Chapter XI: Diluvian Traditions in Africa and America (2)

We may agree, then, that the Mandans might have come by this route. Is there anything which makes it probable that they came? Well, yes; in the first place their name. Mr Catlin tells us ("O-kee-pa," p. 5), "The Mandans (Nu-mak-ká-kee, _pheasants_, as they call themselves) have been known from the time of the first visits made to them, to the day of their destruction, as one of the most friendly and hospitable tribes on the United States frontier." It transpires, therefore, that they are called _pheasants_. Is the pheasant a native of America?--on the other hand, is it not common on the opposite Asiatic continent, and on the islands adjacent to it from New Guinea to the Corea? I have never heard of the pheasant in the American continent;[225] but in reading the accounts of the missionaries of the Corea (the only foreigners who have penetrated into the country), I read, "that clouds of _pheasants_ and birds of all kinds perch at night in the branches of the trees" ("Life of Henri Dorie," translated by Lady Herbert; Burns & Oates, p. 77); and if the reader will turn to p. 79 in the same Life, and will compare the description of the Coreans, which he will find there, with the description and portraits of the Mandans in Mr Catlin's "O-kee-pa," pp. 4, 5, he will, I think, recognise a sufficient resemblance to warrant and sustain the presumption created by their name.[226]

[225] As far as I can ascertain, the pheasant is not a native of
America. Yarrell speaks of it as Asiatic, and that it has
been domesticated "in all parts of the _old_ continent."
So also Gould. Of the American writers, _neither_ Wilson,
Audubon, Bonaparte, Nuttall, Richardson, or Jameson include
the pheasant. Mr Catlin, however, says, p. 44: "From the
translation of their name, already mentioned (Nu-mah-ká-kee,
pheasants), an important inference may be drawn in support of
the probability of their having formerly lived much farther
to the south, as that bird does not exist on the prairies of
the Upper Missouri, and is not to be met with short of the
hoary forests of Ohio and Indiana, eighteen hundred miles
south of the last residence of the Mandans. In their familiar
name of Mandan, which is not an Indian word, there are equally
singular and important features. In the first place, that they
knew nothing of the name or how they got it; and next, that
the word Mandan in the Welsh language [Mr C.'s theory is that
they are the survivors of Prince Madoc's expedition from Wales
in the fourteenth century] means red dye, of which further
mention will be made." On the legend of the Welsh expedition,
_vide_ Warburton's "Conquest of Canada," ii., Appendix iv.

[226] "The Indians resemble the people of north-eastern Asia in form
and feature more than any other of the human race; their
population is most dense along the districts nearest to Asia;
and among the Mexicans, whose records of the past deserve
credence, there is a constant tradition that their Aztec
and Toltec chiefs came from the north-west."--Warburton's
"Conquest of Canada," i. 195.

Brace ("Manual of Ethnology," p. 115) says, after noting
that whereas the prominence in the head "is anterior in the
Chinese rather than lateral, as in the American Indians and
the Tangusic tribes," adds, "The peculiar distinguishing
characteristics are the smallness of the eyes and the
obliquity of the eyelids. The nose is usually small and
depressed, though sometimes, in favourable physical
conditions, natives are found with a slightly aquiline nose,
_giving the face a close resemblance to that of the American
Indians or New Zealanders_."

Refer to argument at p. 70, with reference to the Mozca
Indians.

To the peculiarity of name, and resemblance of feature, I shall now proceed to add the evidence of some traces of their peculiar customs, or at least of some trace of the tradition out of which they arose.

I am not at present in possession of evidence to show this in the Corea itself (almost totally unknown and unexplored), but in the island of Formosa the same mode of burial is observed, only that among the Formosans other customs are added, which remind one of the commemorative customs of the Mandans.

CATLIN, p. 8.

"Their (Mandan) dead, partially embalmed, are tightly wrapped in buffalo hides softened with glue and water, and placed on slight scaffolds, above the reach of animals or human hands, each body having its separate scaffold."

The Mandan dance was round "_the big canoe_," and a part of their ceremony on the roof of their wigwams.

