over them, either in war expeditions or the chase. A bad dream on the
part of the leader of a war party would be sufficient cause for their
return, even if they were within a short distance of their enemies. It
would also prevent an Indian from his customary hunting and have other
effects of the like nature for a short time. Good dreams are therefore
always desired and courted, particularly on the eve of war excursions.
Faith in amulets and charms is general among the whole of these tribes.
The material of these charms is of every possible variety, as also the
different degrees of influence they exercise over different minds. The
idea though thoroughly realized by ourselves is difficult to explain,
but may be thus stated: Although the Great Spirit is all powerful, yet
His will is uncertain; He is invisible and only manifests His power in
extraordinary circumstances. The want of a tangible medium is felt,
therefore, through which they can offer their prayers to all ghosts,
lesser influences of evil, which overrule their ordinary occupations.
Each Indian selects some object for this purpose and calls it his
medicine, which is invested with a sacred character by the care with
which it is guarded and the prayers, invocations, etc., made through it
as a medium.
This charm or fetish is chosen in consequence of some dream or incident
or idea presented on some important occasion, and consists of the skin
of a weasel, otter, or beaver; heads and bodies of different kinds of
birds, stuffed; images of wood, stone, and beads wrought upon skin;
drawings of bulls, bears, wolves, owls, serpents, monsters, who have
never existed; even a bullet worn round the neck; in fact anything
resembling animate, inanimate, or imaginative creation, is selected
according to the superstitious fancy of the individual. This charm,
whatever it is, is inclosed in several envelopes of skin, and placed
in a rawhide sack which is painted and fringed in various ways. This
sack is never opened in the presence of anyone unless the Indian falls
sick, when he has it taken out and placed at his head. Ordinarily this
object is taken out in secret, and prayers and invocations made through
it as a medium to the spirits he wishes to propitiate. They are aware
that the object has no intrinsic power, but its virtue lies in their
faith of their ceremonies, as exhibited through this charm as a visible
medium to the supernatural. It is in fact the same operation of mind
(though differently exhibited) as is displayed in the charms believed
in by most of the lower order of whites. Although many ignorant white
persons have faith in the charms, spells, etc., of quack doctors and
old women, yet this does not destroy their belief in the Supreme Being,
neither does it that of the Indian. As long as he has success in his
different ordinary undertakings and is not troubled with the evils he
fears, he will continue to say his medicine is good, but should he be
disappointed and the case reversed, he will throw the charm away and
substitute some other.
Thus the writing, paintings, and pictures done by whites are considered
great charms by some Indians, particularly the Crows, and are eagerly
sought after as such. In the same light is regarded the medal of the
crucifixion given them, by Catholic priests.
What is the actual character of their worship when closely analyzed?
It is hoped that the preceding remarks have rendered this character
plain. All their prayers, sacrifices, feasts and personal inflictions
tend only to advance their temporal welfare and interest.
Several tunes are sung on some of these occasions when presenting the
pipe to the Sun, etc., that are of a sacred character, partaking of the
nature of thanksgiving for any signal success in war or otherwise. A
few words are used, but the chant is solemnly performed without their
usual gesticulations or levity.
The custom of holding as sacred the cult of the tobacco plant is
general. No ceremony of importance takes place among them in which
the pipe is not used. There are, however, several solemn occasions
in which the manufactured tobacco will not answer, when they use
that grown by themselves. These customs occur among the Mandan, Gros
Ventres, Arikara, and Crows, the only nations who cultivate the tobacco
plant. Sacrifices of small quantities of tobacco are also made on many
occasions, and always a small piece is found wrapped with the medicine
pipe or inclosed in the medicine sack.
Why it is considered sacred they can not explain, and the idea appears
one of the most ancient and original among them.
These tribes do not worship fire in any form. The Sun is thought to
be a body of fire and is worshipped next to the Great Mystery by all
of them, not, however, because it is fire (though being luminous no
doubt originated the idea) but because it is believed by most of them
to be the residence, and by some the eye, of the Great Mystery. It
is worshipped as the greatest visible symbol of the Great Mystery.
No other ceremonies are in existence among them by which we would
judge that fire is regarded with more reverence than water. On some
occasions councils are opened with fire struck from flint, such as
peace-making between two nations, ceremonies in the medicine lodge, and
feasts to the dead, but in all ordinary councils among themselves this
distinction is not made. In the cases where it is obtained from the
flint it seems to be merely an adherence to ancient custom. No extra
benefits are expected on that account, neither when questioned do they
attach much importance to the fact. Fire would be nothing without the
tobacco. In all these ceremonies with which we are well acquainted, we
can safely say that the tobacco is the sacred material (not the fire).
