Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America, by John Dunn Hunter; 3rd edition (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Ohme, Brown, & Green, 1824)

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In respect to the origin of their religion, the Indians themselves are altogether ignorant. It is certain, however, that they acknowledge, at least so far as my acquaintance extends, one supreme, all powerful, and intelligent Being, viz. the Great Spirit, or the Giver of Life, who created and governs all things. They believe, in general, that, after the hunting grounds had been formed and supplied with game, that he created the first red man and woman, who were very large in their stature, and lived to an exceedingly old age; that he often held councils and smoked with them, gave them laws to be observed, and taught them how to take game and cultivate corn: but that in consequence of their disobedience, he withdrew from, and abandoned them to the vexations of the Bad Spirit, who had since been instrumental to all their degeneracy and sufferings.

They believe him of too exalted a character to be directly the author of evil, and that, notwithstanding the offences of his red children, he continues to shower down on them all the blessings they enjoy: in consequence of this parental regard for them, they are truly filial and sincere in their devotions, and pray to him for such things as they need, and return thanks for such good things as they receive.

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On the other hand, when in affliction, or suffering under any great calamity, in the belief that it will appease his wrath or mitigate his chastisements, they pray with equal fervency to the Evil spirit, who, they conceive, is of a character directly the reverse of the Good Spirit, to whom he is inferior, but, nevertheless, has sufficient power, and is constantly employed in devising means to torment and punish the human family.

By the term Spirit, the Indians have an idea of a being that can, at pleasure, be present, and yet invisible: they nevertheless think the Great Spirit, like themselves, possessed of a corporeal form, though endowed with a nature infinitely more excellent than theirs, and which will endure for ever without change.

Although they believe in a future state of existence, as before noticed, they associate it with natural things, having no idea of the soul, or of intellectual enjoyments; but expect, at some future time after death, to become in their proper persons the perpetual inhabitants of a delightful country; where their employments, divested of pains and troubles, will resemble those here; where game will be abundant; and where there is one continued spring, and cloudless sky.

They also expect that their sensual pleasures will be in proportion to individual merit: the brave warrior, expert hunter, and those slain in battle in defence of their country, having the highest claims, will be the most distinguished; while those of subordinate pretensions will occupy subordinate stations.

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They have no particular days set apart for devotional purposes, though they have particular times; such, for instance, as the declaration of war, the restoration of peace, and extraordinary natural visitations. They also have rejoicings, which assume something of the pious form; such are their harvests, and the return of the new moon. In general, however, a day seldom passes with an elderly Indian, or others who are esteemed wise and good, in which a blessing is not asked, or thanks returned to the Giver of Life; sometimes audibly, but most generally in the devotional language of the heart.

This ceremony is particularly observed after allaying their thirst at the fountains, but is not confined to circumstance nor place. It is practised by individuals, parties, and even by whole tribes, when they break up their encampments, as was noticed in my narrative. (Page 77.)

Their manner of worshipping the Deity differs, however, on different occasions. Shortly after a council has determined on war, every individual that is able to walk, and the old men sometimes borne by others, assemble in a grove, or some other place rendered sacred by the occasion, and offer up their prayers to the Great Spirit for success against their enemies.

Sometimes the devotional exercises are pantomimic and profoundly silent; at others, ejaculatory and vociferous. At the conclusion, some one of the old men or prophets addresses the assembly; states the cause of their grievances; and enjoins the warriors to merit success, by being brave, and placing their confidence in the Great Giver of Life.

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Afterwards all return to their homes. These meetings vary in their duration from three hours to a whole day.

