



Produced by Judith Boss





THE SOUL OF THE INDIAN

An Interpretation

By Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)



     TO MY WIFE
     ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN
     IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HER
     EVER-INSPIRING COMPANIONSHIP
     IN THOUGHT AND WORK
     AND IN LOVE OF HER MOST
     INDIAN-LIKE VIRTUES
     I DEDICATE THIS BOOK



     I speak for each no-tongued tree
     That, spring by spring, doth nobler be,
     And dumbly and most wistfully
     His mighty prayerful arms outspreads,
     And his big blessing downward sheds.
     --SIDNEY LANIER.


     But there's a dome of nobler span,
         A temple given
     Thy faith, that bigots dare not ban--
         Its space is heaven!
     It's roof star-pictured Nature's ceiling,
     Where, trancing the rapt spirit's feeling,
     And God Himself to man revealing,
         Th' harmonious spheres
     Make music, though unheard their pealing
         By mortal ears!
     --THOMAS CAMPBELL.


     God! sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice!
     Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds!
     Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm!
     Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds!
     Ye signs and wonders of the elements,
     Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise!...
     Earth, with her thousand voices, praises GOD!
     --COLERIDGE.





FOREWORD


"We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has
been handed down to us their children. It teaches us to be thankful, to
be united, and to love one another! We never quarrel about religion."

Thus spoke the great Seneca orator, Red Jacket, in his superb reply to
Missionary Cram more than a century ago, and I have often heard the same
thought expressed by my countrymen.

I have attempted to paint the religious life of the typical American
Indian as it was before he knew the white man. I have long wished to do
this, because I cannot find that it has ever been seriously, adequately,
and sincerely done. The religion of the Indian is the last thing about
him that the man of another race will ever understand.

First, the Indian does not speak of these deep matters so long as
he believes in them, and when he has ceased to believe he speaks
inaccurately and slightingly.

Second, even if he can be induced to speak, the racial and religious
prejudice of the other stands in the way of his sympathetic
comprehension.

Third, practically all existing studies on this subject have been made
during the transition period, when the original beliefs and philosophy
of the native American were already undergoing rapid disintegration.

There are to be found here and there superficial accounts of strange
customs and ceremonies, of which the symbolism or inner meaning was
largely hidden from the observer; and there has been a great deal of
material collected in recent years which is without value because it is
modern and hybrid, inextricably mixed with Biblical legend and Caucasian
philosophy. Some of it has even been invented for commercial purposes.
Give a reservation Indian a present, and he will possibly provide you
with sacred songs, a mythology, and folk-lore to order!

My little book does not pretend to be a scientific treatise. It is as
true as I can make it to my childhood teaching and ancestral ideals,
but from the human, not the ethnological standpoint. I have not cared to
pile up more dry bones, but to clothe them with flesh and blood. So much
as has been written by strangers of our ancient faith and worship
treats it chiefly as matter of curiosity. I should like to emphasize its
universal quality, its personal appeal!

The first missionaries, good men imbued with the narrowness of their
age, branded us as pagans and devil-worshipers, and demanded of us that
we abjure our false gods before bowing the knee at their sacred altar.
They even told us that we were eternally lost, unless we adopted a
tangible symbol and professed a particular form of their hydra-headed
faith.

We of the twentieth century know better! We know that all religious
aspiration, all sincere worship, can have but one source and one goal.
We know that the God of the lettered and the unlettered, of the Greek
and the barbarian, is after all the same God; and, like Peter, we
perceive that He is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he
that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him.

CHARLES A. EASTMAN (OHIYESA)




CONTENTS


    I. THE GREAT MYSTERY          1

   II. THE FAMILY ALTAR          25

   III. CEREMONIAL AND SYMBOLIC WORSHIP  51

   IV. BARBARISM AND THE MORAL CODE    85

    V. THE UNWRITTEN SCRIPTURES      117

   VI. ON THE BORDER-LAND OF SPIRITS   147





I. THE GREAT MYSTERY


   Solitary Worship. The Savage Philosopher. The Dual Mind.
   Spiritual Gifts versus Material Progress. The Paradox of
   "Christian Civilization."

The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the
"Great Mystery" that surrounds and embraces us, was as simple as it
was exalted. To him it was the supreme conception, bringing with it the
fullest measure of joy and satisfaction possible in this life.

The worship of the "Great Mystery" was silent, solitary, free from all
self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble
and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to God in
wordless adoration. It was solitary, because they believed that He is
nearer to us in solitude, and there were no priests authorized to come
between a man and his Maker. None might exhort or confess or in any way
meddle with the religious experience of another. Among us all men were
created sons of God and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our
faith might not be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were
unwilling to receive it; hence there was no preaching, proselyting, nor
persecution, neither were there any scoffers or atheists.

There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. Being
a natural man, the Indian was intensely poetical. He would deem it
sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the
mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the sunlit
bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of naked rock,
and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who enrobes Himself
in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible world where our
Great-Grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides
upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon
aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched upon majestic rivers
and inland seas--He needs no lesser cathedral!

That solitary communion with the Unseen which was the highest expression
of our religious life is partly described in the word bambeday,
literally "mysterious feeling," which has been variously translated
"fasting" and "dreaming." It may better be interpreted as "consciousness
of the divine."

The first bambeday, or religious retreat, marked an epoch in the life of
the youth, which may be compared to that of confirmation or conversion
in Christian experience. Having first prepared himself by means of
the purifying vapor-bath, and cast off as far as possible all human or
fleshly influences, the young man sought out the noblest height, the
most commanding summit in all the surrounding region. Knowing that God
sets no value upon material things, he took with him no offerings or
sacrifices other than symbolic objects, such as paints and tobacco.
Wishing to appear before Him in all humility, he wore no clothing save
his moccasins and breech-clout. At the solemn hour of sunrise or sunset
he took up his position, overlooking the glories of earth and facing
the "Great Mystery," and there he remained, naked, erect, silent, and
motionless, exposed to the elements and forces of His arming, for a
night and a day to two days and nights, but rarely longer. Sometimes he
would chant a hymn without words, or offer the ceremonial "filled pipe."
In this holy trance or ecstasy the Indian mystic found his highest
happiness and the motive power of his existence.

When he returned to the camp, he must remain at a distance until he had
again entered the vapor-bath and prepared himself for intercourse with
his fellows. Of the vision or sign vouchsafed to him he did not speak,
unless it had included some commission which must be publicly fulfilled.
Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal
to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth.

The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors
for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion
forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him,
as to other single-minded men in every age and race, from Diogenes to
the brothers of Saint Francis, from the Montanists to the Shakers, the
love of possessions has appeared a snare, and the burdens of a complex
society a source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, it was
the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with
his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog
of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine
decree--a matter profoundly important to him.

It was not, then, wholly from ignorance or improvidence that he failed
to establish permanent towns and to develop a material civilization.
To the untutored sage, the concentration of population was the prolific
mother of all evils, moral no less than physical. He argued that food is
good, while surfeit kills; that love is good, but lust destroys; and not
less dreaded than the pestilence following upon crowded and unsanitary
dwellings was the loss of spiritual power inseparable from too close
contact with one's fellow-men. All who have lived much out of doors know
that there is a magnetic and nervous force that accumulates in solitude
and that is quickly dissipated by life in a crowd; and even his enemies
have recognized the fact that for a certain innate power and self-poise,
wholly independent of circumstances, the American Indian is unsurpassed
among men.

The red man divided mind into two parts,--the spiritual mind and the
physical mind. The first is pure spirit, concerned only with the essence
of things, and it was this he sought to strengthen by spiritual prayer,
during which the body is subdued by fasting and hardship. In this type
of prayer there was no beseeching of favor or help. All matters of
personal or selfish concern, as success in hunting or warfare, relief
from sickness, or the sparing of a beloved life, were definitely
relegated to the plane of the lower or material mind, and all
ceremonies, charms, or incantations designed to secure a benefit or to
avert a danger, were recognized as emanating from the physical self.

The rites of this physical worship, again, were wholly symbolic, and the
Indian no more worshiped the Sun than the Christian adores the Cross.
The Sun and the Earth, by an obvious parable, holding scarcely more of
poetic metaphor than of scientific truth, were in his view the parents
of all organic life. From the Sun, as the universal father, proceeds the
quickening principle in nature, and in the patient and fruitful womb of
our mother, the Earth, are hidden embryos of plants and men. Therefore
our reverence and love for them was really an imaginative extension of
our love for our immediate parents, and with this sentiment of filial
piety was joined a willingness to appeal to them, as to a father, for
such good gifts as we may desire. This is the material or physical
prayer.

The elements and majestic forces in nature, Lightning, Wind, Water,
Fire, and Frost, were regarded with awe as spiritual powers, but always
secondary and intermediate in character. We believed that the spirit
pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some
degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious of itself. The tree, the
waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied Force, and as such an
object of reverence.

The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his
brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him
something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and
irresponsible child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious
wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly
voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage
to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.

In every religion there is an element of the supernatural, varying with
the influence of pure reason over its devotees. The Indian was a logical
and clear thinker upon matters within the scope of his understanding,
but he had not yet charted the vast field of nature or expressed her
wonders in terms of science. With his limited knowledge of cause and
effect, he saw miracles on every hand,--the miracle of life in seed and
egg, the miracle of death in lightning flash and in the swelling deep!
Nothing of the marvelous could astonish him; as that a beast should
speak, or the sun stand still. The virgin birth would appear scarcely
more miraculous than is the birth of every child that comes into the
world, or the miracle of the loaves and fishes excite more wonder than
the harvest that springs from a single ear of corn.