The rest depends on their invocations, etc., to the Great Mystery or
his symbols to render the whole of an effective character in their
estimation. We can not by inquiry find that there has ever been among
them or their ancestors an idea of a holy or eternal fire.
Omens have great influence on them on all occasions and are of every
possible variety. Storms, severe thunder, croaking of ravens, and
unusual sounds in the night, or even the fall of their medicine sack
or medicine pipe, would be sufficient to turn back a war party if any
of these omens were considered by their leaders as unfortunate in
their predictions, which they generally do. Councils would not proceed
during severe thunder, an eclipse, or any unusual phenomena, though
smaller omens would not be regarded. The flight of birds is seldom if
ever considered ominous unless their passage be accompanied with some
unusual appearances. Howlings of wolves and foxes in a peculiar manner,
whistling and meanings of ghosts, and bad or bloody dreams would
prevent the individual from war or the chase for a short time.
From all that has been written concerning their religion we would
rather others would decide whether the Indians are in reality
idolaters. That they render a species of worship to idols of almost
every description is true, yet this worship only refers through these
toys or charms to the great source of all power, or to supernatural
interference. They do not believe in the virtue of the material
of which they are made, nor do they ascribe to them an immaterial
spirit, but the mind by viewing them has a resting point, a something
to address in form, not for great protection and aid, but for daily
favors, and averting of smaller evils.
Uneducated as they are, obliged mentally to grasp at protection from
supernatural evil, in every way, from the great luminary the sun, as
the most powerful, to the smallest atom that may possibly be of some
aid, they, through these images or objects, endeavor to excite the
interest of the Great Mystery, an Unknown Power, to whose approach no
one certain way presents itself. If this be idolatry, be it so.
What else could be expected? That the Indians should be in advance of
Christians, who have their charms, their chance, their fortune, and
other ideas fully as repugnant to the belief in an all-wise disposer
of events, as the customs of the Indians present? The very fact of
the general practice of this species of idolatry appears to us to be
the greatest evidence of their being true worshipers. It is in fact
acknowledging a supernatural agency in everything; a belief in a ruling
providence over this life in every situation. If their minds pursue
wrong directions, and their prayers are for temporal, not spiritual
welfare, it is not their fault. Why should they desire what they do
not want? If no moral sense of right and wrong is found among them, no
sins acknowledged, nor future punishments feared, it must follow that
temporal welfare and personal advantage are all that remains worth
praying or fasting for. If they pray and sacrifice to the sun and
thunder it is nothing more than acknowledging the existence and power
of God in these, His works.
If they depend on fetishes and amulets to aid them in ordinary life
it is what many Christians do in a different way, yet these are not
accused of idolatry. If the right ideas were instilled into the mind of
the Indian he would be no more the savage, but the Christian, and would
worship the same being in a different sense and form than he now does
in any way his distorted imagination thinks may prove effective. Great
evil or great good is evaded or invoked from the Great Spirit through
great apparent mediums, as the Sun and Thunder.
Smaller evils and smaller benefits are averted or sought through the
medium of charms which though not intrinsically of any virtue, yet
benefits are the consequences attending on their prayers through
them, their character being rendered sacred by constant care, and the
importance of their position as mediums of worship. The identity of
the Great Spirit as a being appears to be lost in their worship of the
portions of creation capable of inspiring them with fear. His existence
as a cause is admitted, but we do not observe He is often addressed
except through some visible medium, which is as it were a separation of
his power among these objects or animals.
The medicine sack contains the fetish or charm referred to, which with
a lock of some dead relative’s hair and a small piece of tobacco is
inclosed in several envelopes of skins of different kinds, on which
pictures of imaginary or real animals are rudely drawn.
This sack is made of raw buffalo hide (dried), the hair scraped off and
painted and fringed in various ways. It is well tied up, not pried into
by anyone, and mostly suspended to a pole outside the lodge in camp or
carried on the back of some woman when traveling. When the owner dies
it is buried with him. This is the arcanum of the medicine sack, and it
possesses none of the features of an ark, either inside or out.
IMMORTALITY
That the soul lives after death is the general assent, and that this
is a final state, but by pursuing the inquiry we do not arrive at any
certain idea of their occupation there, as they will always say they
do not know. This much, however, some acknowledged, that when they
die their soul is taken to the south to a warm country, though this
place does not appear to be either on the earth or in the heavens.
