Of the religion of the Indians we have no full and clear account.
Indeed, of the opinions of a people who have nothing more than a
few vague and indefinite notions, no distinct explanation can be
given. On this subject the Indians are not communicative; and to
obtain a thorough knowledge of it would require familiar, attentive,
unsuspected, and unprejudiced observation. But such observation is not
easily made; and a few general, and on some points uncertain, notices
only can be given.
On looking at the most renowned nations of the ancient heathen world,
we see the people prostrating themselves before innumerable divinities;
and we are ready to conclude that polytheism is the natural belief
of man, unenlightened by revelation. But a survey of the vast wilds
of America will correct this opinion. For there we find a multitude
of nations, widely separated from each other, all believing in One
Supreme God, a great and good spirit, the father and master of life,
the maker of heaven and earth, and of all other creatures. They believe
themselves entirely dependent on him, thank him for present enjoyments,
and pray to him for the good things they desire to obtain. They
consider him the author of all good; and believe he will reward or
punish them according to their deeds.
They believe in inferior spirits also, both good and bad; to whom,
particularly to the good, they give the name of _Manitou_, and
consider them tutelary spirits. The Indians are careful observers of
dreams, and think themselves deserted by the Master of life, till
they receive a manitou in a dream; that is, till they dream of some
object, as a buffalo or beaver, or something else, which they think
is an intimation that the Great Spirit had given them that object as
a manitou, or medicine. Then they are full of courage, and proud of
their powerful ally. To propitiate the manitou, or medicine, every
exertion is made, and every personal consideration sacrificed. “I was
lately the proprietor of seventeen horses,” said a Mandan; “but I have
offered them all to my medicine, and am now poor.” He had turned all
these horses, which constituted the whole of his wealth, loose into the
plain, committed them to his medicine, and abandoned them for ever.
But, although they offer oblations to the manitous, they positively
deny that they pay them any adoration, and affirm that they only
worship the Great Spirit through them.
They have no regular periodical time either of private or public
religious worship. They have neither temples, altars, stated ministers
of religion, nor regular sacrifices; for the jugglers are connected
rather with the medical art than with religious services. The Indians
in general, like other ignorant people, are believers in witchcraft,
and think many of their diseases proceed from the arts of sorcerers.
These arts the jugglers pretend to counteract, as well as to cure
natural diseases. They also pretend to predict the weather and to make
rain; and much confidence is placed in their prognostications and their
power.
The devotional exercises of the Indians consist in singing, dancing,
and performing various mystical ceremonies, which they believe
efficacious in healing the sick, frustrating the designs of their
enemies, and securing their own success. They often offer up to the
Great Spirit a part of the game first taken in a hunting expedition, a
part of the first produce of their fields, and a part of their food.
At a feast, they first throw some of the broth, and then of the meat,
into the fire. In smoking, they generally testify their reverence for
the Master of life, by directing the first puff upwards, and the second
downwards, or the first to the rising, and the second to the setting
sun: at other times they turn the pipe to every point of the compass.
They firmly believe in the immortality of the soul, and in a state
of future retribution: but their conceptions on these subjects are
modified and tinged by their occupations in life, and by their notions
of good and evil. They suppose the spirit retains the same inclinations
as when in the body, and rejoices in its old pursuits. At times, an
Indian warrior, when about to kill and scalp a prostrate enemy,
addresses him in such terms as the following:—
“My name is Cashegra: I am a famous warrior, and am going to kill
you. When you reach the land of spirits, you will see the ghost of my
father: tell him it was Cashegra sent you there.” The uplifted tomahawk
then descends upon his victim.
The Mandans[7] expected, when they died, to return to the original
subterraneous abode of their fathers: the good reaching the ancient
village by means of the lake, which the weight of the sins of the bad
will render them unable to pass. They who have behaved themselves
well in this life, and been brave warriors and good hunters, will be
received into the town of brave and generous spirits; but the useless
and selfish will be doomed to reside in the town of poor and useless
spirits.
The belief of those untutored children of nature has an influence on
their conduct. Among them the grand defect is, an erroneous estimate of
good and evil, right and wrong.