Who may condemn his superstition? Surely not the devout Catholic, or
even Protestant missionary, who teaches Bible miracles as literal fact!
The logical man must either deny all miracles or none, and our American
Indian myths and hero stories are perhaps, in themselves, quite as
credible as those of the Hebrews of old. If we are of the modern type
of mind, that sees in natural law a majesty and grandeur far more
impressive than any solitary infraction of it could possibly be, let
us not forget that, after all, science has not explained everything. We
have still to face the ultimate miracle,--the origin and principle
of life! Here is the supreme mystery that is the essence of worship,
without which there can be no religion, and in the presence of
this mystery our attitude cannot be very unlike that of the natural
philosopher, who beholds with awe the Divine in all creation.

It is simple truth that the Indian did not, so long as his native
philosophy held sway over his mind, either envy or desire to imitate
the splendid achievements of the white man. In his own thought he rose
superior to them! He scorned them, even as a lofty spirit absorbed
in its stern task rejects the soft beds, the luxurious food, the
pleasure-worshiping dalliance of a rich neighbor. It was clear to
him that virtue and happiness are independent of these things, if not
incompatible with them.

There was undoubtedly much in primitive Christianity to appeal to this
man, and Jesus' hard sayings to the rich and about the rich would have
been entirely comprehensible to him. Yet the religion that is preached
in our churches and practiced by our congregations, with its element of
display and self-aggrandizement, its active proselytism, and its open
contempt of all religions but its own, was for a long time extremely
repellent. To his simple mind, the professionalism of the pulpit, the
paid exhorter, the moneyed church, was an unspiritual and unedifying
thing, and it was not until his spirit was broken and his moral and
physical constitution undermined by trade, conquest, and strong drink,
that Christian missionaries obtained any real hold upon him. Strange as
it may seem, it is true that the proud pagan in his secret soul despised
the good men who came to convert and to enlighten him!

Nor were its publicity and its Phariseeism the only elements in the
alien religion that offended the red man. To him, it appeared shocking
and almost incredible that there were among this people who claimed
superiority many irreligious, who did not even pretend to profess the
national faith. Not only did they not profess it, but they stooped so
low as to insult their God with profane and sacrilegious speech! In our
own tongue His name was not spoken aloud, even with utmost reverence,
much less lightly or irreverently.

More than this, even in those white men who professed religion we found
much inconsistency of conduct. They spoke much of spiritual things,
while seeking only the material. They bought and sold everything:
time, labor, personal independence, the love of woman, and even the
ministrations of their holy faith! The lust for money, power, and
conquest so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race did not escape moral
condemnation at the hands of his untutored judge, nor did he fail to
contrast this conspicuous trait of the dominant race with the spirit of
the meek and lowly Jesus.

He might in time come to recognize that the drunkards and licentious
among white men, with whom he too frequently came in contact, were
condemned by the white man's religion as well, and must not be held to
discredit it. But it was not so easy to overlook or to excuse national
bad faith. When distinguished emissaries from the Father at Washington,
some of them ministers of the gospel and even bishops, came to the
Indian nations, and pledged to them in solemn treaty the national honor,
with prayer and mention of their God; and when such treaties, so made,
were promptly and shamelessly broken, is it strange that the action
should arouse not only anger, but contempt? The historians of the white
race admit that the Indian was never the first to repudiate his oath.

It is my personal belief, after thirty-five years' experience of it,
that there is no such thing as "Christian civilization." I believe that
Christianity and modern civilization are opposed and irreconcilable,
and that the spirit of Christianity and of our ancient religion is
essentially the same.




II. THE FAMILY ALTAR


   Pre-natal Influence. Early Religious Teaching. The
   Function of the Aged. Woman, Marriage and the Family.
   Loyalty, Hospitality, Friendship.

The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had
neither a national army nor an organized church. There was no priest
to assume responsibility for another's soul. That is, we believed, the
supreme duty of the parent, who only was permitted to claim in some
degree the priestly office and function, since it is his creative and
protecting power which alone approaches the solemn function of Deity.

The Indian was a religious man from his mother's womb. From the moment
of her recognition of the fact of conception to the end of the second
year of life, which was the ordinary duration of lactation, it was
supposed by us that the mother's spiritual influence counted for most.
Her attitude and secret meditations must be such as to instill into the
receptive soul of the unborn child the love of the "Great Mystery" and
a sense of brotherhood with all creation. Silence and isolation are
the rule of life for the expectant mother. She wanders prayerful in the
stillness of great woods, or on the bosom of the untrodden prairie, and
to her poetic mind the immanent birth of her child prefigures the advent
of a master-man--a hero, or the mother of heroes--a thought conceived in
the virgin breast of primeval nature, and dreamed out in a hush that is
only broken by the sighing of the pine tree or the thrilling orchestra
of a distant waterfall.

And when the day of days in her life dawns--the day in which there is
to be a new life, the miracle of whose making has been intrusted to her,
she seeks no human aid. She has been trained and prepared in body and
mind for this her holiest duty, ever since she can remember. The ordeal
is best met alone, where no curious or pitying eyes embarrass her; where
all nature says to her spirit: "'Tis love! 'tis love! the fulfilling of
life!" When a sacred voice comes to her out of the silence, and a pair
of eyes open upon her in the wilderness, she knows with joy that she has
borne well her part in the great song of creation!

Presently she returns to the camp, carrying the mysterious, the holy,
the dearest bundle! She feels the endearing warmth of it and hears its
soft breathing. It is still a part of herself, since both are nourished
by the same mouthful, and no look of a lover could be sweeter than its
deep, trusting gaze.

She continues her spiritual teaching, at first silently--a mere pointing
of the index finger to nature; then in whispered songs, bird-like, at
morning and evening. To her and to the child the birds are real people,
who live very close to the "Great Mystery"; the murmuring trees breathe
His presence; the falling waters chant His praise.

If the child should chance to be fretful, the mother raises her hand.
"Hush! hush!" she cautions it tenderly, "the spirits may be disturbed!"
She bids it be still and listen--listen to the silver voice of the
aspen, or the clashing cymbals of the birch; and at night she points
to the heavenly, blazed trail, through nature's galaxy of splendor to
nature's God. Silence, love, reverence,--this is the trinity of first
lessons; and to these she later adds generosity, courage, and chastity.

In the old days, our mothers were single-eyed to the trust imposed upon
them; and as a noted chief of our people was wont to say: "Men may slay
one another, but they can never overcome the woman, for in the quietude
of her lap lies the child! You may destroy him once and again, but he
issues as often from that same gentle lap--a gift of the Great Good to
the race, in which man is only an accomplice!"

This wild mother has not only the experience of her mother and
grandmother, and the accepted rules of her people for a guide, but she
humbly seeks to learn a lesson from ants, bees, spiders, beavers, and
badgers. She studies the family life of the birds, so exquisite in its
emotional intensity and its patient devotion, until she seems to feel
the universal mother-heart beating in her own breast. In due time
the child takes of his own accord the attitude of prayer, and speaks
reverently of the Powers. He thinks that he is a blood brother to all
living creatures, and the storm wind is to him a messenger of the "Great
Mystery."

At the age of about eight years, if he is a boy, she turns him over to
his father for more Spartan training. If a girl, she is from this time
much under the guardianship of her grandmother, who is considered the
most dignified protector for the maiden. Indeed, the distinctive work
of both grandparents is that of acquainting the youth with the
national traditions and beliefs. It is reserved for them to repeat the
time-hallowed tales with dignity and authority, so as to lead him into
his inheritance in the stored-up wisdom and experience of the race. The
old are dedicated to the service of the young, as their teachers and
advisers, and the young in turn regard them with love and reverence.

Our old age was in some respects the happiest period of life. Advancing
years brought with them much freedom, not only from the burden of
laborious and dangerous tasks, but from those restrictions of custom and
etiquette which were religiously observed by all others. No one who is
at all acquainted with the Indian in his home can deny that we are a
polite people. As a rule, the warrior who inspired the greatest terror
in the hearts of his enemies was a man of the most exemplary gentleness,
and almost feminine refinement, among his family and friends. A soft,
low voice was considered an excellent thing in man, as well as in
woman! Indeed, the enforced intimacy of tent life would soon become
intolerable, were it not for these instinctive reserves and delicacies,
this unfailing respect for the established place and possessions of
every other member of the family circle, this habitual quiet, order, and
decorum.

Our people, though capable of strong and durable feeling, were not
demonstrative in their affection at any time, least of all in the
presence of guests or strangers. Only to the aged, who have journeyed
far, and are in a manner exempt from ordinary rules, are permitted
some playful familiarities with children and grandchildren, some plain
speaking, even to harshness and objurgation, from which the others must
rigidly refrain. In short, the old men and women are privileged to say
what they please and how they please, without contradiction, while the
hardships and bodily infirmities that of necessity fall to their lot are
softened so far as may be by universal consideration and attention.

There was no religious ceremony connected with marriage among us, while
on the other hand the relation between man and woman was regarded as in
itself mysterious and holy. It appears that where marriage is solemnized
by the church and blessed by the priest, it may at the same time be
surrounded with customs and ideas of a frivolous, superficial, and even
prurient character. We believed that two who love should be united in
secret, before the public acknowledgment of their union, and should
taste their apotheosis alone with nature. The betrothal might or might
not be discussed and approved by the parents, but in either case it was
customary for the young pair to disappear into the wilderness, there
to pass some days or weeks in perfect seclusion and dual solitude,
afterward returning to the village as man and wife. An exchange of
presents and entertainments between the two families usually followed,
but the nuptial blessing was given by the High Priest of God, the most
reverend and holy Nature.