Here is a state of pleasure and happiness, free from all disease,
trouble, want, war, or accident. Some are more comfortably situated
than others, particularly those who have been great warriors and those
who have been attentive to their sacrifices and other ceremonies. No
punishment for offenses is apprehended, though rewards are granted. If
still questioned they will describe a counterpart or nearly so of the
Mohammedan paradise, or a shadowy image of this life, abstracting the
evil. There is no resurrection of the body, though they are presumed to
have other bodies furnished them in the future state, that present the
same features as in this life, yet are not subject to its vicissitudes.
Animals of all kinds are found there, though it does not appear that
they are the souls of those which lived in this world. Reasoning
powers and immortality are not ascribed to the brute creation.
Everything referring to a future state is not made the subject of their
conversations, and each man’s opinions differ. Some deny any such a
state and think death final to soul and body. Others that the soul
never leaves the neighborhood of its burial place. All information
regarding their belief in futurity is with difficulty extracted, and
not much importance is placed on the fact of their being immortal
beings; at their death also the greatest anxiety appears to be about
their family and relations left behind. They admit its uncertainty, and
fear nothing on the score of future punishment. Upon the whole there
is nothing in their belief of a future state which affects much their
general conduct through life and as little on the approach of death.
From this fact we may conclude very reasonably that the foregoing
system of their religion is the correct one, as they do not feel guilty
of moral offenses toward the Great Spirit entailing future punishment,
but expect to be rewarded for their devotedness in their manner of
worship. These Indians will also smoke, invoke, and give small pieces
of tobacco to the head of a bear after they have killed it. But this
does not imply they are to meet the animal in a future state. It is a
kind of thanksgiving, through the bear’s head, to the powers that have
enabled them to accomplish the feat of killing it without accident.
The killing of a grizzly bear by a single man is no trifling matter
and deservedly ranks next to killing an enemy. A coup is counted for
that action in their ceremonies where they publicly recount their brave
exploits. Moreover, every year persons are torn to pieces by these
animals when wounded or surprised in thickets where the person can not
escape. Therefore all ceremonies to the dead animal would have the
nature of invocations for aid and protection from the supernatural
powers whose business it is to interfere, and indeed such their words
imply on these occasions. It may have been some such ceremony the
Indian on the shores of Lake Superior made which was mistaken for
begging the animal’s pardon.
MYTHOLOGY
This subject would not present any useful information and only tire
the reader with endless fable without arriving at any important
conclusions. We could fill volumes with their stories of giants,
demons, transformations of men into animals and other shapes, but do
not think any fact thus elicited would avail any useful purpose. There
are a great many traditions that would seem to prove that the doctrine
of metempsychosis has formerly been the general belief, but they do not
appear to put much confidence in their reality at the present day, and
these stories are told more for amusement every evening than anything
else. Neither does it please absolutely to contradict or deny that
such things have been. In this way beaver are said to have been once
white men from the sagacity they show in building their lodges, evading
traps, etc. Thunder is said to be the flapping of the wings of the
large medicine bird. Piles of rocks are supposed to have been heaped up
by large white giants. The rainbow is called the sun’s wheel; though
they are aware that the colors are formed by the sun shining through
rain. All these and hundreds of others have legends of their formation
which are very long and one or two generally occupy an evening to
relate. Most of them, however, contain a kind of moral or double
meaning and are occasionally interesting and imaginative, sometimes
obscure.
To present an example we will record one recited by the “Thunder
Stomach,” an Assiniboin warrior at the time we write and interpreted by
myself, preserving as nearly as possible all the words and actually all
the ideas of the Indian.
LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF THE URSA MAJOR AND POLAR STAR, BY THE THUNDER
STOMACH, AN ASSINIBOIN WARRIOR
In the beginning a few Indians were made far in the northern regions.
No sun nor moon had yet been formed, and all was utter darkness except
the light of the snow. A lodge of Indians was situated on the bleak
plains inhabited by eight persons who were seven brothers and one
sister. The brothers all went out hunting and left the woman at home
working at raiment. In their absence a stranger came outside the lodge
and called to the woman to come out, using flattering words with a
sweet mouth, but she moved not, nor looked upon his face. When her
brothers returned she related the circumstance, and the eldest said,
“You did right, my sister—had you listened to this man’s sweet words
and looked upon his face, you would have been obliged to follow him
wherever he went, without the power to stop or turn back.” She said
nothing but continued her labors and they again left to hunt.
