Chapter XVIII: Part 18

In the popular mind the religion of the North American Indian consists practically of belief in the "Great Spirit" and the "Happy Hunting Grounds." But while some tribes, e.g. of the Iroquoian and Caddoan stocks appear to have come reasonably near a pantheistic conception tending toward monism and monotheism, not a little of present Indian beliefs as to the "Great Spirit," "God" and "Devil," "Good Spirit" and "Evil Spirit," &c., as well as concerning moral distinctions in the hereafter, can reasonably be considered the result of missionary and other influences coming directly or indirectly from the whites. The central idea in the religion and mythology of the aborigines north of Mexico is what Hewitt (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1902) has proposed to term _orenda_, from "the Iroquois name of the fictive force, principle or magic power which was assumed by the inchoate reasoning of primitive man to be inherent in every body and being of nature and in every personified attribute, property or activity belonging to each of these and conceived to be the active cause or force or dynamic energy involved in every operation or phenomenon of nature, in any manner affecting or controlling the welfare of man." The _orendas_ of the innumerable beings and objects, real and imagined, in the universe differed immensely in action, function, power, &c., and in like manner varied were the efforts of man by prayers, offerings and sacrifices, ceremonies and rites of a propitiatory or sympathetic nature to influence for his own welfare the possessor of this or that _orenda_, from the "high gods" to the least of all beings. Corresponding to the Iroquoian _orenda_ is the _wakanda_ of the Siouan tribes, some aspects of which have been admirably treated by Miss Fletcher in her "Notes on Certain Beliefs concerning Will Power among the Siouan Tribes" (_Science_, vol. v., n.s., 1897). Other parallels of _orenda_ are Algonkian _manito_, Shoshonian _pokunt_, Athabaskan _cæn_. As Hewitt points out, these Indian terms are not to be simply translated into English by such expressions as "mystery," "magic," "immortal," "sorcery," "wonderful," &c. Man, indeed, "may sometimes possess weapons whose _orenda_ is superior to that possessed by some of the primal beings of his cosmology."

The main topics of the mythology of the American Indians north of Mexico have been treated by Powell in his "Sketch of the Mythology of the North American Indians" (_First Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol._, 1879-1880), and Brinton in his _American Hero Myths_ (1876), _Myths of the New World_ (1896) and _Religions of Primitive Peoples_ (1900). Widespread is the idea of a culture-hero or demi-god (sometimes one of twins or even quadruplets) who is born of a human virgin, often by divine secret fecundation, and, growing up, frees the earth from monsters and evil beings, or re-fashions it in various ways, improves the breed and perfects the institutions of mankind, then retires to watch over the world from some remote resting-place, or, angered at the wickedness of men and women, leaves them, promising to return at some future time. He often figures in the great deluge legend as the friend, helper and regenerator of the human race. A typical example of these culture-heroes is the Algonkian character who appears as Nanabozho among the Ojibwa, Wisaketchak among the Cree, Napiw among the Blackfeet, Wisaka among the Sacs and Foxes, Glooscap (Kuloskap) among the Micmac, &c. (see _Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore_, 1891, and _Handbook of Amer. Inds._, 1907), whose brother is sometimes represented as being after death the ruler of the spirit world. The Iroquoian correspondent of Nanabozho is Tehoronhiawakhon; the Siouan, in many respects, Ictinike. Among many tribes of the North Pacific coast region the culture-hero appears as the "transformer," demi-god, human or animal in form (coyote, blue-jay, raven, &c.), the last often being tricksters and dupers of mankind and the rest of creation as well. This trickster and buffoon (also liar) element appears also in the Iroquoian and Algonkian culture-heroes and has received special treatment by Brinton (_Essays of an Americanist_, 1890). On the whole, the Algonkian and Iroquoian culture-hero is mainly actuated by altruistic motives, while the "transformer" of the Indians of the North Pacific coast region is often credited with producing or shaping the world, mankind and their activities as they now exist for purely egotistic purposes. Other noteworthy heroes, "reformers," &c., among the North American Indians are the subject of legends, like the Iroquoian "Good Mind and Bad Mind," the Algonkian (Musquaki) "Hot Hand and Cold Hand," the Zuñian "Right Hand and Left Hand"; and numerous others, including such conceptions as the antagonism and opposition of land and water (dry and wet), summer and winter, day and night, food and famine, giants and pigmies, &c. In the matter of the personification of natural phenomena, &c., there is considerable variation, even among tribes of approximately the same state of culture. Thus, e.g. as Hewitt notes (_Handbook of Amer. Inds._, 1907, pt. i. p. 970), while with the Iroquoian and eastern Algonkian tribes "the Thunder people, human in form and mind and usually four in number, are most important and staunch friends of man"; in the region of the Great Lakes and westward "this conception is replaced by that of the Thunder bird."

The Pawnee Indians of the Caddoan stock seem both individually and
tribally to possess a deep religious sense expressing itself alike in
moods of the person and in ceremonies of a general popular character.
This is evident, alike from Miss Fletcher's description (_Amer.
Anthrop._, 1899, pp. 83-85) of a venerable priest of that tribe,
Tahiroossawichi, and from her detailed account of "The Hako: A Pawnee
Ceremony" (_Twenty-second Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol._, 1900-1901, pp.
5-372). This Hako ceremony, the original stimulus for which was
probably desire for offspring, and then to ensure friendship and peace
between groups of persons belonging to different clans, gentes or
tribes, had no fixed or stated time and "was not connected with
planting or harvesting, hunting or war or any tribal festival,"
although the Indians take up the Hako, with its long series of
observances and its hundred songs, "in the spring when the birds are
mating, or in the summer when the birds are nesting and caring for
their young, or in the fall when the birds are flocking, but not in
the winter when all things are asleep; with the Hako we are praying
for the gift of life, of strength, of plenty and of peace, so we must
pray when life is stirring everywhere,"--these are the words of the
Indian hieragogue.