The family was not only the social unit, but also the unit of
government. The clan is nothing more than a larger family, with its
patriarchal chief as the natural head, and the union of several clans by
intermarriage and voluntary connection constitutes the tribe. The very
name of our tribe, Dakota, means Allied People. The remoter degrees of
kinship were fully recognized, and that not as a matter of form only:
first cousins were known as brothers and sisters; the name of "cousin"
constituted a binding claim, and our rigid morality forbade marriage
between cousins in any known degree, or in other words within the clan.

The household proper consisted of a man with one or more wives and their
children, all of whom dwelt amicably together, often under one roof,
although some men of rank and position provided a separate lodge for
each wife. There were, indeed, few plural marriages except among
the older and leading men, and plural wives were usually, though not
necessarily, sisters. A marriage might honorably be dissolved for cause,
but there was very little infidelity or immorality, either open or
secret.

It has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization,
and that of our women was secure. In them was vested our standard of
morals and the purity of our blood. The wife did not take the name of
her husband nor enter his clan, and the children belonged to the clan
of the mother. All of the family property was held by her, descent
was traced in the maternal line, and the honor of the house was in her
hands. Modesty was her chief adornment; hence the younger women were
usually silent and retiring: but a woman who had attained to ripeness
of years and wisdom, or who had displayed notable courage in some
emergency, was sometimes invited to a seat in the council.

Thus she ruled undisputed within her own domain, and was to us a tower
of moral and spiritual strength, until the coming of the border white
man, the soldier and trader, who with strong drink overthrew the honor
of the man, and through his power over a worthless husband purchased the
virtue of his wife or his daughter. When she fell, the whole race fell
with her.

Before this calamity came upon us, you could not find anywhere a happier
home than that created by the Indian woman. There was nothing of the
artificial about her person, and very little disingenuousness in her
character. Her early and consistent training, the definiteness of her
vocation, and, above all, her profoundly religious attitude gave her
a strength and poise that could not be overcome by any ordinary
misfortune.

Indian names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful
spirit, deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and
symbolic meaning. It has been said that when a child is born, some
accident or unusual appearance determines his name. This is sometimes
the case, but is not the rule. A man of forcible character, with a fine
war record, usually bears the name of the buffalo or bear, lightning or
some dread natural force. Another of more peaceful nature may be called
Swift Bird or Blue Sky. A woman's name usually suggested something about
the home, often with the adjective "pretty" or "good," and a feminine
termination. Names of any dignity or importance must be conferred by the
old men, and especially so if they have any spiritual significance; as
Sacred Cloud, Mysterious Night, Spirit Woman, and the like. Such a name
was sometimes borne by three generations, but each individual must prove
that he is worthy of it.

In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty,--the duty
of prayer--the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. His daily
devotions were more necessary to him than daily food. He wakes at
daybreak, puts on his moccasins and steps down to the water's edge. Here
he throws handfuls of clear, cold water into his face, or plunges in
bodily. After the bath, he stands erect before the advancing dawn,
facing the sun as it dances upon the horizon, and offers his unspoken
orison. His mate may precede or follow him in his devotions, but never
accompanies him. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new, sweet
earth, and the Great Silence alone!

Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt, the red hunter comes upon a
scene that is strikingly beautiful or sublime--a black thundercloud with
the rainbow's glowing arch above the mountain; a white waterfall in
the heart of a green gorge; a vast prairie tinged with the blood-red of
sunset--he pauses for an instant in the attitude of worship. He sees no
need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all
days are God's.

Every act of his life is, in a very real sense, a religious act. He
recognizes the spirit in all creation, and believes that he draws from
it spiritual power. His respect for the immortal part of the animal, his
brother, often leads him so far as to lay out the body of his game in
state and decorate the head with symbolic paint or feathers. Then he
stands before it in the prayer attitude, holding up the filled pipe, in
token that he has freed with honor the spirit of his brother, whose body
his need compelled him to take to sustain his own life.

When food is taken, the woman murmurs a "grace" as she lowers the
kettle; an act so softly and unobtrusively performed that one who
does not know the custom usually fails to catch the whisper: "Spirit,
partake!" As her husband receives the bowl or plate, he likewise murmurs
his invocation to the spirit. When he becomes an old man, he loves to
make a notable effort to prove his gratitude. He cuts off the choicest
morsel of the meat and casts it into the fire--the purest and most
ethereal element.

The hospitality of the wigwam is only limited by the institution of
war. Yet, if an enemy should honor us with a call, his trust will not
be misplaced, and he will go away convinced that he has met with a royal
host! Our honor is the guarantee for his safety, so long as he is within
the camp.

Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy, we
think, to be loyal to family and clan, whose blood is in our own veins.
Love between man and woman is founded on the mating instinct and is not
free from desire and self-seeking. But to have a friend, and to be true
under any and all trials, is the mark of a man!

The highest type of friendship is the relation of "brother-friend" or
"life-and-death friend." This bond is between man and man, is usually
formed in early youth, and can only be broken by death. It is the
essence of comradeship and fraternal love, without thought of pleasure
or gain, but rather for moral support and inspiration. Each is vowed to
die for the other, if need be, and nothing is denied the brother-friend,
but neither is anything required that is not in accord with the highest
conceptions of the Indian mind.




III. CEREMONIAL AND SYMBOLIC WORSHIP

   Modern Perversions of Early Religious Rites. The Sun Dance.
   The Great Medicine Lodge. Totems and Charms. The Vapor-Bath
   and the Ceremonial of the Pipe.

The public religious rites of the Plains Indians are few, and in large
part of modern origin, belonging properly to the so-called "transition
period." That period must be held to begin with the first insidious
effect upon their manners and customs of contact with the dominant race,
and many of the tribes were so influenced long before they ceased to
lead the nomadic life.

The fur-traders, the "Black Robe" priests, the military, and finally the
Protestant missionaries, were the men who began the disintegration of
the Indian nations and the overthrow of their religion, seventy-five to
a hundred years before they were forced to enter upon reservation life.
We have no authentic study of them until well along in the transition
period, when whiskey and trade had already debauched their native
ideals.

During the era of reconstruction they modified their customs and beliefs
continually, creating a singular admixture of Christian with pagan
superstitions, and an addition to the old folk-lore of disguised Bible
stories under an Indian aspect. Even their music shows the influence of
the Catholic chants. Most of the material collected by modern observers
is necessarily of this promiscuous character.

It is noteworthy that the first effect of contact with the whites was an
increase of cruelty and barbarity, an intensifying of the dark shadows
in the picture! In this manner the "Sun Dance" of the Plains Indians,
the most important of their public ceremonials, was abused and perverted
until it became a horrible exhibition of barbarism, and was eventually
prohibited by the Government.

In the old days, when a Sioux warrior found himself in the very jaws of
destruction, he might offer a prayer to his father, the Sun, to prolong
his life. If rescued from imminent danger, he must acknowledge the
divine favor by making a Sun Dance, according to the vow embraced in his
prayer, in which he declared that he did not fear torture or death, but
asked life only for the sake of those who loved him. Thus the physical
ordeal was the fulfillment of a vow, and a sort of atonement for what
might otherwise appear to be reprehensible weakness in the face of
death. It was in the nature of confession and thank-offering to the
"Great Mystery," through the physical parent, the Sun, and did not
embrace a prayer for future favors.

The ceremonies usually took place from six months to a year after the
making of the vow, in order to admit of suitable preparation; always
in midsummer and before a large and imposing gathering. They naturally
included the making of a feast, and the giving away of much savage
wealth in honor of the occasion, although these were no essential part
of the religious rite.

When the day came to procure the pole, it was brought in by a party of
warriors, headed by some man of distinction. The tree selected was six
to eight inches in diameter at the base, and twenty to twenty-five
feet high. It was chosen and felled with some solemnity, including
the ceremony of the "filled pipe," and was carried in the fashion of a
litter, symbolizing the body of the man who made the dance. A solitary
teepee was pitched on a level spot at some distance from the village,
and the pole raised near at hand with the same ceremony, in the centre
of a circular enclosure of fresh-cut boughs.

Meanwhile, one of the most noted of our old men had carved out of
rawhide, or later of wood, two figures, usually those of a man and
a buffalo. Sometimes the figure of a bird, supposed to represent the
Thunder, was substituted for the buffalo. It was customary to paint the
man red and the animal black, and each was suspended from one end of the
crossbar which was securely tied some two feet from the top of the
pole. I have never been able to determine that this cross had any
significance; it was probably nothing more than a dramatic coincidence
that surmounted the Sun-Dance pole with the symbol of Christianity.

The paint indicated that the man who was about to give thanks publicly
had been potentially dead, but was allowed to live by the mysterious
favor and interference of the Giver of Life. The buffalo hung opposite
the image of his own body in death, because it was the support of his
physical self, and a leading figure in legendary lore. Following
the same line of thought, when he emerged from the solitary lodge
of preparation, and approached the pole to dance, nude save for his
breechclout and moccasins, his hair loosened and daubed with clay, he
must drag after him a buffalo skull, representing the grave from which
he had escaped.

The dancer was cut or scarified on the chest, sufficient to draw blood
and cause pain, the natural accompaniments of his figurative death. He
took his position opposite the singers, facing the pole, and dragging
the skull by leather thongs which were merely fastened about his
shoulders. During a later period, incisions were made in the breast
or back, sometimes both, through which wooden skewers were drawn, and
secured by lariats to the pole or to the skulls. Thus he danced without
intermission for a day and a night, or even longer, ever gazing at the
sun in the daytime, and blowing from time to time a sacred whistle made
from the bone of a goose's wing.