Being anxious to ascertain the truth concerning the stranger and
expecting his visit, she put on four complete suits of raiment and four
pairs of moccasins, one on top of the other; also tied on a pair of
snowshoes. He came and used the same flattering words, when she stepped
outside and looked upon his face. He immediately departed at a swift
pace and she was obliged to follow in his tracks. Onward they traveled
far over the plains in a northerly direction and over immense piles
of snow. A long time passed without diminishing their speed, until at
length they came to a lodge full of men (beings). Her conductor entered
and disappeared, she followed and not seeing him took her seat near
the door. “Move to the next,” said the man at her side, “I am not he
whom you seek,” and she moved where he directed. “Farther on,” said
her neighbor, and she again changed her place. “Next,” said the other,
and she moved in this way from one to the other, until by making the
circuit of the lodge she at last found herself at the entrance without
seeing the one whom she had followed hither. She was about to leave the
lodge when the eldest Indian, apparently the master, said, “Remain,
I will tell you a story.” She stopped. “There was once a woman,” he
continued, “who ran off with a young man, and came to a lodge full of
strangers to seek her lover. She had on four entire dresses, and not
finding the man, would have left, but one of her dresses fell off.”[24]
[24] This remark recalls the story of the Babylonian Ishtar, who
was represented as losing one by one her seven garments and then as
receiving them back again one by one.
On saying this, an entire dress and pair of moccasins disappeared. He
repeated the words four times and at the end of each repetition a dress
was missing, which left her naked. They then took her up and cast her
out into the cold snow to freeze to death.
The brothers on their return from hunting missed their sister and
suspecting the cause of her departure followed the tracks and arrived
outside the lodge where they found their sister nearly frozen to death.
After wrapping her in a robe, and she had somewhat recovered, the
eldest brother said, “Go back into the lodge and tell them a story in
return.” She entered and said, “I come to tell a tale. There was once
a woman coaxed off and forced to follow a strange man. She came to a
lodge of strangers, who instead of protecting her, robbed her of all
her clothing and threw her out in the snow to die. Such men have no
hearts.” On concluding, the hearts of all the Indians inside flew out
of their mouths and stuck to the lodge poles outside, where they were
cut to pieces by the brothers. She left with her brothers for their
home, but got separated from them in a snow storm and wandered every
way, she know not whither. In the end, after a long time she came to a
large house of iron with flames of fire coming out of the chimney. She
feared to enter. “Come in,” said the master of the house. “If I enter,
how shall I be treated? What relation shall I bear to you?” “I will be
your brother,” he said. “No,” was the answer. “I will be your father.”
“No,” was again the answer. “Your uncle,” “your friend,” still “no”
was her answer. “I will be your husband.” This time she replied “Yes,”
the large iron doors flew open and she entered, they closing violently
behind her.
The inhabitant was a large, ugly man, and the interior of the building
was strewn with human carcasses half devoured in their raw state.
He was the first cannibal! The woman would have fled but could not,
and was compelled to become his wife according to her promise. He
treated her badly and although not forcing her to eat human flesh
was continually devouring it himself. They lived as man and wife
for a length of time, during which she had a male child by him. The
brothers had never given up the search for their lost sister, and in
the course of their travels for that purpose came to the house of the
cannibal during his absence. The woman let them in and recognized them.
The child was beginning to speak a few words, and among the first
he pronounced were: “Mother, what fine, fat men; kill one of them
that I may eat some good meat.” The brothers stared—the child was a
cannibal! “You little fool,” said the mother, “would you eat your own
uncle?” The brothers held a council with their sister as to the way the
cannibal being could be killed and she undertook his destruction. It
appears this being had the power of coming into his house any way he
chose, through the floor, through the walls, or any other manner, and
the only vulnerable part of him was a cavity in the top of his head,
not protected by the bone of the skull. She heated a stone red hot,
and when the cannibal as usual was coming up through the floor, head
foremost, she threw the stone into the hole in his head and burned up
his brains, causing instant death.
She then fled to a place of rendezvous appointed by her brothers,
taking her child along. They returned to their home with their sister,
and when they arrived held a council and condemned the child to death,
to prevent the propagation of the race of cannibals. It was killed by
the mother, and on killing it she was changed into a body of fire,
caught up into the heavens and placed as the first star in the north,
which was the polar star. The seven brothers were also changed into
stars and form the constellation known as the Great Bear and are
appointed to walk around and keep guard over their sister forever.
After the narrator had concluded I inquired if it had any other meaning
than a story told to excite interest. He said it had, and that it
showed the woman was revenged on all her persecutors, and for her
resolution and good in cutting off the first cannibal and her own
son, thereby destroying the species, was rewarded by being placed as
a star; likewise her brothers who had protected her through life were
stars also and guard her from harm. That if she had not acted thus a
great part of the Indians would be cannibals. This he said was the
commencement of stars, and their traditions named many other instances
of like manner in which stars were created.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS