name for the human soul, calling it
נפש; yet in _Prov._ xx. 27, it is called נר יהוה, “The candle, or lamp
of God;” and figuratively applied, it conveys a strong idea of the human
soul: Thus the Indians term it, _Nāna Ishtohoollo_, “something of, or a
relation to, the great holy One;” very analogous to the former method of
expressing the rational Fire, as they believe the Deity resides in the
new year’s, supposed principle, in allusion to the celestial cherubic
name אש, _Ashe_, holy fire. Because _Ish_, Man, received his breath from
the divine inspiration of the beneficent creator YAH, they term the
human {54} species, in their strong-pointing language, _Yāhwè_; which,
though different from the divine, essential, four-lettered name, in
sound has יה, YAH, for its radix. But, because the monkey mimics
_Yahweh_, or the rational creation, more than any other brute, in
features, shape, gesture, and actions; in proportion to the similitude,
they give him a similar name, _Shaw-we_. This indeed makes a near
approach to _Ish_ and _Yah_, and to _Yahwe_; but it wants the radix of
both, and consequently bears no signification of relation to either.
While they urge, that the regularity of the actions of the brute
creatures around them, expresses a nice understanding or instinct; they
deny their being endued with any portion of the reasoning, and living
principle, but bear only a faint allusion to _Nana Ishtohoollo_, the
rational soul. The most intelligent among them, say the human soul was
not made of clay, like the brute creation, whose soul is only a
corporeal substance, attenuated by heat, and thus rendered invisible.
Through a seeming war-contempt of each other, they all use a favourite
termination to their adjectives, (very rarely to their substantives) and
sometimes to their verbs; especially when they are flourishing away, in
their rapid war-speeches, which on such occasions they always repeat
with great vehemence. I shall give a specimen of two words, in the
dialects of our southern Indians. _RI_ is the favourite period of the
Katāhba Indians; as _Mare-ŕi_, or _Wahre-ŕi_, “Good,” and
_Maretawah-ŕi_, or _Wah-rètawàh-ŕi_, “best,” or very good; _Wah_, the
last syllable of the great divine name, is evidently the radix, and
magnifies the virtuous idea to a superlative. In like manner,
_Shegàre-Wahŕi_, “not bad,” but _Sheekàre-ŕi_, signifies “bad.” With
these Indians, _Sheeke_ is the name of a buzzard, which they reckon to
be a most impure fowl, as it lives on putrid carcasses; upon which
account, they choose that word to convey a vicious idea.
_Quo_ is the sounding termination of the Cheerake; as _Seohsta-quo_,
“good,”—and _O-se-u_, “best,” or very good. Here they seem to have
studiously chosen the vowels:—As the following words will illustrate,
_Tonnàte-ū_, “very honest,” or virtuous, and _Y-O-U_, “Evil,” or very
bad. To corroborate the hints I gave, concerning the Indian names of
monkey, and the human species, let it be observed, that though their
words convey a virtuous or vicious idea, in proportion as they are
constituted out of {55} any of their three divine names, YOHEWAH, YAH,
and ISHTOHOOLLO; or contain the vowels of the great sacred name, yet the
aforesaid word Y-O-U, is so far from being a deviation from that general
custom, it is an emphatical, and emblematical term to express evil, by
the negative of good; for, as it is the only substantive or adjective of
that word, it is a strong expressive symbol of the nature, and physical
cause of moral evil, by separating _YO_, the first syllable of the
divine four-lettered name into two syllables; and adding _U_, as a
superlative period, to make it _malum malorum_.
_Shèh_ is the sounding criterion of the Muskohge, or Creek Indians,—a
kind of cant jargon, for example; _Heettla-sheh_, signifies “good,” and
_Heettla-wah-E-sheh_, “very good;” according to their universal standard
of speech, it becomes a superlative, by subjoining that part of the
divine name to it. With the Chikkasah and Choktah, _Heettla_ signifies
dancing; probably because that religious exercise was good and highly
pleasing to them, when, according to ancient custom, they danced in
their symbolical circles, to, and before, YO HE WAH. With the former,
_Apullowhage sheh_, expresses “bad,” or evil, thereby inverting the
divine letters.
_Skeh_ is the favourite termination of the Chikkasah and Choktah—as
_Chookòma-skeh_, “good,” _Chookòmasto-skeh_ (alluding to _Ishto_) “very
good;” and _Ookproo-skeh_, “bad.” Likewise, _Ookproosto_, “worst,” or
very bad; for, by annexing the contracted initial part of the divine
name, _Ishtohoollo_, to the end of it, it is a superlative. These
remarks may be of service to the inhabitants of our valuable and
extensive barriers, in order to discover the national name of those
savages, who now and then cut them off.
_Ookproo-see_, with those Indians, signifies “accursed;” the two last
letters make only a _samech_, which implies a neuter passive: and, as
_Ookproo_ is the only substantive or adjective they use to express
“evil,” by doubling the leading vowel of the four-lettered divine name,
both at the beginning and end of the word; may we not conjecture at its
origin, as glancing at the introduction of sin or evil by man’s
overacting, or innovating, through a too curious knowledge, or choice?
“Ye shall be as gods,” and, in order to gain the resemblance, they ate
what was forbidden. {56}
The greater number of their compounded words, (and, I believe, every one
of them) which convey a virtuous or pure idea, either have some
syllables of the three divine names, or visibly glance at them; or have
one or two vowels of the sacred name, YO HE WAH, and generally begin
with one of them; which I shall exemplify, with a few Chikkasah and
Cheerake words. _Isse-Ahowwè_, “Deer;” _Yanàsa_, Buffalo, which as it
begins with the divine name, YAH, contains no more of their beloved
vowels: in like manner, _Wahka_, “cattle;” _Ishke-Oochēa_, “a mother.”
This last seems to be drawn from _Isha_, the mother of all mankind.
_Ehó_ and _Enekia_ signify “a woman.” The latter is derived from the
active verb, _Akekiuhah_, signifying “to love ardently,” or like a
woman; _Nakkàne Askai_, “a man.” From this word, the Chikkasah derive
_Nakke_, the name of an arrow or bullet: and with the Cheerake _Askai_
signifies “to fear;” as all the American brute animals were afraid of
man, &c.
Words, which imply either a vicious or impure idea, generally begin with
a consonant, and double those favourite vowels, either at the beginning
and end, or in the middle, of such words; as _Nassooba Woheea_, “a
wolf.” With the Chikkasah, _Eassooba_ signifies “bewildered;” _Patche_,
“a pigeon,” and _Patche Eassooba_, “a turtle-dove.” _Soore_ and _Sheeke_
are the Chikkasah and Cheerake names of a “Turkey-buzzard;” _Choola_ and
_Choochòla_, “a fox;” _Shookqua_ and _Seequa_, an “opossum,” or hog;
_Ookoonne_, “a polecat;” _Ookoonna_, “a badger;” _Chookphe_ and
_Cheesto_, “a rabbet.” The last word is derived from the defective verb
_Chesti_, “forbear,” or do not meddle with; and rabbets were prohibited
to the Israelites. In like manner, _Ooppa_ and _Ookookoo_, “a
night-owl;” _Oophe_ and _Keera_, “a dog;” _Nahoolla_ and _U-nēhka_,
“white people,” or “impure animals.” The Chikkasah both corrupt and
transpose the last part of the divine name, Ishtohoollo; and the
Cheerake invert their magnifying termination _U_, to convey an impure
idea. And through the like faint allusion to this divine name, _Hoollo_
signifies “idols, pictures, or images;” a sharp-pointed sarcasm! for the
word, _Hoollo_, signifies also “menstruous women,” who were for the time
an equal abomination to the Israelites, and with whom they were to have
no communion. These two words seem to bear the same analogy to each
other, as אל, _Al_, a name of God, and אלה, _Aleh_, signifying the
covenant of the holy One to redeem man, and אלוה, _Aloah_, execrated, or
accursed of God, as idols were. {57}
With the Cheerake, _Awwa_, or _Amma_, signifies “water,” and _Ammoi_, “a
river;” not much unlike the Hebrew. They likewise term salt, _Hawa_; and
both the conjunction copulative, and “to marry,” is _Tawa_. The name of
a wife is _Awah_; which written in Hebrew, makes הוה, _Eve_, or _Eweh_,
the name of our general mother. So that the Indian name of a wife, is
literally and emphatically, HIS AND, “One absolutely needful for the
well-being of _Ish_, or man;” _Ishtawa (tim?)_ signifies “have you
married?” We gain additional light from the strong significant
appellative, _Ish-ke_, “a mother;” which is an evident contraction of
_Isha_, the mother of _Yawe_, or mankind, with their favourite
termination, _ske_, subjoined; the word becomes thus smoother than to
pronounce it at its full length, _Isha-ske_. If we consider that the
Hebrews pronounced ו, _Vau_, when a consonant, as _W_, here is a very
strong, expressive gradation, through those various words, up to the
divine, necessary, AND, who formed and connected every system of beings;
or to the Hebrew divine original YO HE WAH: at the same time, we gain a
probable reason why so many proper names of old Indian places, in
South-Carolina, and elsewhere, along the great continent, begin with our
Anglo-Saxon borrowed character, _W_; as _Wampee_, _Watboo_, _Wappoo_,
_Wadmolā_, _Wassamèsāh_, &c. Chance is fluctuating, and can never act
uniformly.