In recent times, this rite was exaggerated and distorted into a mere
ghastly display of physical strength and endurance under torture, almost
on a level with the Caucasian institution of the bull-fight, or the
yet more modern prize-ring. Moreover, instead of an atonement or
thank-offering, it became the accompaniment of a prayer for success in
war, or in a raid upon the horses of the enemy. The number of dancers
was increased, and they were made to hang suspended from the pole by
their own flesh, which they must break loose before being released.
I well remember the comments in our own home upon the passing of
this simple but impressive ceremony, and its loss of all meaning and
propriety under the demoralizing additions which were some of the fruits
of early contact with the white man.

Perhaps the most remarkable organization ever known among American
Indians, that of the "Grand Medicine Lodge," was apparently an indirect
result of the labors of the early Jesuit missionaries. In it Caucasian
ideas are easily recognizable, and it seems reasonable to suppose that
its founders desired to establish an order that would successfully
resist the encroachments of the "Black Robes." However that may be, it
is an unquestionable fact that the only religious leaders of any note
who have arisen among the native tribes since the advent of the white
man, the "Shawnee Prophet" in 1762, and the half-breed prophet of the
"Ghost Dance" in 1890, both founded their claims or prophecies upon the
Gospel story. Thus in each case an Indian religious revival or craze,
though more or less threatening to the invader, was of distinctively
alien origin.

The Medicine Lodge originated among the Algonquin tribe, and extended
gradually throughout its branches, finally affecting the Sioux of the
Mississippi Valley, and forming a strong bulwark against the work of the
pioneer missionaries, who secured, indeed, scarcely any converts
until after the outbreak of 1862, when subjection, starvation, and
imprisonment turned our broken-hearted people to accept Christianity,
which seemed to offer them the only gleam of kindness or hope.

The order was a secret one, and in some respects not unlike the Free
Masons, being a union or affiliation of a number of lodges, each
with its distinctive songs and medicines. Leadership was in order of
seniority in degrees, which could only be obtained by merit, and women
were admitted to membership upon equal terms, with the possibility of
attaining to the highest honors. No person might become a member unless
his moral standing was excellent, all candidates remained on probation
for one or two years, and murderers and adulterers were expelled. The
commandments promulgated by this order were essentially the same as the
Mosaic Ten, so that it exerted a distinct moral influence, in addition
to its ostensible object, which was instruction in the secrets of
legitimate medicine.

In this society the uses of all curative roots and herbs known to us
were taught exhaustively and practiced mainly by the old, the younger
members being in training to fill the places of those who passed away.
My grandmother was a well-known and successful practitioner, and both my
mother and father were members, but did not practice.

A medicine or "mystery feast" was not a public affair, as members only
were eligible, and upon these occasions all the "medicine bags" and
totems of the various lodges were displayed and their peculiar "medicine
songs" were sung. The food was only partaken of by invited guests, and
not by the hosts, or lodge making the feast. The "Grand Medicine
Dance" was given on the occasion of initiating those candidates who had
finished their probation, a sufficient number of whom were designated
to take the places of those who had died since the last meeting.
Invitations were sent out in the form of small bundles of tobacco.
Two very large teepees were pitched facing one another, a hundred feet
apart, half open, and connected by a roofless hall or colonnade of
fresh-cut boughs. One of these lodges was for the society giving the
dance and the novices, the other was occupied by the "soldiers," whose
duty it was to distribute the refreshments, and to keep order among the
spectators. They were selected from among the best and bravest warriors
of the tribe.

The preparations being complete, and the members of each lodge
garbed and painted according to their rituals, they entered the hall
separately, in single file, led by their oldest man or "Great Chief."
Standing before the "Soldiers' Lodge," facing the setting sun, their
chief addressed the "Great Mystery" directly in a few words, after which
all extending the right arm horizontally from the shoulder with
open palm, sang a short invocation in unison, ending with a deep:
"E-ho-ho-ho!" This performance, which was really impressive, was
repeated in front of the headquarters lodge, facing the rising sun,
after which each lodge took its assigned place, and the songs and dances
followed in regular order.

The closing ceremony, which was intensely dramatic in its character, was
the initiation of the novices, who had received their final preparation
on the night before. They were now led out in front of the headquarters
lodge and placed in a kneeling position upon a carpet of rich robes and
furs, the men upon the right hand, stripped and painted black, with a
round spot of red just over the heart, while the women, dressed in their
best, were arranged upon the left. Both sexes wore the hair loose, as
if in mourning or expectation of death. An equal number of grand
medicine-men, each of whom was especially appointed to one of the
novices, faced them at a distance of half the length of the hall, or
perhaps fifty feet.

After silent prayer, each medicine-man in turn addressed himself to his
charge, exhorting him to observe all the rules of the order under the
eye of the Mysterious One, and instructing him in his duty toward his
fellow-man and toward the Ruler of Life. All then assumed an attitude
of superb power and dignity, crouching slightly as if about to spring
forward in a foot-race, and grasping their medicine bags firmly in both
hands. Swinging their arms forward at the same moment, they uttered
their guttural "Yo-ho-ho-ho!" in perfect unison and with startling
effect. In the midst of a breathless silence, they took a step forward,
then another and another, ending a rod or so from the row of kneeling
victims, with a mighty swing of the sacred bags that would seem to
project all their mystic power into the bodies of the initiates.
Instantly they all fell forward, apparently lifeless.

With this thrilling climax, the drums were vigorously pounded and the
dance began again with energy. After a few turns had been taken about
the prostrate bodies of the new members, covering them with fine robes
and other garments which were later to be distributed as gifts, they
were permitted to come to life and to join in the final dance. The whole
performance was clearly symbolic of death and resurrection.

While I cannot suppose that this elaborate ritual, with its use of
public and audible prayer, of public exhortation or sermon, and other
Caucasian features, was practiced before comparatively modern times,
there is no doubt that it was conscientiously believed in by its
members, and for a time regarded with reverence by the people. But at
a later period it became still further demoralized and fell under
suspicion of witchcraft.

There is no doubt that the Indian held medicine close to spiritual
things, but in this also he has been much misunderstood; in fact
everything that he held sacred is indiscriminately called "medicine," in
the sense of mystery or magic. As a doctor he was originally very adroit
and often successful. He employed only healing bark, roots, and leaves
with whose properties he was familiar, using them in the form of a
distillation or tea and always singly. The stomach or internal bath
was a valuable discovery of his, and the vapor or Turkish bath was in
general use. He could set a broken bone with fair success, but never
practiced surgery in any form. In addition to all this, the medicine-man
possessed much personal magnetism and authority, and in his treatment
often sought to reestablish the equilibrium of the patient through
mental or spiritual influences--a sort of primitive psychotherapy.

The Sioux word for the healing art is "wah-pee-yah," which literally
means readjusting or making anew. "Pay-jee-hoo-tah," literally root,
means medicine, and "wakan" signifies spirit or mystery. Thus the three
ideas, while sometimes associated, were carefully distinguished.

It is important to remember that in the old days the "medicine-man"
received no payment for his services, which were of the nature of an
honorable function or office. When the idea of payment and barter was
introduced among us, and valuable presents or fees began to be demanded
for treating the sick, the ensuing greed and rivalry led to many
demoralizing practices, and in time to the rise of the modern
"conjurer," who is generally a fraud and trickster of the grossest kind.
It is fortunate that his day is practically over.

Ever seeking to establish spiritual comradeship with the animal
creation, the Indian adopted this or that animal as his "totem," the
emblematic device of his society, family, or clan. It is probable that
the creature chosen was the traditional ancestress, as we are told that
the First Man had many wives among the animal people. The sacred
beast, bird, or reptile, represented by its stuffed skin, or by a rude
painting, was treated with reverence and carried into battle to insure
the guardianship of the spirits. The symbolic attribute of beaver,
bear, or tortoise, such as wisdom, cunning, courage, and the like, was
supposed to be mysteriously conferred upon the wearer of the badge.
The totem or charm used in medicine was ordinarily that of the medicine
lodge to which the practitioner belonged, though there were some great
men who boasted a special revelation.

There are two ceremonial usages which, so far as I have been able
to ascertain, were universal among American Indians, and apparently
fundamental. These have already been referred to as the "eneepee," or
vapor-bath, and the "chan-du-hu-pah-yu-za-pee," or ceremonial of the
pipe. In our Siouan legends and traditions these two are preeminent, as
handed down from the most ancient time and persisting to the last.

In our Creation myth or story of the First Man, the vapor-bath was the
magic used by The-one-who-was-First-Created, to give life to the dead
bones of his younger brother, who had been slain by the monsters of the
deep. Upon the shore of the Great Water he dug two round holes, over one
of which he built a low enclosure of fragrant cedar boughs, and here he
gathered together the bones of his brother. In the other pit he made a
fire and heated four round stones, which he rolled one by one into the
lodge of boughs. Having closed every aperture save one, he sang a mystic
chant while he thrust in his arm and sprinkled water upon the stones
with a bunch of sage. Immediately steam arose, and as the legend says,
"there was an appearance of life." A second time he sprinkled water, and
the dry bones rattled together. The third time he seemed to hear soft
singing from within the lodge; and the fourth time a voice exclaimed:
"Brother, let me out!" (It should be noted that the number four is the
magic or sacred number of the Indian.)

This story gives the traditional origin of the "eneepee," which has
ever since been deemed essential to the Indian's effort to purify and
recreate his spirit. It is used both by the doctor and by his patient.
Every man must enter the cleansing bath and take the cold plunge which
follows, when preparing for any spiritual crisis, for possible death, or
imminent danger.

Not only the "eneepee" itself, but everything used in connection with
the mysterious event, the aromatic cedar and sage, the water, and
especially the water-worn boulders, are regarded as sacred, or at
the least adapted to a spiritual use. For the rock we have a
special reverent name--"Tunkan," a contraction of the Sioux word for
Grandfather.