In the arid region of the south-western United States there has grown
up, especially among the Moqui, as may be read in the numerous
monographs of Dr J. Walter Fewkes (and briefly in the _Report of the
Smithsonian Institution for 1905_), a system of religious ceremonials
and sympathetic magic, the object of which is to ensure the necessary
rainfall and through this the continued life and prosperity of the
people. Here everything is conceived as really or symbolically related
to sun, water, rain. The Moqui are essentially a religious people, and
their mythology, in which the central figures are the "earth mother"
and the "sky father," has been described as "a polytheism largely
tinged with ancestor-worship and permeated with fetishism." Part of
their exceedingly intricate, complex and elaborate ritual is the
so-called "snake dance," which has been written of by Bourke (_The
Snake Dance of the Moquis_, 1884), Fewkes and others.

In the Gulf region east of the Mississippi, "sun worship," with
primitive "temples," appears among some of the tribes with certain
curious myths, beliefs, ceremonies, &c. The Natchez, e.g. according to
Dr Swanton (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1907), were noteworthy on account of
"their highly developed monarchical government and their possession of
a national religion centring about a temple, which reminds one in many
ways of the temples of Mexico and Central America." They seem to have
had "an extreme form of sun-worship and a highly developed ritual." A
simpler form of sun-worship is found among the Kootenay of British
Columbia (_Rep. Brit. Assoc._, 1889, 1892). With the Yuchi occur some
Algonkian-like myths of the deluge, &c.

The best data as to the religion and mythology of the Iroquoian
tribes are to be found in the writings of Hewitt, especially in his
monograph on "Iroquoian Cosmology" (_Twenty-first Ann. Rep. Bur.
Ethnol._, 1899-1900, pp. 127-339), In the creation-myths several
instances of European influence are pointed out. Mother-earth and her
life are the source, by transformation and evolution, of all things.
The first beings of Iroquoian mythology (daylight, earthquake, winter,
medicine, wind, life, flower, &c.) "were not beasts, but belonged to a
rather vague class of which man was the characteristic type,"--later
come beast-gods. According to Hewitt the Iroquoian term rendered in
English "god" signifies really "disposer, controller," for to these
Indians "god" and "controller" are synonymous; and so "the reputed
controller of the operations of nature received worship and prayers."
Creation-legends in great variety exist among the North American
aborigines, from simple fiat actions of single characters to
complicated transformations accomplished with the aid of other beings.
The specific creation legend often follows that of the deluge.

Perhaps the most remarkable of all North American creation stories is
that of the Zuñi as recorded by Cushing (_Thirteenth Ann. Rep. Bur.
Ethnol._, 1891-1892) in his "Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths." Here
the principal figure is "Awonawilona, the maker and container of all,"
and the growth-substance the "fogs of increase," which he evolved by
his thinking in the pristine night. The long tale of the origin of the
sun, the earth and the sky, and the taking form of "the seed of men
and all creatures" in the lowest of the four caves or wombs of the
world and their long journey to light and real life on the present
earth is a wonderful story of evolution as conceived by the primitive
mind, an aboriginal epic, in fact.

In the mythology and religion of the Algonkian tribes (particularly
the Chippewa, &c.) is expressed "a firm belief in a cosmic mystery
present throughout all nature, called _manitou_." This _manitou_ "was
identified with both animate and inanimate objects, and the impulse
was strong to enter into personal relation with the mystic power; it
was easy for an Ojibwa to associate the _manitou_ with all forms of
transcendent agencies, some of which assumed definite characters and
played the rôle of deities" (Jones). There were innumerable _manitous_
of high or low degree. The highest development of this conception was
in _Kitchi Manitou_ (Great Manitou), but whether this personification
has not been considerably influenced by teachings of the whites is a
question. The chief figure in the mythology of the Chippewa and
related tribes is Nanabozho, who "while yet a youth became the creator
of the world and everything it contained; the author of all the great
institutions in Ojibwa society and the founder of the leading
ceremonies" (Jones, _Ann. Arch. Rep. Ontario_, 1905; _Journ. Amer.
Folk-Lore_, 1902, &c.). It is to this character that some of the most
human of all Indian myths are attached, e.g. the Micmac legend of the
origin of the crowing of babies and the story of Nanabozho's attempt
to stick his toe into his mouth after the manner of a little child.
Nanabozho is also the central figure in the typical deluge legend of
the Algonkian peoples of the Great Lakes (_Journ. of American
Folk-Lore_, 1891), which, in some versions, is the most remarkable
myth of its kind north of Mexico.

The best and most authoritative discussion of the religions and
mythological ideas of the Eskimo is to be found in the article of Dr
Franz Boas on "The Folk-Lore of the Eskimo" (_Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore_,
1904, pp. 1-13). The characteristic feature of Eskimo folk-lore is the
hero-tales, treating of visits to fabulous tribes, encounters with
monsters, quarrels and "wars," shamanism, witchcraft, &c., and
generally of "the events occurring in human society as it exists now,"
the supernatural playing a more or less important rôle, but the mass
of folk-lore being "thoroughly human in character." In Eskimo myths
there appears to be "a complete absence of the idea that
transformations or creations were made for the benefit of man during a
mythological period, and that these events changed the general aspect
of the world," quite in contrast with the conceptions of many Indian
tribes, particularly in the region of the North Pacific, where the
"transformer" (sometimes trickster also), demi-god, human or animal
(coyote, raven, blue-jay, &c.), plays so important a part, as may be
seen from the legends recorded in Dr Boas's _Indianische Sagen der
nord-pacifischen Küste Amerikas_ (Berlin, 1895) and other more recent
monographs. In Eskimo folk-lore the field of animal tales is quite
limited, and Dr Boas is of opinion that the genuine animal myth "was
originally foreign to Eskimo folk-lore," and has been borrowed from
the Indians. Perhaps the most prominent character in Eskimo mythology
is Sedna, the old woman, who is mistress of the lower world beneath
the ocean (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1900). The highest being conceived of by
the Athabaskans of Canada was, according to Morice (_Ann. Arch. Rep.
Ontario_, 1905, p. 204), "a real entity, which they feared rather than
loved or worshipped." The way of communicating with the unseen was
through "personal totems," revealed usually in dreams. The Hupa, an
Athabaskan people of California, are reported by Goddard as possessing
a deep religious sense. But the most remarkable mythology of any
Athabaskan tribe is that of the Navaho, which has been studied in
detail under some of its chief aspects by Dr Washington Matthews in
his valuable monographs, _Navaho Legends_ (1897) and _The Night Chant_
(1902). According to Dr Matthews, the Navaho "are a highly religious
people having many well-defined divinities (nature gods, animal gods
and local gods), a vast mythic and legendary lore and thousands of
significant formulated songs and prayers, which must be learned and
repeated in the most exact manner; they have also hundreds of musical
compositions; the so-called dances are ceremonies which last for nine
nights and parts of ten days, and the medicine-men spend many years of
study in learning to conduct a single one properly." The most
prominent and revered of the deities of the Navaho is _Estsanatlehi_,
the "woman who rejuvenates herself," of whom it is believed that she
grows old, and then, at will, becomes young again.

The numerous Indian tribes subjected to the environment of the Great
Plains have developed in great detail some special religious
observances, ceremonial institutions, secret societies, ritual
observances, &c. The mental life of these Indians was profoundly
influenced by the buffalo and later not a little by the horse. Various
aspects of Plains culture have recently been discussed by Goddard,
Kroeber, Wissler, Dorsey, Fletcher, Boas, &c., from whose
investigations it would appear that much intertribal borrowing has
taken place. Among some of the Algonkian (Arapaho, Blackfeet,
Cheyenne, &c.), Siouan (Ponka, e.g.) Caddoan, Shoshonian, Kiowan and
perhaps Kitunahan stocks the "sun-dance" in some form or other
prevailed at one time or another. According to Wissler (_Amer.
Anthrop._, 1908, p. 205), this ceremony, as now practised by many
tribes, "is the result of a gradual accumulation both of ceremonies
and ideas,"--the torture feature, e.g., "seems to have been a separate
institution among the Missouri river tribes, later incorporated in
their sun-dance and eventually passed on to other tribes." Some other
complicated ceremonials have apparently grown up in like manner. As
ceremonies that are quite modern, having been introduced during the
historical period, Dr Wissler instances "the Ghost dance, Omaha dance,
Woman's dance, Tea dance and Mescal eating," of which all, except the
Ghost dance, "flourish in almost all parts of the area under various
names, but with the same essential features and songs." Other
interesting ceremonies of varying degrees of importance and extent of
distribution are those of "the medicine-pipe, buffalo-medicine,
sweat-lodge, puberty-rites, medicine-tipis, war-charms, &c."
Interesting also are the "medicine bundles," or "arks" as they were
once mistakenly called.

The "Ghost dance," the ceremonial religious dance of most notoriety
to-day, "originated among the Paviotso (its prophet was a young Paiute
medicine man, Wovoka or 'Jack Wilson') in Nevada about 1888, and
spread rapidly among other tribes until it numbered among its
adherents nearly all the Indians of the interior basin, from Missouri
river to or beyond the Rockies" (Mooney). Wovoka's doctrine was that a
new dispensation was at hand, and that "the Indians would be restored
to their inheritance and united with their departed friends, and they
must prepare for the event by practising the songs and dance
ceremonies which the prophet gave them." East of the Rocky Mountains
this dance soon came to be known as the "Ghost dance" and a common
feature was hypnotic trances. The Sioux outbreak of 1890-1891 was in
part due to the excitement of the "Ghost dance." According to Mooney,
"in the Crow dance of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, a later development
from the Ghost dance proper, the drum is used, and many of the
ordinary tribal dances have incorporated Ghost dance features,
including even the hypnotic trances." The doctrine generally "has now
faded out and the dance exists only as a social function." A full
account of this "dance," its chief propagators, the _modi operandi_ of
its ceremonies and their transference, and the results of its
prevalence among so many Indian tribes, is given in Mooney's detailed
monograph on "The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890"
(_Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol._, 1892-1893).

In reference to "Messiah doctrines" among the aborigines of North
America, Mooney calls attention to the fact that "within the United
States every great tribal movement (e.g. the conspiracy of Pontiac,
the combination of Tecumseh, &c.) originated in the teaching of some
messianic prophet." In primitive America the dance has figured largely
in social, religious and artistic activities of all kinds, and one of
its most interesting developments has occurred among the Plains
Indians, where "the Mandan and other Siouan tribes dance in an
elaborate ceremony, called the Buffalo dance, to bring game when food
is scarce, in accordance with a well-defined ritual" (Hewitt). Among
other noteworthy dances of the North American aborigines may be
mentioned the calumet dance of several tribes, the scalp dance, the
"Green-corn dance" of the Iroquois, the _busk_ (or _puskitau_) of the
Creeks (in connexion with "new fire" and regeneration of all things),
the "fire dance" of the Mississaguas, &c.

The Californian area, remarkable in respect to language and culture in
general presents also some curious religious and mythological
phenomena. According to Kroeber, "the mythology of the Californians
was characterized by unusually well-developed and consistent
creation-myths, and by the complete lack not only of migration but of
ancestor traditions." The ceremonies of the Californian Indians "were
numerous and elaborate as compared with the prevailing simplicity of
life, but they lacked almost totally the rigid ritualism and extensive
symbolism that pervade the ceremonies of most America." The most
authoritative discussions of the religion and mythology of the
Californian Indians are those of Dr Dixon and Dr Kroeber, the latter
especially in the _University of California Publications in American
Archaeology and Ethnology_ for 1904-1907.

The shamans, "medicine-men," &c., of the American Indians are of all
degrees from the self-constituted _angekok_ of the Eskimo to those
among tribes of higher culture who are chosen from a special family or
after undergoing elaborate preliminaries of selection and initiation.
The "medicine-men" of several tribes have been described with
considerable detail. This has been done for the "Midewiwin, or Grand
Medicine Society of the Ojibwa" by Hoffman (_Seventh Ann. Rep. Bur.
Ethnol._ pp. 143-300); for the "Medicine-men of the Apache" by Bourke
(_Ninth Ann. Rep._ pp. 443-603) and for those of the Cherokee by
Mooney (_Seventh Ann. Rep._ pp. 301-397), while a number of the chief
facts concerning American Indian shamans in general have been gathered
in a recent article by Dr R. B. Dixon (_Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore_, 1908,
pp. 1-12). In various parts of the continent and among diverse tribes
the shaman exercises functions as "healer, sorcerer, seer, priest and
educator." These functions among the tribes of lower culture are
generally exercised by one and the same individual, but, with rise in
civilization, the healer-sorcerer and shaman-sorcerer disappear or
wane in power and influence as the true priest develops. The priestly
character of the shaman appears among the Plains tribes in connexion
with the custody of the "sacred bundles" and the keeping of the
ceremonial myths, &c., but is more marked among the Pueblos, Navaho,
&c., of the south-west, while "a considerable development of the
priestly function may also be seen among the Muskogi, particularly in
the case of the Natchez, with their remarkable cult and so-called
temple." The reverent character of the best "priests" or shamans among
the Pawnee and Omaha has been emphasized by Miss A. C. Fletcher and
Francis la Flesche. The class-organization of the shamans reaches its
acme in the _midé_ societies of the Chippewa and the priest-societies
of the Pueblos Indians (Moqui, Zuñi, &c.).

Games.

The games of the American aborigines north of Mexico have been made the subject of a detailed monograph by Culin, "Games of the North American Indians" (_Twenty-fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol._, 1902-1903, pp. 1-846), in which are treated the games of chance, games of dexterity and minor amusements of more than 200 tribes belonging to 34 different linguistic stocks. According to Culin, "games of pure skill and calculation, such as chess, are entirely absent." There are more variations in the materials employed than in the object or methods of play and in general the variations do not follow differences in language. The type known as "dice game" is reported here from among 130 tribes belonging to 30 stocks; the "hand-game" from 81 tribes belonging to 28 stocks. The centre of distribution of North American Indian games, which, with the exception of a few post-Columbian additions, are all autochthonous, Culin finds in the south-west--"there appears to be a progressive change from what appears to be the oldest forms of existing games from a centre in the south-western United States, along lines north, north-east and east." Similar changes radiating southward from the same centre are likewise suggested. He is of opinion that, outside of children's games as such and the kinds of minor amusements common in all civilizations, the games of the North American Indians, as they now exist, "are either instruments of rites or have descended from ceremonial observances of a religious character," and that "while their common and secular object appears to be purely a manifestation of the desire for amusement or gain, they are performed also as religious ceremonies, as rites pleasing to the gods to secure their favour, or as processes of sympathetic magic, to drive away sickness, avert other evil, or produce rain and the fertilization and reproduction of plants and animals or other beneficial results." He also believes that these games, "in what appears to be their oldest and most primitive manifestations are almost exclusively divinatory." This theory of the origin of games in divination, which receives considerable support from certain facts in primitive America, needs, however, further proof. So, too, with Mr Culin's further conclusion that "behind both ceremonies and games there existed some widespread myth from which both derived their impulse," that myth being the one which discloses the primal gamblers as those curious children, the divine Twins, the miraculous offspring of the sun, who are the principal personages in many Indian mythologies. These eternal contenders "are the original patrons of play, and their games are the games now played by men."

Social organization, customs, &c.