Among the Opischeschaht _Indians_ (_vide Field_, Oct. 2, 1869) there was a dance which they called "the roof dance." "While the dance and song were going on below, leaped up and down between the roof-board, pushed aside for that purpose, making a noise like thunder.... After the dance was finished an old Seshaaht came forward, and remarked, that as it was a dance peculiar to his tribe it could not be omitted," though "very injurious to the roof."

OGILBY'S JAPAN, p. 52.

"The manner of disposing of their (Formosans')
dead and funeral obsequies is thus: When any
one dies, the corpse being laid out, after
twenty-four hours they elevate it upon a
convenient scaffold or stage, four feet high,
matted with reeds and rushes, near which they
make a fire, so that the corpse may dry by
degrees.... They drink intoxicating liquors. One
beats on a drum made _like a chest_, but _longer_
and _broader_, and turning _the bottom upwards_;
the women get up, and two by two, back to back,
move their legs and arms in a dancing time and
measure, which pace, or taboring tread, sends
a kind of murmuring or doleful sound from the
_hollow tree_."

_N.B._--Their boats were constructed by hollowing
out a tree (_vide_ Catlin's "Last Rambles," p.
99).[227]

[227] Compare what Ogilby (p. 36) says: "Near Firando (Japan) at an
_inlet of the sea_ stands an idol, _being nothing but a chest
of wood_, about three feet high, _standing like an altar_ [the
big canoe was placed on end among the Mandans], whither women,
when they suppose they have conceived, go in pilgrimage,
offering on their knees rice or other presents." At p. 136, at
Jado, it is said, "somewhat farther stands a temple _dedicated
to all sorts of animals with a very high double roof_."
(Query, Noah's ark?)

In the _Illustrated London News_, January 13, 1872, its
correspondent from Yokohama gives a short account of
the Japanese religious festivals, in which among other
coincidences I note the following: "The most absurd," he says,
"is one in which the foul fiend is simultaneously expelled
from every house by dint of pelting him with boiled peas. The
devil is chased out of the town with a dance of derision, by
young fellows in grotesque costumes, for the public mirth."
Compare with the scene in the Mandan ceremonies, described by
Catlin, _vide supra_, p. 260.

Now, compare with the above, and also with the extracts from Burton and Catlin, at p. 254, remembering the prominence of the ox or bull (the ox and bull dance) in the Mandan customs, and the connection of the bull with Nin or Ninip, p. 200, 203, and other mythological figures of which I believe Noah to have been the antitype. The following description of the most curious traditional representation in Japan (Ogilby, p. 279):--

"Moreover, besides the ox temple in Meaco, there is also to be seen
the stately chapel dedicated to the Creator of all things (the
ox in the above-mentioned temple is represented as breaking the
mundane egg, _vide supra_, p. 257), who is represented in a very
strange manner. In the middle of the temple is a great pot _full
of water_ surrounded with a wall, seven feet high from the ground,
in the middle of which appears an _exceeding great tortoise_,
whose shell, feet, and head stands in the water; out of its back
rises the body of a great tree, on the top of which sits a strange
and horrible figure" ... [then follows a good deal which has its
explanation, but must be curtailed] ... "the image hath four arms"
... in one "the hand grasps a cruse, _from whence water issues
continually_; the other hand _holds a sceptre_.... The tree whereon
he sits is of brass, ... about the middle of this tree an exceeding
great serpent hath wreathed itself _twice_, whose head and body is
on the right side held fast by two horrible shapes, the remaining
part thereof to the tail, two kings and one of Japan sages stretch
forth" [evidently representing the contending influences (as in
Mandan dance), one of the kings having the duplicated Janus head,
_supra_, p. 220.][228]

[228] Compare p. 448 in "Flint Chips," (E. T. Stevens). "The Omahas
possess a _sacred shell_, which is regarded as an object of
great sanctity by the whole nation. It has been transmitted
from generation to generation, and its origin is unknown. A
skin _lodge is appropriated to it_, and in this lodge a man,
appointed as a guard to the shell, constantly resides. It
is placed upon a stand, and is _never suffered to touch the
earth_. It is concealed from sight by a _number of mats_ made
of strips of skin plaited. The whole forms a large package,
from which _tobacco_" (comp. Stevens' "Flint Chips," p. 315,
and Catlin, _supra_) "and the _roots of trees_" (comp. supra,
p. 155), "and other objects are suspended," &c. &c.