The natural boulder enters into many of our solemn ceremonials, such
as the "Rain Dance," and the "Feast of Virgins." The lone hunter and
warrior reverently holds up his filled pipe to "Tunkan," in solitary
commemoration of a miracle which to him is as authentic and holy as the
raising of Lazarus to the devout Christian.

There is a legend that the First Man fell sick, and was taught by his
Elder Brother the ceremonial use of the pipe, in a prayer to the
spirits for ease and relief. This simple ceremony is the commonest daily
expression of thanks or "grace," as well as an oath of loyalty and good
faith when the warrior goes forth upon some perilous enterprise, and
it enters even into his "hambeday," or solitary prayer, ascending as a
rising vapor or incense to the Father of Spirits.

In all the war ceremonies and in medicine a special pipe is used, but at
home or on the hunt the warrior employs his own. The pulverized weed is
mixed with aromatic bark of the red willow, and pressed lightly into the
bowl of the long stone pipe. The worshiper lights it gravely and takes a
whiff or two; then, standing erect, he holds it silently toward the
Sun, our father, and toward the earth, our mother. There are modern
variations, as holding the pipe to the Four Winds, the Fire, Water,
Rock, and other elements or objects of reverence.

There are many religious festivals which are local and special in
character, embodying a prayer for success in hunting or warfare, or for
rain and bountiful harvests, but these two are the sacraments of our
religion. For baptism we substitute the "eneepee," the purification by
vapor, and in our holy communion we partake of the soothing incense of
tobacco in the stead of bread and wine.




IV. BARBARISM AND THE MORAL CODE

   Silence the Corner-Stone of Character. Basic Ideas of
   Morality. "Give All or Nothing!" Rules of Honorable
   Warfare. An Indian Conception of Courage.

Long before I ever heard of Christ, or saw a white man, I had learned
from an untutored woman the essence of morality. With the help of dear
Nature herself, she taught me things simple but of mighty import. I
knew God. I perceived what goodness is. I saw and loved what is really
beautiful. Civilization has not taught me anything better!

As a child, I understood how to give; I have forgotten that grace since
I became civilized. I lived the natural life, whereas I now live the
artificial. Any pretty pebble was valuable to me then; every growing
tree an object of reverence. Now I worship with the white man before a
painted landscape whose value is estimated in dollars! Thus the Indian
is reconstructed, as the natural rocks are ground to powder, and made
into artificial blocks which may be built into the walls of modern
society.

The first American mingled with his pride a singular humility. Spiritual
arrogance was foreign to his nature and teaching. He never claimed that
the power of articulate speech was proof of superiority over the dumb
creation; on the other hand, it is to him a perilous gift. He believes
profoundly in silence--the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is
the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit. The man
who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of
existence--not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree; not a ripple upon
the surface of shining pool--his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is
the ideal attitude and conduct of life.

If you ask him: "What is silence?" he will answer: "It is the Great
Mystery!" "The holy silence is His voice!" If you ask: "What are the
fruits of silence?" he will say: "They are self-control, true courage or
endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone
of character."

"Guard your tongue in youth," said the old chief, Wabashaw, "and in age
you may mature a thought that will be of service to your people!"

The moment that man conceived of a perfect body, supple, symmetrical,
graceful, and enduring--in that moment he had laid the foundation of
a moral life! No man can hope to maintain such a temple of the spirit
beyond the period of adolescence, unless he is able to curb his
indulgence in the pleasures of the senses. Upon this truth the Indian
built a rigid system of physical training, a social and moral code that
was the law of his life.

There was aroused in him as a child a high ideal of manly strength and
beauty, the attainment of which must depend upon strict temperance in
eating and in the sexual relation, together with severe and persistent
exercise. He desired to be a worthy link in the generations, and that he
might not destroy by his weakness that vigor and purity of blood which
had been achieved at the cost of much self-denial by a long line of
ancestors.

He was required to fast from time to time for short periods, and to work
off his superfluous energy by means of hard running, swimming, and the
vapor-bath. The bodily fatigue thus induced, especially when coupled
with a reduced diet, is a reliable cure for undue sexual desires.

Personal modesty was early cultivated as a safeguard, together with a
strong self-respect and pride of family and race. This was accomplished
in part by keeping the child ever before the public eye, from his birth
onward. His entrance into the world, especially in the case of the
first-born, was often publicly announced by the herald, accompanied by
a distribution of presents to the old and needy. The same thing occurred
when he took his first step, when his ears were pierced, and when he
shot his first game, so that his childish exploits and progress were
known to the whole clan as to a larger family, and he grew into manhood
with the saving sense of a reputation to sustain.

The youth was encouraged to enlist early in the public service, and to
develop a wholesome ambition for the honors of a leader and feast-maker,
which can never be his unless he is truthful and generous, as well as
brave, and ever mindful of his personal chastity and honor. There were
many ceremonial customs which had a distinct moral influence; the woman
was rigidly secluded at certain periods, and the young husband was
forbidden to approach his own wife when preparing for war or for any
religious event. The public or tribal position of the Indian is entirely
dependent upon his private virtue, and he is never permitted to forget
that he does not live to himself alone, but to his tribe and his clan.
Thus habits of perfect self-control were early established, and there
were no unnatural conditions or complex temptations to beset him until
he was met and overthrown by a stronger race.

To keep the young men and young women strictly to their honor, there
were observed among us, within my own recollection, certain annual
ceremonies of a semi-religious nature. One of the most impressive of
these was the sacred "Feast of Virgins," which, when given for the
first time, was equivalent to the public announcement of a young girl's
arrival at a marriageable age. The herald, making the rounds of the
teepee village, would publish the feast something after this fashion:

"Pretty Weasel-woman, the daughter of Brave Bear, will kindle her first
maidens' fire to-morrow! All ye who have never yielded to the pleading
of man, who have not destroyed your innocency, you alone are invited, to
proclaim anew before the Sun and the Earth, before your companions
and in the sight of the Great Mystery, the chastity and purity of your
maidenhood. Come ye, all who have not known man!"

The whole village was at once aroused to the interest of the coming
event, which was considered next to the Sun Dance and the Grand Medicine
Dance in public importance. It always took place in midsummer, when
a number of different clans were gathered together for the summer
festivities, and was held in the centre of the great circular
encampment.

Here two circles were described, one within the other, about a rudely
heart-shaped rock which was touched with red paint, and upon either side
of the rock there were thrust into the ground a knife and two arrows.
The inner circle was for the maidens, and the outer one for their
grandmothers or chaperones, who were supposed to have passed the
climacteric. Upon the outskirts of the feast there was a great public
gathering, in which order was kept by certain warriors of highest
reputation. Any man among the spectators might approach and challenge
any young woman whom he knew to be unworthy; but if the accuser
failed to prove his charge, the warriors were accustomed to punish him
severely.

Each girl in turn approached the sacred rock and laid her hand upon it
with all solemnity. This was her religious declaration of her virginity,
her vow to remain pure until her marriage. If she should ever violate
the maidens' oath, then welcome that keen knife and those sharp arrows!

Our maidens were ambitious to attend a number of these feasts before
marriage, and it sometimes happened that a girl was compelled to give
one, on account of gossip about her conduct. Then it was in the nature
of a challenge to the scandal-mongers to prove their words! A similar
feast was sometimes made by the young men, for whom the rules were even
more strict, since no young man might attend this feast who had so much
as spoken of love to a maiden. It was considered a high honor among us
to have won some distinction in war and the chase, and above all to have
been invited to a seat in the council, before one had spoken to any girl
save his own sister.

It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be
overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way
it will in time disturb the spiritual balance of the man. Therefore the
child must early learn the beauty of generosity. He is taught to give
what he prizes most, and that he may taste the happiness of giving, he
is made at an early age the family almoner. If a child is inclined to
be grasping, or to cling to any of his little possessions, legends are
related to him, telling of the contempt and disgrace falling upon the
ungenerous and mean man.

Public giving is a part of every important ceremony. It properly belongs
to the celebration of birth, marriage, and death, and is observed
whenever it is desired to do special honor to any person or event.
Upon such occasions it is common to give to the point of utter
impoverishment. The Indian in his simplicity literally gives away all
that he has, to relatives, to guests of another tribe or clan, but
above all to the poor and the aged, from whom he can hope for no return.
Finally, the gift to the "Great Mystery," the religious offering, may
be of little value in itself, but to the giver's own thought it should
carry the meaning and reward of true sacrifice.

Orphans and the aged are invariably cared for, not only by their next of
kin, but by the whole clan. It is the loving parent's pride to have his
daughters visit the unfortunate and the helpless, carry them food, comb
their hair, and mend their garments. The name "Wenonah," bestowed upon
the eldest daughter, distinctly implies all this, and a girl who failed
in her charitable duties was held to be unworthy of the name.

The man who is a skillful hunter, and whose wife is alive to her
opportunities, makes many feasts, to which he is careful to invite the
older men of his clan, recognizing that they have outlived their period
of greatest activity, and now love nothing so well as to eat in good
company, and to live over the past. The old men, for their part, do
their best to requite his liberality with a little speech, in which
they are apt to relate the brave and generous deeds of their host's
ancestors, finally congratulating him upon being a worthy successor
of an honorable line. Thus his reputation is won as a hunter and a
feast-maker, and almost as famous in his way as the great warrior is he
who has a recognized name and standing as a "man of peace."

The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His
generosity is only limited by his strength and ability. He regards it as
an honor to be selected for a difficult or dangerous service, and would
think it shame to ask for any reward, saying rather: "Let him whom I
serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense
of honor!"