Similar meetings are generally held on the conclusion of peace, or the attainment of a victory, though their devotions assume more or less of the character of rejoicing or mourning, according to the success that has attended their arms. When triumphant, they dance and sing songs of victory, in which the name of the Great Spirit is frequently introduced with great reverence; if vanquished, or having suffered great losses, the women and children weep immoderately, pull their hair, beat on their breast, and pray for the destruction of their enemies. The men for the most part of the time maintain a sullen and mournful silence, beat on their breasts, and occasionally pray for their lives to be spared till they have revenged themselves on their enemies. These meetings never take place till after the burial of those who have fallen in battle; a particular account of which will be given in its proper place.

Meetings similar to the above are also convened on any extraordinary natural occurrence, or on the prevalence of any fatal epidemic. On such occasions, some one of the old men, or a prophet, if one should be present, addresses the Indians in an authoritative tone of voice, and assures them that the calamity which threatens is a visitation from the Great Spirit, to chastise them for their ill-spent lives and wilful offences against him; he then commands them to be penitent for what has passed, and to reform for the future. Silent prayers are now offered,

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accompanied by promises to become more obedient to their Great Father: the meeting is then dissolved; all amusements and recreations cease, and individual prayers and fastings are frequently observed for many successive days. All their serious devotions are performed in a standing position.

At the ingathering of the corn, they observe general rejoicings; at which all who are able join in appropriate dances, songs, and feasts, and in thanks to the Great Spirit, for his munificence towards them. On these occasions, as also at the new moon, at the commencement of hunting the buffalo in the spring, lamps, constructed of shells, and supplied with bears' grease and rush wicks, are kept burning all the night preceding and following these joyous festivals; but for what particular purpose the practice is kept up, or from what circumstances it originated, I could never learn; and it is probable the history is lost, as the Indians themselves only conform to it in obedience to usage.

They in general, on discovering the new moon, utter a short prayer to the Great Spirit, to preserve them from, and make them victorious over their enemies; and to give them a cloudless sky, and an abundance of game.

Their addresses to the Evil Spirit are only made on particular occasions, as before observed, and then not uniformly by all such as are generally esteemed subjects of his tormenting visitations: for, in regard to his agency, there are some among the Indians, as well as the white people, who entertain doubts, and others, though this number is small, who alto-

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gether discredit it, and pay all their adoration to Him, who, under whatever name he may be worshipped, is alone worthy.

Their ideas of good and evil spirits, the agents or minions of superior powers, are exceedingly various. There are some exceptions, however, to the belief of their existence; though the opposite opinion is almost universal. Some believe that they invisibly hover around and influence all their conduct, and are on ordinary occasions the immediate executors of rewards and punishments. Others believe that they perform only the offices of exciting to good and bad actions; and others again, that they only officiate on great and important occasions. They also believe that these good and bad spirits are at perpetual war with each other; that their power is much limited, and not transferable to human beings in general, though in a very limited degree so to those who are remarkable for their wisdom and goodness, or for qualities of an opposite nature. The former constitute their prophets or priests, and the latter their enchanters, or practisers of witchery, as is believed, to the injury of inoffensive Indians.

In all the tribes I have visited, the belief of a future state of existence, and of future rewards and punishments, is prevalent; though this in many respects is various, and generally confused and indistinct; as might reasonably be supposed would be the case among any people possessed of no better opportunities or advantages for acquiring or perpetuating information. This belief in their accountability to the

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Great Spirit makes the Indians generally scrupulous and enthusiastic observers of all their traditionary, tuitive, and exemplary dogmas; and it is a fact worthy of remark, that neither frigidity, indifference, nor hypocrisy, in regard to sacred things, is known to exist among them, excepting occasionally the young and inconsiderate, some of their prophets or priests, and all their conjurers. This conduct, with most of the Indians, is founded on a perfect conviction that the cultivation and observance of good and virtuous actions in this life, will, in the next, entitle them to the perpetual enjoyment of ease and happiness, in delightful and abundantly supplied hunting grounds, situated at a vast distance beyond the Great Waters, where they will be again restored to the favour, and enjoy the immediate presence, counsel, and protection of the Great Spirit. While a dereliction from it, or the pursuit of an opposite course, will as assuredly entail on them endless afflictions, wants, and wretchedness; barren, parched, and desolate hunting grounds, the inheritance and residence of wicked spirits, whose pleasure and province it is to render the unhappy still more miserable. Others again think, that the pleasure or displeasure of the Great Spirit is manifested in the passage, or attempted passage, of the good and bad, from this to another world. On this eventful occasion all are supplied with canoes; which, if they have been brave warriors, and otherwise virtuous and commendable, the Great Spirit, either directly or indirectly, guides across the deep to the haven of unceasing happiness and peace. On the other hand, if they have been coward-