It was formerly thought that "totemism" and real "gentile organization" prevailed over all of North America. But it now appears that in several sections of the country such beliefs and institutions were unknown, and that even within the limits of one and the same stock one tribe did, while another did not, possess them. Matriarchal ideas and the corresponding tribal institutions were also once regarded as the primal social condition of all Indian tribes, having been afterwards in many cases replaced by patriarchal ideas and institutions. Since the appearance of Morgan's famous monograph on _Ancient Society_ (New York, 1878) and his _Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity in the Human Family_ (Washington, 1871), the labours of American ethnologists have added much to our knowledge of the sociology of the American Indians. Forms of society among these Indians vary from the absolute democracy of the Athabaskan Ten'a of Alaska, among whom, according to Jetté (_Congr. int. d. Amér._, Quebec, 1886), there exist "no chiefs, guides or masters," and public opinion dominates ("every one commands and all obey, if they see fit"), to the complicated systems of some of the tribes of the North Pacific coast regions, with threefold divisions of chiefs, "nobles," and "common people" (sometimes also, in addition, slaves), secret and "totemic" organizations, religious societies, sexual institutions ("men's houses," &c.), and other like divisions; and beyond this to the development along political and larger social lines of alliances and confederations of tribes (often speaking entirely different languages) which have played an important rôle in the diffusion of primitive culture, such as the Powhatan confederacy of Virginia and the Abnaki confederacy of the North Atlantic region; the confederacy of the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi of the Great Lakes; the Huron confederacy of Ontario; the Dakota alliance of the north-west; the Blackfoot confederacy of the Canadian north-west; the Caddoan confederacy of the Arkansas region; the Creek confederacy of the South Atlantic country. The acme of federation was reached in the great "League of the Iroquois," whose further development and expansion were prevented by the coming of the Europeans and their conquest of primitive North America. According to Morgan (_League of the Iroquois_, New York, 1851) and Hale (_Iroquois Book of Rites_, 1881), who have written about this remarkable attempt, by federation of all tribes, to put an end to war and usher in the reign of universal peace, its formation under the inspiring genius of Hiawatha took place about 1459. But J. N. B. Hewitt, himself an Iroquois, offers reasons (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1892) for believing that the correct date of its founding lies between 1559 and 1570.

Tribes like the Kootenay (_Rep. Brit. Assoc._, 1892) have no totems
and secret societies, nor do they seem to have ever possessed them.
This may also be said of some of the Salishan tribes, though others of
the same stock have complicated systems. The Klamath Indians
(Lutuamian stock) "are absolutely ignorant of the gentile or clan
system as prevalent among the Haida, Tlingit and Eastern Indians of
North America; matriarchate is also unknown among them; every one is
free to marry within or without the tribe, and the children inherit
from the father" (Gatschet). In all parts of California indeed,
according to Kroeber (_Handbook of Amer. Inds._, 1907, pt. i. p. 191),
"both totemism and a true gentile organization were totally lacking."
Nor does it appear that either personal or communal totemism is a
necessary attribute of clan and gentile organizations where such do
exist. The Heiltsuk of British Columbia have animal totems, while the
Kwakiutl do not, although both these tribes belong to the same
Wakashan stock. Among the Iroquoian tribes, according to Hewitt
(_Handbook_, p. 303), the primary unit of social and political
organization, termed in Mohawk _ohwachira_, is "the family, comprising
all the male and female progeny of a woman and of all her female
descendants in the female line and of such other persons as may be
adopted into the _ohwachira_." The head of the _ohwachira_ is "usually
the oldest woman in it," and it "never bears the name of a tutelary or
other deity." The clan was composed of one or more of such
_ohwachiras_, being "developed apparently through the coalescence of
two or more _ohwachiras_ having a common abode." From the clan or gens
developed the government of the tribe, and out of that the Iroquois
confederation.

The power of the chief varied greatly among the North American
aborigines, as well as the manner of his selection. Among the Eskimo,
chiefs properly understood hardly have existed; nearly everywhere the
power of all sorts of chiefs (both war and peace) was limited and
modified by the restraints of councils and other advisers. Age,
wealth, ability, generosity, the favour of the shaman, &c., were
qualifications for the chieftainship in various parts of the
continent. Women generally seem to have had little or no direct voice
in government, except that they could (even among some of the
Athabaskan tribes) sometimes become chiefs, and, among the Iroquois,
were represented in councils, had certain powers and prerogatives
(including a sort of veto on war), &c. Many tribes had permanent
peace-chiefs and temporary war-chiefs. According to Hewitt (_Handb. of
Amer. Inds._, 1907, pt. i. p. 264), "In the Creek confederation and
that of the Iroquois, the most complex aboriginal government north of
Mexico, there was, in fact, no head chief. The first chief of the
Onondaga federal roll acted as the chairman of the federal council,
and by virtue of his office he called the federal council together.
With this all pre-eminence over the other chiefs ended, for the
governing power of the confederation was lodged in the federal
council. The federal council was composed of the federal chiefs of the
several component tribes; the tribal council consisted of the federal
chiefs and sub-chiefs of the tribe." The greatest development of the
power of the chief and his tenure of office by heredity seems to have
occurred among the Natchez and certain other tribes of the lower
Mississippi and Gulf region. Among the Plains tribes, in general,
non-inheritance prevailed, and "any ambitious and courageous warrior
could apparently, in strict accordance with custom, make himself a
chief by the acquisition of suitable property and through his own
force of character" (Hewitt).