Nevertheless, he recognizes rights in property. To steal from one of
his own tribe would be indeed disgrace, and if discovered, the name of
"Wamanon," or Thief, is fixed upon him forever as an unalterable stigma.
The only exception to the rule is in the case of food, which is always
free to the hungry if there is none by to offer it. Other protection
than the moral law there could not be in an Indian community, where
there were neither locks nor doors, and everything was open and easy of
access to all comers.

The property of the enemy is spoil of war, and it is always allowable to
confiscate it if possible. However, in the old days there was not much
plunder. Before the coming of the white man, there was in fact little
temptation or opportunity to despoil the enemy; but in modern times the
practice of "stealing horses" from hostile tribes has become common, and
is thought far from dishonorable.

Warfare we regarded as an institution of the "Great Mystery"--an
organized tournament or trial of courage and skill, with elaborate rules
and "counts" for the coveted honor of the eagle feather. It was held
to develop the quality of manliness and its motive was chivalric or
patriotic, but never the desire for territorial aggrandizement or the
overthrow of a brother nation. It was common, in early times, for a
battle or skirmish to last all day, with great display of daring and
horsemanship, but with scarcely more killed and wounded than may be
carried from the field during a university game of football.

The slayer of a man in battle was expected to mourn for thirty days
blackening his face and loosening his hair according to the custom. He
of course considered it no sin to take the life of an enemy, and this
ceremonial mourning was a sign of reverence for the departed spirit. The
killing in war of non-combatants, such as women and children, is partly
explained by the fact that in savage life the woman without husband or
protector is in pitiable case, and it was supposed that the spirit of
the warrior would be better content if no widow and orphans were left to
suffer want, as well as to weep.

A scalp might originally be taken by the leader of the war party only
and at that period no other mutilation was practiced. It was a small
lock not more than three inches square, which was carried only during
the thirty days' celebration of a victory, and afterward given religious
burial. Wanton cruelties and the more barbarous customs of war were
greatly intensified with the coming of the white man, who brought
with him fiery liquor and deadly weapons, aroused the Indian's worst
passions, provoking in him revenge and cupidity, and even offered
bounties for the scalps of innocent men, women, and children.

Murder within the tribe was a grave offense, to be atoned for as the
council might decree, and it often happened that the slayer was called
upon to pay the penalty with his own life. He made no attempt to escape
or to evade justice. That the crime was committed in the depths of
the forest or at dead of night, witnessed by no human eye, made no
difference to his mind. He was thoroughly convinced that all is known to
the "Great Mystery," and hence did not hesitate to give himself up, to
stand his trial by the old and wise men of the victim's clan. His own
family and clan might by no means attempt to excuse or to defend him,
but his judges took all the known circumstances into consideration, and
if it appeared that he slew in self-defense, or that the provocation was
severe, he might be set free after a thirty days' period of mourning in
solitude. Otherwise the murdered man's next of kin were authorized to
take his life; and if they refrained from doing so, as often happened,
he remained an outcast from the clan. A willful murder was a rare
occurrence before the days of whiskey and drunken rows, for we were not
a violent or a quarrelsome people.

It is well remembered that Crow Dog, who killed the Sioux chief, Spotted
Tail, in 1881, calmly surrendered himself and was tried and convicted
by the courts in South Dakota. After his conviction, he was permitted
remarkable liberty in prison, such as perhaps no white man has ever
enjoyed when under sentence of death.

The cause of his act was a solemn commission received from his people,
nearly thirty years earlier, at the time that Spotted Tail usurped the
chieftainship by the aid of the military, whom he had aided. Crow Dog
was under a vow to slay the chief, in case he ever betrayed or disgraced
the name of the Brule Sioux. There is no doubt that he had committed
crimes both public and private, having been guilty of misuse of office
as well as of gross offenses against morality; therefore his death was
not a matter of personal vengeance but of just retribution.

A few days before Crow Dog was to be executed, he asked permission to
visit his home and say farewell to his wife and twin boys, then nine
or ten years old. Strange to say, the request was granted, and the
condemned man sent home under escort of the deputy sheriff, who remained
at the Indian agency, merely telling his prisoner to report there on
the following day. When he did not appear at the time set, the sheriff
dispatched the Indian police after him. They did not find him, and his
wife simply said that Crow Dog had desired to ride alone to the prison,
and would reach there on the day appointed. All doubt was removed next
day by a telegram from Rapid City, two hundred miles distant, saying:
"Crow Dog has just reported here."

The incident drew public attention to the Indian murderer, with the
unexpected result that the case was reopened, and Crow Dog acquitted.
He still lives, a well-preserved man of about seventy-five years, and is
much respected among his own people.

It is said that, in the very early days, lying was a capital offense
among us. Believing that the deliberate liar is capable of committing
any crime behind the screen of cowardly untruth and double-dealing, the
destroyer of mutual confidence was summarily put to death, that the evil
might go no further.

Even the worst enemies of the Indian, those who accuse him of treachery,
blood-thirstiness, cruelty, and lust, have not denied his courage, but
in their minds it is a courage that is ignorant, brutal, and fantastic.
His own conception of bravery makes of it a high moral virtue, for to
him it consists not so much in aggressive self-assertion as in absolute
self-control. The truly brave man, we contend, yields neither to fear
nor anger, desire nor agony; he is at all times master of himself; his
courage rises to the heights of chivalry, patriotism, and real heroism.

"Let neither cold, hunger, nor pain, nor the fear of them, neither the
bristling teeth of danger nor the very jaws of death itself, prevent you
from doing a good deed," said an old chief to a scout who was about to
seek the buffalo in midwinter for the relief of a starving people. This
was his childlike conception of courage.




V. THE UNWRITTEN SCRIPTURES

   A Living Book. The Sioux Story of Creation. The First
   Battle. Another Version of the Flood. Our Animal Ancestry.

A missionary once undertook to instruct a group of Indians in the truths
of his holy religion. He told them of the creation of the earth in six
days, and of the fall of our first parents by eating an apple.

The courteous savages listened attentively, and, after thanking him, one
related in his turn a very ancient tradition concerning the origin of
the maize. But the missionary plainly showed his disgust and disbelief,
indignantly saying:--

"What I delivered to you were sacred truths, but this that you tell me
is mere fable and falsehood!"

"My brother," gravely replied the offended Indian, "it seems that you
have not been well grounded in the rules of civility. You saw that
we, who practice these rules, believed your stories; why, then, do you
refuse to credit ours?"

Every religion has its Holy Book, and ours was a mingling of history,
poetry, and prophecy, of precept and folk-lore, even such as the modern
reader finds within the covers of his Bible. This Bible of ours was our
whole literature, a living Book, sowed as precious seed by our wisest
sages, and springing anew in the wondering eyes and upon the innocent
lips of little children. Upon its hoary wisdom of proverb and fable, its
mystic and legendary lore thus sacredly preserved and transmitted from
father to son, was based in large part our customs and philosophy.

Naturally magnanimous and open-minded, the red man prefers to believe
that the Spirit of God is not breathed into man alone, but that the
whole created universe is a sharer in the immortal perfection of its
Maker. His imaginative and poetic mind, like that of the Greek, assigns
to every mountain, tree, and spring its spirit, nymph, or divinity
either beneficent or mischievous. The heroes and demigods of Indian
tradition reflect the characteristic trend of his thought, and his
attribution of personality and will to the elements, the sun and stars,
and all animate or inanimate nature.

In the Sioux story of creation, the great Mysterious One is not brought
directly upon the scene or conceived in anthropomorphic fashion, but
remains sublimely in the background. The Sun and the Earth, representing
the male and female principles, are the main elements in his creation,
the other planets being subsidiary. The enkindling warmth of the Sun
entered into the bosom of our mother, the Earth, and forthwith she
conceived and brought forth life, both vegetable and animal.

Finally there appeared mysteriously Ish-na-e-cha-ge, the "First-Born,"
a being in the likeness of man, yet more than man, who roamed solitary
among the animal people and understood their ways and their language.
They beheld him with wonder and awe, for they could do nothing without
his knowledge. He had pitched his tent in the centre of the land, and
there was no spot impossible for him to penetrate.

At last, like Adam, the "First-Born" of the Sioux became weary of
living alone, and formed for himself a companion--not a mate, but a
brother--not out of a rib from his side, but from a splinter which
he drew from his great toe! This was the Little Boy Man, who was not
created full-grown, but as an innocent child, trusting and helpless. His
Elder Brother was his teacher throughout every stage of human progress
from infancy to manhood, and it is to the rules which he laid down,
and his counsels to the Little Boy Man, that we trace many of our most
deep-rooted beliefs and most sacred customs.

Foremost among the animal people was Unk-to-mee, the Spider, the
original trouble-maker, who noted keenly the growth of the boy in wit
and ingenuity, and presently advised the animals to make an end of him;
"for," said he, "if you do not, some day he will be the master of us
all!" But they all loved the Little Boy Man because he was so friendly
and so playful. Only the monsters of the deep sea listened, and
presently took his life, hiding his body in the bottom of the sea.
Nevertheless, by the magic power of the First-Born, the body was
recovered and was given life again in the sacred vapor-bath, as
described in a former chapter.

Once more our first ancestor roamed happily among the animal people, who
were in those days a powerful nation. He learned their ways and their
language--for they had a common tongue in those days; learned to sing
like the birds, to swim like the fishes, and to climb sure-footed over
rocks like the mountain sheep. Notwithstanding that he was their good
comrade and did them no harm, Unk-to-mee once more sowed dissension
among the animals, and messages were sent into all quarters of the
earth, sea, and air, that all the tribes might unite to declare war upon
the solitary man who was destined to become their master.