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ly, vicious, and negligent in the performance of their duties, they are reprobated to the evil fantasies of malign spirits, who either sink their canoes, and leave them to struggle amidst contending floods, or feed their hopes with delusive prospects, and bewilder them in inextricable errors, or strand them on some shore, and there transform them into some beast, reptile, or insect, according to the enormity of their guilt.

This latter opinion, omitting the sea-voyage, prevails to a considerable extent among some of the tribes. Indeed, the metamorphosis is supposed sometimes to take place in a varying and alternating series in the same individual, according to his culpableness, till he has atoned for all his offences, and, in his proper character, merited a residence in the elysium of the good.

Every Indian of any standing has his sacred place, such as a tree, rock, fountain, &c. to which he resorts for devotional exercise, whenever his feelings prompt to the measure: sometimes many resort to the same place. Preceding any public meeting, held either for religious or festive purposes, or the assemblage of a council, they uniformly retire to their respective places of private worship, and solicit the counsel and protection of the Great Spirit. No compulsion is ever exercised to procure attendance at any of these meetings; but those who omit to attend are thought less of, and their conduct is ascribed to an indifference to holy things, and a want of solicitude for the national welfare.

The religious opinions entertained, and modes of worship observed by the several Indian tribes, with

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which I have any acquaintance, vary in their general character but little. My knowledge, however, is limited to very few; and what I have above stated applies particularly to the Osage and the Kansas nations. There are some in all the tribes who do not subscribe in opinion, or conform in conduct to the general dogmas and modes of worship: of this number I regard Clermont, the chief of the Great Osages. I have several times, both in public and private meetings, heard him observe, that all good actions would be rewarded, and all bad actions punished by the Great Spirit; that the evil actions of those whose lives were generally good were the causes of the afflictions they suffered, the losses they sustained, and the more painful death that followed: their offences would, however, be finally forgotten. That such would not be the condition of those whose lives were generally wicked; for in this life they suffered much greater evils and afflictions than the good, which in the next would continue to be their lot; because then they would not have it in their power to reform, and merit a happy state.

Tut-tus-sug-geh, another distinguished Osage, entertains opinions very similar. At first, one might be led to suppose that this belief was a modification of doctrines taught by some of the missionaries; but such is not the case; for, antecedent to my leaving those people, they had been held in such discredit, as to render all arguments and discourses on religious subjects suspected and of no avail. Besides, Clermont had been celebrated for the singularity of his opinions, before any of this class, I believe, visited his nation; and we

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might as reasonably expect a disciple of the Cross to preach up the worship of idols, as that an Indian trader would have attempted to unfold the doctrine of future rewards and punishments to the benighted Indians. This opinion, therefore, must have originated in the versatility of some reflecting mind among the Indians.

It may be remarked here, that a general opinion prevails among them that the disquietude produced by, or the misery attendant on bad conduct, is always greater than the pleasure afforded by the transaction:--which, say they, independent of their obligations to perform what is agreeable to the Great Spirit, is a sufficient motive, and should always stimulate to the performance of good actions. The Indians generally conform to this; not, however, from selfish views, but from principle; to which they in general accommodate their conduct with greater zeal, in my opinion, than any other people on the globe.

They are scrupulous observers of their engagements, prompt and steady friends, active and inveterate enemies, sincere in religious things, and, in fact, perform all their duties, after the manner in which they have been educated, "heart in hand."