Among the North American aborigines the position of woman and her
privileges and duties varied greatly from the usually narrow limits
prescribed by the Athabaskans, according to Morice (_Congr. int. d.
Amér._, Quebec, 1906), to the socially high status reached among some
of the Iroquoian tribes in particular. In the North Pacific coast
region the possession of slaves is said to have been a cause of a
relatively higher position of woman there than obtained among
neighbouring tribes. The custom of adoption both of children and
captives also resulted advantageously to woman. The rôle and
accomplishments of woman in primitive North America are treated with
some detail in Mason's _Woman's Share in Primitive Culture_ (1894).
The form of the family and the nature of marriage varied considerably
among the North American aborigines, as also did the ceremonies of
courtship and the proceedings in divorce, &c. With some tribes
apparently real purchase of brides occurred, but in many cases the
seeming purchase turns out to be merely "a ratification of the
marriage by means of gifts." Great differences in these matters are
found within the limits of one and the same stock (e.g. Siouan).
Female descent, e.g., prevailed among the Algonkian tribes of the
south-east but not among those of the north and west; and the case of
the Creeks (Muskogian) shows that female descent is not necessarily
the concomitant of a high social status of woman. Among the Zuñi,
where the man is adopted as a son by the father of his wife, "she is
thus mistress of the situation; the children are hers, and she can
order the husband from the house should occasion arise" (Lowie and
Farrand). With many tribes, however, the husband could divorce his
wife at will, but Farrand and Lowie in their discussion of Indian
marriage (_Handb. of Amer. Inds._, 1907, pt. i. p. 809) report on the
other hand the curious fact that among the Wintun of California "men
seldom expel their wives, but slink away from home, leaving their
families behind." In the case of divorce, the children generally go
with the mother. From a survey of the available data Lowie and Farrand
conclude that "monogamy is thus found to be the prevalent form of
marriage throughout the continent," varied from to polygamy, where
wealth and other circumstances dictated it. In California, e.g.,
polygamy is rare, while with some of the Plains tribes it was quite
common. Here again differences of note occurred within the same stock,
e.g. the Iroquois proper could not have more than one wife, but the
Huron Indian could. The family itself varied from the group of parents
and children to the larger ones dictated by social regulations among
the eastern tribes with clan organizations, and the large "families"
found by Swanton (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1905) among certain tribes of the
North Pacific coast, where relations and "poor relations," servants
and slaves entered to swell the aggregate. Exogamy was widely
prevalent and incest rare. Cousin-marriages were frequently tabooed.

With many of the North American aborigines the giving of the name, its
transference from one individual to another, its change by the
individual in recognition of great events, achievements, &c., and
other aspects of nominology are of significance in connexion with
social life and religious ceremonies, rites and superstitions. The
high level attained by some tribes in these matters can be seen from
Miss Fletcher's description of "A Pawnee Ritual used when changing a
Man's Name" (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1899). Names marked epochs in life and
changed with new achievements, and they had often "so personal and
sacred a meaning," that they were naturally enough rendered "unfit for
the familiar purposes of ordinary address, to a people so reverently
inclined as the Indians seem to have been." The period of puberty in
boys and girls was often the occasion of elaborate "initiation"
ceremonies and rites of various kinds, some of which were of a very
trying and even cruel character. Ceremonial or symbolic "killings,"
"new-births," &c., were also in vogue; likewise ordeals of whipping,
isolation and solitary confinement, "medicine"-taking, physical
torture, ritual bathings, painting of face or body, scarification and
the like. The initiations, ordeals, &c., gone through by the youth as
a prelude to manhood and womanhood resembled in many respects those
imposed upon individuals aspiring to be chiefs, shamans and
"medicine-men." Many facts concerning these rites and ceremonies will
be found in G. Stanley Hall's _Adolescence_ (1904) and in the articles
on "Ordeals" and "Puberty Customs" in the _Handbook of American
Indians North of Mexico_ (1907-1910). In the method of approach to the
supernatural and the superhuman among the North American aborigines
there is great diversity, and the powers and capacities of the
individual have often received greater recognition than is commonly
believed. Thus, as Kroeber (_Amer. Anthrop._, 1902, p. 285) has
pointed out, the Mohave Indians of the Yuman stock have as a
distinctive feature of their culture "the high degree to which they
have developed their system of dreaming and of individual instead of
traditional connexion with the supernatural." For the Omaha of the
Siouan stock Miss A. C. Fletcher (_Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci._,
1895, 1896; _Journ. Anthr. Inst._, 1898) has shown the appreciation of
the individual in the lonely "totem" vigil and the acquisition of the
personal _genius_.

Contact of races.

From the Indians of North America the white man has borrowed not only hosts of geographical names and many common terms of speech, but countless ideas and methods as to food, medicines, clothes and other items in the conduct of life. Even to-day, as G. W. James points out in his interesting little volume, _What the White Race may learn from the Indian_ (Chicago, 1908), the end of the instruction of the "lower" race by the "higher" is not yet. The presence of the Indians and the existence of a "frontier" receding ever westward as the tide of immigration increased and the line of settlements advanced, have, as Prof. Turner has shown (_Ann. Rep. Amer. Hist. Assoc._, 1893), conditioned to a certain extent the development of civilization in North America. Had there been no aborigines here, the white race might have swarmed quickly over the whole continent, and the "typical" American would now be much different from what he is. The fact that the Indians were here in sufficient numbers to resist a too rapid advance on the part of the European settlers made necessary the numerous frontiers (really "successive Americas"), which began with Quebec, Virginia and Massachusetts and ended with California, Oregon, British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. The Indians again are no exception to the rule that one of the fundamentally important contributions of a primitive people to the culture-factors in the life of the race dispossessing them consists of the trails and camping-places, water-ways and trade-routes which they have known and used from time immemorial. The great importance of these trails and sites of Indian camps and villages for subsequent European development in North America has been emphasized by Prof. F. J. Turner (_Proc. Wisconsin State Histor. Soc._, 1889 and 1894) and A. B. Hulbert (_Historic Highways of America_, New York, 1902-1905). It was over these old trails and through these water-ways that missionary, soldier, adventurer, trader, trapper, hunter, explorer and settler followed the Indian, with guides or without. The road followed the trail, and the railway the road.