After a time the young man discovered the plot, and came home very
sorrowful. He loved his animal friends, and was grieved that they should
combine against him. Besides, he was naked and unarmed. But his Elder
Brother armed him with a bow and flint-headed arrows, a stone war-club
and a spear. He likewise tossed a pebble four times into the air, and
each time it became a cliff or wall of rock about the teepee.

"Now," said he, "it is time to fight and to assert your supremacy,
for it is they who have brought the trouble upon you, and not you upon
them!"

Night and day the Little Boy Man remained upon the watch for his enemies
from the top of the wall, and at last he beheld the prairies black with
buffalo herds, and the elk gathering upon the edges of the forest. Bears
and wolves were closing in from all directions, and now from the sky the
Thunder gave his fearful war-whoop, answered by the wolf's long howl.

The badgers and other burrowers began at once to undermine his rocky
fortress, while the climbers undertook to scale its perpendicular walls.

Then for the first time on earth the bow was strung, and hundreds of
flint-headed arrows found their mark in the bodies of the animals, while
each time that the Boy Man swung his stone war-club, his enemies fell in
countless numbers.

Finally the insects, the little people of the air, attacked him in a
body, filling his eyes and ears, and tormenting him with their poisoned
spears, so that he was in despair. He called for help upon his Elder
Brother, who ordered him to strike the rocks with his stone war-club.
As soon as he had done so, sparks of fire flew upon the dry grass of the
prairie and it burst into flame. A mighty smoke ascended, which drove
away the teasing swarms of the insect people, while the flames terrified
and scattered the others.

This was the first dividing of the trail between man and the animal
people, and when the animals had sued for peace, the treaty provided
that they must ever after furnish man with flesh for his food and skins
for clothing, though not without effort and danger on his part. The
little insects refused to make any concession, and have ever since been
the tormentors of man; however, the birds of the air declared that they
would punish them for their obstinacy, and this they continue to do unto
this day.

Our people have always claimed that the stone arrows which are found so
generally throughout the country are the ones that the first man used in
his battle with the animals. It is not recorded in our traditions, much
less is it within the memory of our old men, that we have ever made
or used similar arrow-heads. Some have tried to make use of them
for shooting fish under water, but with little success, and they are
absolutely useless with the Indian bow which was in use when America was
discovered. It is possible that they were made by some pre-historic race
who used much longer and stronger bows, and who were workers in stone,
which our people were not. Their stone implements were merely natural
boulders or flint chips, fitted with handles of raw-hide or wood, except
the pipes, which were carved from a species of stone which is soft when
first quarried, and therefore easily worked with the most primitive
tools. Practically all the flint arrow-heads that we see in museums
and elsewhere were picked up or ploughed up, while some have been
dishonestly sold by trafficking Indians and others, embedded in trees
and bones.

We had neither devil nor hell in our religion until the white man
brought them to us, yet Unk-to-mee, the Spider, was doubtless akin to
that old Serpent who tempted mother Eve. He is always characterized as
tricky, treacherous, and at the same time affable and charming, being
not without the gifts of wit, prophecy, and eloquence. He is an adroit
magician, able to assume almost any form at will, and impervious to any
amount of ridicule and insult. Here we have, it appears, the elements of
the story in Genesis; the primal Eden, the tempter in animal form, and
the bringing of sorrow and death upon earth through the elemental sins
of envy and jealousy.

The warning conveyed in the story of Unk-to-mee was ever used with
success by Indian parents, and especially grandparents, in the
instruction of their children. Ish-na-e-cha-ge, on the other hand, was
a demigod and mysterious teacher, whose function it was to initiate the
first man into his tasks and pleasures here on earth.

After the battle with the animals, there followed a battle with the
elements, which in some measure parallels the Old Testament story of
the flood. In this case, the purpose seems to have been to destroy the
wicked animal people, who were too many and too strong for the lone man.

The legend tells us that when fall came, the First-Born advised his
younger brother to make for himself a warm tent of buffalo skins, and
to store up much food. No sooner had he done this than it began to snow,
and the snow fell steadily during many moons. The Little Boy Man made
for himself snow-shoes, and was thus enabled to hunt easily, while the
animals fled from him with difficulty. Finally wolves, foxes, and ravens
came to his door to beg for food, and he helped them, but many of the
fiercer wild animals died of cold and starvation.

One day, when the hungry ones appeared, the snow was higher than the
tops of the teepee poles, but the Little Boy Man's fire kept a hole open
and clear. Down this hole they peered, and lo! the man had rubbed ashes
on his face by the advice of his Elder Brother, and they both lay silent
and motionless on either side of the fire.

Then the fox barked and the raven cawed his signal to the wandering
tribes, and they all rejoiced and said: "Now they are both dying or
dead, and we shall have no more trouble!" But the sun appeared, and a
warm wind melted the snow-banks, so that the land was full of water. The
young man and his Teacher made a birch-bark canoe, which floated upon
the surface of the flood, while of the animals there were saved only a
few, who had found a foothold upon the highest peaks.

The youth had now passed triumphantly through the various ordeals of his
manhood. One day his Elder Brother spoke to him and said: "You have now
conquered the animal people, and withstood the force of the elements.
You have subdued the earth to your will, and still you are alone! It is
time to go forth and find a woman whom you can love, and by whose help
you may reproduce your kind."

"But how am I to do this?" replied the first man, who was only an
inexperienced boy. "I am here alone, as you say, and I know not where to
find a woman or a mate!"

"Go forth and seek her," replied the Great Teacher; and forthwith the
youth set out on his wanderings in search of a wife. He had no idea how
to make love, so that the first courtship was done by the pretty and
coquettish maidens of the Bird, Beaver, and Bear tribes. There are some
touching and whimsical love stories which the rich imagination of the
Indian has woven into this old legend.

It is said, for example, that at his first camp he had built for himself
a lodge of green boughs in the midst of the forest, and that there his
reverie was interrupted by a voice from the wilderness--a voice that was
irresistibly and profoundly sweet. In some mysterious way, the soul of
the young man was touched as it had never been before, for this call of
exquisite tenderness and allurement was the voice of the eternal woman!

Presently a charming little girl stood timidly at the door of his
pine-bough wigwam. She was modestly dressed in gray, with a touch of jet
about her pretty face, and she carried a basket of wild cherries which
she shyly offered to the young man. So the rover was subdued, and love
turned loose upon the world to upbuild and to destroy! When at last she
left him, he peeped through the door after her, but saw only a robin,
with head turned archly to one side, fluttering away among the trees.

His next camp was beside a clear, running stream, where a plump and
industrious maid was busily at work chopping wood. He fell promptly in
love with her also, and for some time they lived together in her cosy
house by the waterside. After their boy was born, the wanderer wished
very much to go back to his Elder Brother and to show him his wife and
child. But the beaver-woman refused to go, so at last he went alone
for a short visit. When he returned, there was only a trickle of water
beside the broken dam, the beautiful home was left desolate, and wife
and child were gone forever!

The deserted husband sat alone upon the bank, sleepless and faint with
grief, until he was consoled by a comely young woman in glossy black,
who took compassion upon his distress and soothed him with food and
loving attentions. This was the bear-woman, from whom again he was
afterward separated by some mishap. The story goes that he had children
by each of his many wives, some of whom resembled their father, and
these became the ancestors of the human race, while those who bore the
characteristics of their mother returned to her clan. It is also said
that such as were abnormal or monstrous in form were forbidden to
reproduce their kind, and all love and mating between man and the animal
creation was from that time forth strictly prohibited. There are some
curious traditions of young men and maidens who transgressed this law
unknowingly, being seduced and deceived by a magnificent buck deer,
perhaps, or a graceful doe, and whose fall was punished with death.

The animal totems so general among the tribes were said to have
descended to them from their great-grandmother's clan, and the legend
was often quoted in support of our close friendship with the animal
people. I have sometimes wondered why the scientific doctrine of man's
descent has not in the same way apparently increased the white man's
respect for these our humbler kin.

Of the many later heroes or Hiawathas who appear in this voluminous
unwritten book of ours, each introduced an epoch in the long story
of man and his environment. There is, for example, the Avenger of the
Innocent, who sprang from a clot of blood; the ragged little boy who won
fame and a wife by shooting the Red Eagle of fateful omen; and the Star
Boy, who was the off-spring of a mortal maiden and a Star.

It was this last who fought for man against his strongest enemies,
such as Wazeeyah, the Cold or North-Wind. There was a desperate battle
between these two, in which first one had the advantage and then the
other, until both were exhausted and declared a truce. While he rested,
Star Boy continued to fan himself with his great fan of eagle feathers,
and the snow melted so fast that North-Wind was forced to arrange a
treaty of peace, by which he was only to control one half the year. So
it was that the orderly march of the seasons was established, and every
year Star Boy with his fan of eagle feathers sets in motion the warm
winds that usher in the spring.




VI. ON THE BORDER-LAND OF SPIRITS

   Death and Funeral Customs. The Sacred Lock of Hair.
   Reincarnation and the Converse of Spirits. Occult and
   Psychic Powers. The Gift of Prophecy.

The attitude of the Indian toward death, the test and background of
life, is entirely consistent with his character and philosophy. Death
has no terrors for him; he meets it with simplicity and perfect calm,
seeking only an honorable end as his last gift to his family and
descendants. Therefore he courts death in battle; on the other hand, he
would regard it as disgraceful to be killed in a private quarrel. If one
be dying at home, it is customary to carry his bed out of doors as the
end approaches, that his spirit may pass under the open sky.

Next to this, the matter that concerns him most is the parting with his
dear ones, especially if he have any little children who must be left
behind to suffer want. His family affections are strong, and he
grieves intensely for the lost, even though he has unbounded faith in a
spiritual companionship.