Among the Indians there is no difference in the character of their prophets and priests: one performs the duties of both offices, if two can be said to exist. They also, in general, officiate as physicians; but the practice of medicine is by no means confined to them; and we often see persons applying themselves to it, without any regard to age or sex; though experience

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and success are thought to be essentially requisite to entitle them to the character.

The power of holding communication with invisible agents, and thus of being able to foretell future events, is pretended to, and practised, to a greater or less extent; but the sacerdotal office, in the strict sense of the word, is, in general, unknown among the Indians. I, however, witnessed an instance, while the Ricara villages, wherein the priest burnt tobacco, and the offals of the buffalo and deer, on a kind of altar constructed of stones on a mound. The ceremony was accompanied with signs and incantations, addressed to the Great, or some other spirit, which, from my ignorance of their language, were altogether unintelligible to me. During the performance, a large concourse of people was assembled round the mound, but no one, except the priest, was permitted to tread on the spot consecrated to religious purposes.

The only thing further connected with this circumstance, as worthy of remark, was the dress or habiliments of the priest. His cap was very high, and made of a beaver skin, the tail of which was curiously ornamented with stained porcupine quills, and hung down on his back; his robe was a buffalo skin, singularly decorated with various colored feathers and dyed porcupine quills; and he wore on his breast, suspended from his neck, a dressed beaver skin stretched on sticks, on which were painted various hieroglyphic figures, in different colours. His forehead was painted black, his cheeks blue, with stripes of red obliquely out and downwards from the alæ of the nose. All his beard was plucked out, except

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two small bunches on the upper lip, midway between the nose and angles of the mouth, and two other bunches, of about the same size, on the sides of the chin, directly under those on the upper lip. These bunches were all painted of different colours, and helped, as I then thought, to constitute one of the most singular and grotesque figures I had ever seen.

The Indians speak of similar characters being among some other tribes; but the above described is the only one that ever came under my observation. The prophets, as before noticed, are more numerous, though the number of those who are, or have been much distinguished, is comparatively small. Some of them are wise, good, and pious men, who found their pretensions to a knowledge of the future on careful observation, and on their dreams, which the Indians generally suppose are inspired by invisible agents, of either good or evil qualities, according to the nature of the sleeping effusion, and believing them the faithful foreboders of unavoidable events, they are happy or wretched, cheerful or gloomy, in conformation to whatever they may portend.

The title of prophet is sometimes awarded by the Indians on individuals who have rendered themselves remarkable by their wise sayings, clearness of judgment, and virtuous lives; but, for the most part, it is assumed by pretenders, and supported by juggling tricks, and impostures practised on unsuspecting credulity.

They are not distinguished by their dress from the rest of the Indians.

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On ordinary occasions they retire secretly to their sacred places, and invoke the assistance of the Great Spirit, and make the most solemn vows to him, which they never fail to perform, should he vouchsafe to lend an ear to their prayers; or, in other words, should events correspond to their predictions or prayers. But at times more momentous, such as the declaration of war, conclusion of peace, or the prevalence of epidemics, &c. they impose on themselves long fastings and severe penance; take narcotic and nauseating drugs, envelope themselves entirely in several layers of skins, without any regard to the temperature of the season; and, in a perspiring and suffocating condition, are carried by the people into one of the public lodges, or to some sacred place, where they remain, without the slightest interruption, in a delirium or deep sleep, till the potency of the drugs is exhausted. After the performance of this ceremony, while the body is much debilitated, and the mind still partially deranged, they proclaim their dreams or phantasms to the astonished multitude as the will or commands of the Great Spirit, made known to them through their intercourse with his ministering agents. These pretended oracles are always unfolded in equivocal language, or are made to depend on contingencies; so that if they should not comport with the events which follow, they can charge it to the ignorance or misconduct of the Indians themselves; which is often done with an assurance and cunning that secures their reputation not only against attack, but even suspicion.