The fur trade and traffic with the Indians in general were not without influence upon the social and political conditions of the European colonies. In the region beyond the Alleghanies the free hunter and the single trapper flourished; in the great north-west the fur companies. In the Mackenzie region and the Yukon country the "free hunter" is still to be met with, and he is, in some cases, practically the only representative of his race with whom some of the Indian tribes come into contact. J. M. Bell (_Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore_, xvi., 1903, 74), from personal observation, notes "the advance of the barbarous border civilization,--the civilization of the whaler on Hudson's Bay, of the free trader on the Athabasca Lake and river, of the ranchers and placer miners on the Peace and other mountain rivers," and observes further (p. 84) that "the influx of fur-traders into the Mackenzie River region, and even to Great Bear Lake within the last two years, since my return, has, I believe, very much altered the character of the Northern Indians." In many parts of North America the free trapper and solitary hunter were often factors in the extermination of the Indian, while the great fur companies were not infrequently powerful agents in preserving him, since their aims of exploiting vast areas in a material way were best aided by alliance or even amalgamation. The early French fur companies, the Hudson's Bay Company, the North-West Company, the American Fur Company, the Missouri Fur Company, the Russian-American Company, the Alaska Commercial Company, &c., long stood with the Indians for the culture of the white man. For two centuries, indeed, the Hudson's Bay Company was ruler of a large portion of what is now the Dominion of Canada, and its trading-posts still dot the Indian country in the far north-west. The mingling of races in the region beyond the Great Lakes is largely due to the fact that the trading and fur companies brought thither employés and dependants, of French, Scottish and English stock, who intermarried more or less readily with the native population, thus producing the mixed-blood element which has played an important rôle in the development of the American north-west. The fur trade was a valuable source of revenue for the early colonists. During the colonial period furs were sometimes even legal tender, like the wampum or shell-money of the eastern Indians, which, according to Mr Weeden (_Econ. Hist. of New England_), the necessities of commerce made the European colonists of the 17th century adopt as a substitute for currency of the Old World sort.

In their contact with the Indians the Europeans of the New World had many lessons in diplomacy and statecraft. Alliances entered upon chiefly for commercial reasons led sometimes to important national events. The adhesion of the Algonkian tribes so largely to the French, and of the Iroquoian peoples as extensively to the English, practically settled which was ultimately to win in the struggle for supremacy in North America. If we believe Lewis H. Morgan, "the Iroquois alliance with the English forms the chief fact in American history down to 1763."

The whites in their turn have influenced greatly the culture, institutions and ideas of the American aborigines. The early influence of the Scandinavians in Greenland has had its importance exaggerated by Dr Tylor (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, 1879). French influence in Canada and Acadia began early and was very marked, affecting the languages (several Algonkian dialects have numerous loan-words, as have the Iroquois tongues still spoken in Quebec) and the customs of the Indians. French authorities, missionaries and traders seemed to get into more sympathetic relations with the Indians, and the intermarriage of the races met with practically no opposition. Hence the French influence upon many tribes can be traced from the Atlantic past the Great Lakes and over the Plains to the Rocky Mountains and even beyond, where the trappers, _voyageurs, coureurs des bois_ and missionaries of French extraction have made their contribution to the modern tales and legends of the Canadian north-west and British Columbia. In one of the tales of the North Pacific coast appears _Shishé Tlé_ (i.e. Jesus Christ), and in another from the eastern slope of the Rockies _Mani_ (i.e. Mary). Another area of French influence occurs in Louisiana, &c. The English, as a rule, paid much less attention than did the French to the languages, manners and customs and institutions of the aborigines and were in general less given to intermarriage with them (the classical example of Rolfe and Pocahontas notwithstanding), and less sympathetically minded towards them, although willing enough, as the numerous early educational foundations indicate, to improve them in both mind and body. The supremacy of the English-speaking people in North America made theirs the controlling influence upon the aborigines in all parts of the country, in the Pacific coast region to-day as formerly in the eastern United States, where house-building, clothing and ornament, furniture, weapons and implements have been modified or replaced. Beside the Atlantic, the Micmac of Nova Scotia now has its English loan-words, while among the Salishan tribes of British Columbia English is "very seriously affecting the purity of the native spech" (Hill-Tout), and even the Athabaskan Nahané are adding English words to their vocabulary (Morice).

The English influence on tribal government and land-tenure, culminating in the incorporation of so many of the aborigines as citizens of Canada and the United States, began in 1641. The first royal grants both in New England and farther south made no mention of the native population of the country, and the early proprietors and settlers were largely left to their own devices in dealing with them, the policy of extinguishing their titles to land being adopted as needed. Later on, of course, due recognition was had of the fact that certain parts of America were inhabited by "heathen," "savages," &c., and the chiefs of many of the tribes were looked upon as rulers with prerogatives of princes and royal personages (e.g. the "Emperor" Powhatan and the "Princess" Pocahontas, "King" Philip, the "Emperor" of the Creeks, &c.). The method of dealing with the Indian "tribes" by the Federal government as autonomous groups through treaties, &c., lasted till 1871, when, by act of Congress, "simple agreements" were favoured in lieu of "solemn treaties."