The outward signs of mourning for the dead are far more spontaneous and
convincing than is the correct and well-ordered black of civilization.
Both men and women among us loosen their hair and cut it according to
the degree of relationship or of devotion. Consistent with the idea of
sacrificing all personal beauty and adornment, they trim off likewise
from the dress its fringes and ornaments, perhaps cut it short, or cut
the robe or blanket in two. The men blacken their faces, and widows
or bereaved parents sometimes gash their arms and legs till they are
covered with blood. Giving themselves up wholly to their grief, they are
no longer concerned about any earthly possession, and often give away
all that they have to the first comers, even to their beds and their
home. Finally, the wailing for the dead is continued night and day to
the point of utter voicelessness; a musical, weird, and heart-piercing
sound, which has been compared to the "keening" of the Celtic mourner.

The old-time burial of the Plains Indians was upon a scaffold of poles,
or a platform among the boughs of a tree--their only means of placing
the body out of reach of wild beasts, as they had no implements with
which to dig a suitable grave. It was prepared by dressing in the finest
clothes, together with some personal possessions and ornaments, wrapped
in several robes, and finally in a secure covering of raw-hide. As a
special mark of respect, the body of a young woman or a warrior was
sometimes laid out in state in a new teepee, with the usual household
articles and even with a dish of food left beside it, not that they
supposed the spirit could use the implements or eat the food but merely
as a last tribute. Then the whole people would break camp and depart to
a distance, leaving the dead alone in an honorable solitude.

There was no prescribed ceremony of burial, though the body was carried
out with more or less solemnity by selected young men, and sometimes
noted warriors were the pall-bearers of a man of distinction. It was
usual to choose a prominent hill with a commanding outlook for the last
resting-place of our dead. If a man were slain in battle, it was an old
custom to place his body against a tree or rock in a sitting position,
always facing the enemy, to indicate his undaunted defiance and bravery,
even in death.

I recall a touching custom among us, which was designed to keep the
memory of the departed near and warm in the bereaved household. A lock
of hair of the beloved dead was wrapped in pretty clothing, such as it
was supposed that he or she would like to wear if living. This "spirit
bundle," as it was called, was suspended from a tripod, and occupied a
certain place in the lodge which was the place of honor. At every meal
time, a dish of food was placed under it, and some person of the same
sex and age as the one who was gone must afterward be invited in to
partake of the food. At the end of a year from the time of death, the
relatives made a public feast and gave away the clothing and other
gifts, while the lock of hair was interred with appropriate ceremonies.

Certainly the Indian never doubted the immortal nature of the spirit
or soul of man, but neither did he care to speculate upon its
probable state or condition in a future life. The idea of a "happy
hunting-ground" is modern and probably borrowed, or invented by the
white man. The primitive Indian was content to believe that the spirit
which the "Great Mystery" breathed into man returns to Him who gave it,
and that after it is freed from the body, it is everywhere and pervades
all nature, yet often lingers near the grave or "spirit bundle" for
the consolation of friends, and is able to hear prayers. So much of
reverence was due the disembodied spirit, that it was not customary with
us even to name the dead aloud.

It is well known that the American Indian had somehow developed occult
power, and although in the latter days there have been many impostors,
and, allowing for the vanity and weakness of human nature, it is fair
to assume that there must have been some even in the old days, yet there
are well-attested instances of remarkable prophecies and other mystic
practice.

A Sioux prophet predicted the coming of the white man fully fifty
years before the event, and even described accurately his garments and
weapons. Before the steamboat was invented, another prophet of our race
described the "Fire Boat" that would swim upon their mighty river, the
Mississippi, and the date of this prophecy is attested by the term
used, which is long since obsolete. No doubt, many predictions have been
colored to suit the new age, and unquestionably false prophets, fakirs,
and conjurers have become the pest of the tribes during the transition
period. Nevertheless, even during this period there was here and there a
man of the old type who was implicitly believed in to the last.

Notable among these was Ta-chank-pee Ho-tank-a, or His War Club Speaks
Loud, who foretold a year in advance the details of a great war-party
against the Ojibways. There were to be seven battles, all successful
except the last, in which the Sioux were to be taken at a disadvantage
and suffer crushing defeat. This was carried out to the letter. Our
people surprised and slew many of the Ojibways in their villages, but in
turn were followed and cunningly led into an ambush whence but few came
out alive. This was only one of his remarkable prophecies.

Another famous "medicine-man" was born on the Rum River about one
hundred and fifty years ago, and lived to be over a century old. He was
born during a desperate battle with the Ojibways, at a moment when, as
it seemed, the band of Sioux engaged were to be annihilated. Therefore
the child's grandmother exclaimed: "Since we are all to perish, let him
die a warrior's death in the field!" and she placed his cradle under
fire, near the spot where his uncle and grandfathers were fighting, for
he had no father. But when an old man discovered the new-born child, he
commanded the women to take care of him, "for," said he, "we know not
how precious the strength of even one warrior may some day become to his
nation!"

This child lived to become great among us, as was intimated to the
superstitious by the circumstances of his birth. At the age of about
seventy-five years, he saved his band from utter destruction at the
hands of their ancestral enemies, by suddenly giving warning received in
a dream of the approach of a large war-party. The men immediately sent
out scouts, and felled trees for a stockade, barely in time to meet and
repel the predicted attack. Five years later, he repeated the service,
and again saved his people from awful slaughter. There was no confusion
of figures or omens, as with lesser medicine-men, but in every incident
that is told of him his interpretation of the sign, whatever it was,
proved singularly correct.

The father of Little Crow, the chief who led the "Minnesota massacre"
of 1862, was another prophet of some note. One of his characteristic
prophecies was made only a few years before he died, when he had
declared that, although already an old man, he would go once more upon
the war-path. At the final war-feast, he declared that three of the
enemy would be slain, but he showed great distress and reluctance in
foretelling that he would lose two of his own men. Three of the Ojibways
were indeed slain as he had said, but in the battle the old war prophet
lost both of his two sons.

There are many trustworthy men, and men of Christian faith, to vouch
for these and similar events occurring as foretold. I cannot pretend to
explain them, but I know that our people possessed remarkable powers of
concentration and abstraction, and I sometimes fancy that such nearness
to nature as I have described keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions
not commonly felt, and in touch with the unseen powers. Some of us
seemed to have a peculiar intuition for the locality of a grave, which
they explained by saying that they had received a communication from the
spirit of the departed. My own grandmother was one of these, and as far
back as I can remember, when camping in a strange country, my brother
and I would search for and find human bones at the spot she had
indicated to us as an ancient burial-place or the spot where a lone
warrior had fallen. Of course, the outward signs of burial had been long
since obliterated.

The Scotch would certainly have declared that she had the "second
sight," for she had other remarkable premonitions or intuitions within
my own recollection. I have heard her speak of a peculiar sensation
in the breast, by which, as she said, she was advised of anything of
importance concerning her absent children. Other native women have
claimed a similar monitor, but I never heard of one who could interpret
it with such accuracy. We were once camping on Lake Manitoba when we
received news that my uncle and his family had been murdered several
weeks before, at a fort some two hundred miles distant. While all our
clan were wailing and mourning their loss, my grandmother calmly bade
them cease, saying that her son was approaching, and that they would see
him shortly. Although we had no other reason to doubt the ill tidings,
it is a fact that my uncle came into camp two days after his reported
death.

At another time, when I was fourteen years old, we had just left Fort
Ellis on the Assiniboine River, and my youngest uncle had selected
a fine spot for our night camp. It was already after sundown, but my
grandmother became unaccountably nervous, and positively refused to
pitch her tent. So we reluctantly went on down the river, and camped
after dark at a secluded place. The next day we learned that a family
who were following close behind had stopped at the place first selected
by my uncle, but were surprised in the night by a roving war-party,
and massacred to a man. This incident made a great impression upon our
people.

Many of the Indians believed that one may be born more than once,
and there were some who claimed to have full knowledge of a former
incarnation. There were also those who held converse with a "twin
spirit," who had been born into another tribe or race. There was
a well-known Sioux war-prophet who lived in the middle of the last
century, so that he is still remembered by the old men of his band.
After he had reached middle age, he declared that he had a spirit
brother among the Ojibways, the ancestral enemies of the Sioux. He even
named the band to which his brother belonged, and said that he also was
a war-prophet among his people.

Upon one of their hunts along the border between the two tribes, the
Sioux leader one evening called his warriors together, and solemnly
declared to them that they were about to meet a like band of Ojibway
hunters, led by his spirit twin. Since this was to be their first
meeting since they were born as strangers, he earnestly begged the young
men to resist the temptation to join battle with their tribal foes.

"You will know him at once," the prophet said to them, "for he will not
only look like me in face and form, but he will display the same totem,
and even sing my war songs!"

They sent out scouts, who soon returned with news of the approaching
party. Then the leading men started with their peace-pipe for the
Ojibway camp, and when they were near at hand they fired three distinct
volleys, a signal of their desire for a peaceful meeting.

The response came in like manner, and they entered the camp, with the
peace-pipe in the hands of the prophet.

Lo, the stranger prophet advanced to meet them, and the people were
greatly struck with the resemblance between the two men, who met and
embraced one another with unusual fervor.

It was quickly agreed by both parties that they should camp together
for several days, and one evening the Sioux made a "warriors' feast"
to which they invited many of the Ojibways. The prophet asked his twin
brother to sing one of his sacred songs, and behold! it was the very
song that he himself was wont to sing. This proved to the warriors
beyond doubt or cavil the claims of their seer.





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Soul of the Indian, by 
[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

*** 