They usually predict such things as in the natural

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order of events would be most likely to take place; such, for instance, as changes in the weather, abundance or scarcity of game, visits from strangers, marriage, sickness, death, &c., and it is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of chances that they should, as they often do, turn out correct. The Indians, however, never take this view of the subject, but in general give full credit to the pretensions or absurd ability of their prophets. Sometimes they predict so falsely as to be detected: in such case, they totally lose their character and influence in the tribe, and are contemned as the abusers of sacred things, and offenders against the goodness of the Great Spirit.

When they are possessed of popular qualities, such as bravery and skill in war, great strength and vigour of body, eloquence, &c. they exercise an almost unlimited power over the minds and actions of the Indians, not only in their own, but in other tribes, their allies or friends. Such, for a time, were Tecumseh and Francis, the celebrated Shawanee prophets, whose patriotic and magnanimous designs, connected with their own country, were too vast for their means of execution, and involved them and many of their abettors in consequences too generally known to require any detail in this place.

The opinions of the Kansas and Osages are very similar on this subject; though some difference prevails in their various ceremonials, which, however, is not sufficient to bring in question their common origin. The Shawanees, I have understood, dispense with many of these ceremonies, and are much more

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credulous to their soothsayers and fortune-tellers, who are much more numerous, and are held in higher estimation among them, than is usually the case in any of the other tribes. They are also in great credit among many of the white people on the frontiers; and some of them travel, and make a living in the practice of their arts among them; but such generally become dissipated and lose their standing, both abroad and at home.

I have before mentioned that the Indians place great reliance on dreams. When any difficulty arises in regard to their interpretation, recourse is had to the prophets or old men, who generally aim to put a favourable construction on all, but particularly on those which excite the greatest apprehensions. The motive for this conduct no doubt grows out of a sympathetic feeling; and it ought to be regarded commendable, on account of the relief thus extended to anxious and highly perturbated minds, which, in violation of these sleeping inspirations, could hardly be brought to co-operate with the body for their mutual preservation, or for that of any of their dependents. Indeed, I have known several instances in which an Indian has postponed his hunts for several succeeding nights, notwithstanding his family were in want, rather than go without the auspices of a favourable dream. They sometimes dream of combats with the wounded buffalo, elk, or buck; which serve to make the Indians more cautious; and should they afterwards experience any danger, whether resembling them or not, they are sure, in the fertility of their imaginations, to trace out a connection

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which, they conceive, lays them under very particular obligations to their invisible protector.

Should their dreams be partially or wholly verified, the horn of the animal, or something connected with the circumstance, is consecrated among their sacred things, and preserved with the most assiduous care, as a amulet possessed of the occult power of procuring safety to its proprietor against evil spirits, and every kind of disease and danger.

On some occasions the more artful avail themselves of imputed dreams to secure their right to valuables against the solicitations of others, and, at the same time, to avoid the reproach of being avaricious; a quality uniformly unpopular among the Indians.

It is considered a moral crime to part with any thing which has been so consecrated. Almost every lodge contains something of the kind; and whenever any suffering does befall its inmates, the cause is ascribed to their own misconduct, which, they say, has been so great as to paralyze their efficacy.

That the Indians should regard their prophets as the oracles of mysterious Heaven to benighted man, and dreams or sleeping reveries as divine visitations, cannot be regarded as extraordinary, since every nation and people on the face of the earth, of which history has taken any notice, have, in a greater or less degree, entertained and conformed their conduct to similar notions. It is true, the progressive march of reason has very much dispelled the ridiculous and absurd opinions of supernatural agency, and pointed out the causes of the delusion; nevertheless, I think I may say, without the fear of contradiction, that

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nearly one half of the population, in countries where the mental faculties have been most perfectly developed, still advocate and believe in their existence, and virtual influence.

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