Meanwhile no consistent purpose was shown in dealing with the Indian problem. At one time the American policy was to concentrate all the Indians on three great reservations, an expansion of the plan adopted early in the 19th century which set aside the former "Indian country" (afterwards restricted to the Indian Territory). The sentiment in regard to great reservations, however, gradually weakened, till in 1878 it was proposed to concentrate the Indians on smaller reservations; but the entire reservation system became increasingly unpopular, and finally in 1887 Congress enacted the Land Severalty Law, paving the way for abolition of the reservation and agency system; at the same time it emphasized the government policy of gradually (the reservation system was a preliminary step in the way of bringing the Indians more under government control) bringing about the cessation of all "tribes" as independent communities and securing their ultimate entrance upon citizenship with the white population. This certainly was far removed from the declaration of the Virginia Assembly in 1702 that "no Indian could hold office, be a capable witness, or hunt over patented land"; and at this time also, "an Indian child was classed as a mulatto, and Indians, like slaves, were liable to be taken on execution for the payment of debt." As Miss Fletcher (_Handb. of Amer. Inds._, 1907, pt. i. p. 501) notes, the ordinance of Congress passed in 1787 respecting the duty of the United States to the Indian tribes, which was confirmed by the act of 1789, was reaffirmed in the organizing acts of Alabama, Colorado, Dakota, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Land Severalty Law of 1887 (amended 1890) provided for the survey of reservations and the allotment to each person of a tract ranging from 40 to 160 acres, the remainder being sold to white settlers. The process of dividing the Indian lands into individual allotments and disposing of the remainder for the benefit of the tribe or the nation has been very successful in many cases. This policy has culminated in a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court, by virtue of which all Indians living upon their own allotments were declared to be citizens, on the same terms and subject to the same laws as the whites.

During the period 1609-1664, from the visit of Hudson to the surrender
of New Amsterdam to the English, the Dutch exercised not a little
influence upon the aborigines of the present state of New York and
some of the regions adjoining. Hudson's harsh treatment of the natives
caused the Dutch trouble later on. Through their trading-post of Fort
Orange (now Albany) they came into contact with both Iroquoian and
Algonkian tribes, carrying on an extensive trade in furs with some of
them, including the New England Pequots. They sided with the Iroquois
against the northern Algonkian tribes, but also aided the Mohegans
against the Mohawks. Farther south they helped the Senecas against the
Munsees. Their quarrels with the English involved many of the Indian
tribes on one side or the other. They have been generally condemned
for their readiness to furnish the Indians with fire-arms and
intoxicating liquors, though some of these actions were doubtless
performed by individual traders and settlers only and cannot be
charged to a deliberate policy of the government. The modern title of
_Kora_, given by the Canadian Iroquois to the governor-general (also
to the king of England), is a corruption of _Corlaer_, the name of a
trusted Dutch manager of Rensselaerwyck (cf. the Iroquois name for the
French governor, _Onontio_ = Montmagny).

German influence among the American Indians north of Mexico has made
itself felt among the Eskimo (particularly in Labrador), the Delawares
and Mohegans, the Iroquois and the Cherokee, where the Moravian
missionaries did much good work. They influenced the Indians for peace
and good conduct during the great wars. In Labrador the dress,
habitations and beliefs of the Eskimo have been considerably modified.
It is said by some that Sequoyah, the inventor of the "Cherokee
alphabet," had for father a German settler.

The great influence of the Spaniards upon the American Indians has
been treated by Blackmar in his _Spanish Institutions in the
South-west_, and by Lummis, Bourke, Hodge and other authorities. The
results of Spanish contact and control are seen in the loan-words in
the various languages of the region, the consequences of the
introduction of domestic animals (horse, mule, sheep, goat, fowls),
the perfection of the arts involved in the utilization of wool, the
planting of wheat, the cultivation of peaches and other exotic fruits.
The difference between the Navaho and their close kinsmen the Apache
may be largely attributed to changes wrought by the coming of the
Spaniards. The "Mission Indians" of California represent another great
point of contact. In California thousands and thousands of Indians
were converted and brought under the control of the able and devoted
missionaries of the Catholic Church, only to become more or less
utterly helpless when Spanish domination ceased and the missions fell
into decay. Traces of Spanish influence may be found as far north as
the Saskatchewan, where personal names implying origin from a Mexican
captive occur; and there is not a little Spanish blood in some of the
tribes of the Great Plains, who often took with them from their border
raids, or acquired from other tribes, many white prisoners from
Mexico, &c.

In Alaska the influence of Russian sailors, traders and settlers
during the period of occupancy was considerable, as was also that of
the priests and missionaries of the Greek Church, but much of what was
thus imposed upon the aborigines has now been modified or is being
submerged by the more recent influences of the English-speaking
settlers, miners, &c., and the efforts of the American government to
educate and improve them. The influence of the Russians extended even
to California, as the name "Russian River" would indicate, and
Friederici (_Schiffahrt der Indianer_, 1907, p. 46) even thinks that
to them is due the sporadic occurrence in that region of skin-boats.
It was through the Russians that the Alaskan Eskimo received tobacco.
Some Russian words have crept into certain of the Indian languages. It
has been said that the Russian authorities from time to time
transported a few Indians over-sea to Kamchatka, &c.

The general question of the relations of the Europeans in North
America with the Indians has been treated by various authors, one of
the most recent being Friederici, whose _Indianer und Amerikaner_
(Brunswick, 1900) is perhaps a little too prejudiced.

Indian wars.

The contact between the races in North America has had its darker side, seen in the numerous conflicts and "wars" that have marked the conquest of the continent by the whites and the resistance of the weaker people to the inevitable triumph of the stronger. The following sketch of the warlike relations of various Indian stocks with the European colonists and their descendants brings out the principal facts of historic interest.

_Eskimoan._--The history of warfare between the European colonists
(and their descendants) and the North American aborigines begins with
the conflict of Eskimo and Northmen in Greenland, the last phase of
which, in the first half of the 15th century, ended in the destruction
of the European settlements and the loss of knowledge of the Eskimo to
the Old World till they were rediscovered by Frobisher in 1576 and
Davis in 1585. Then came a new series of small conflicts in which the
whites have been the chief aggressors--whalers, sealers and other
adventurers. In the extreme north-west the Aleuts were very harshly
treated by the Russians, and one of the most recent deeds of brutality
has been the reported extermination, by irresponsible whalers, of the
Eskimo of Southampton Island in Hudson's Bay.