At pp. 477-78 there is perhaps a still more definite tradition of the Deluge (confused as usual with traditions of the Creation) in connection with the idol Topan. "Not far from Mettogamma (said the interpreter) lies an exceeding _high mountain ... the top of which_ stand several temples which may be seen a great distance off at sea. In these temples the Bonzies worshipped that great God which formerly created the sun, moon, and stars, but also fifteen lesser deities which some ages since conversed upon the earth (compare pp. 63, 97.) Then follows their account of the Creation. "Mankind not only increased in number but also in wickedness, differing more and more from their heavenly extract, growing still worse and worse, mocking at thunder, _rainbows_, and fire; nay, they blasphemed the great God himself (whom when the interpreter named, he bowed his head to the ground), whereupon He called His inferior deities about Him, telling them that He resolved to destroy and ruin all things ... and make a _round_ globe, in which the four elements should be all resolved _into their former mass_; and chiefly He commanded the idol Topan to make thunder balls to shoot through the air and fire all the kingdoms with lightning ... so that none were saved except _one man and his family_, that had entertained and duly worshipped the gods." Of the god Topan it had been previously said "that some years since he saw the temple of the idol Topan, whose image stood on a copper altar, cast like clouds, himself armed as a warrior, a coronet helmet on his head, his hand grasping a mighty club, and seeming to fly through the sky and moving his club to occasion thunder. When it thundered, a Bonzi, whose head was adorned with consecrated leaves [Query, the olive or willow?] which no thunder could harm," offered _several fishes_." (Comp. 197, 203.) _Vide_ also p. 94, representation of the fish-god in the person of their "god Canon" [where we read of their "gods Canon and Camis or Chamis;" if we were to substitute Canaan and Cham, _quid vetat_?][229]

[229] _Vide_ Japanese tradition of the Deluge (Bertrand, "Dict.
des Relig.," Gainet, i. 208; also _id._), it is said that
the Japanese commemorate this event in their third annual
festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth
month. Compare with Mandan's, _supra_.

To complete the circle of evidence, as regards the general tradition, I must add the following extracts from Captain Cook's voyages, i. 110 (London, 1846):--"In the island of Huahieine, thirty-one leagues from Otaheite N.-W.," Captain Cook came upon an erection, of which he says--"The general resemblance between this repository and the ark of the Lord among the Jews is remarkable; but it is still more remarkable that upon inquiring of a boy what it was called, he said 'Ewharre no Eatua,' it is the house of God. He could, however, give no account of its signification or use." At p. 111, "Saw (at Uliatea) several Ewharre-no-Eatua or houses of God, to which carriage poles were attached as at Huahieine.... From thence we went to a long house not far distant, where among rolls of cloth and several other things we saw the _model of a canoe_, about three feet long, to which were tied eight human jawbones" [eight the number saved in the ark. Compare p. 197 with Kabiri. Compare with Ogilby (Japan, 177), where the god Canon (Canaan) is represented with seven heads on _his_ breast, eight with himself, he having been substituted for Noah as the head of the race.] Captain Cook adds, however, "We had already learnt that these, like scalps among the Indians of North America, were trophies of war," and suggests that the canoe "may be a symbol of invasion." That I must leave to the reader to decide, but the heads might be "trophies of conquest," and at the same time memorial heads,--the memorial heads having necessarily been replaced many times since the custom was first instituted.[230]

[230] Captain Cook, speaking of their dances (p. 115), says,
"Between the dances of the women the men performed a kind of
dramatic interlude, in which there was _dialogue_ as well as
dancing; but we were not sufficiently acquainted with their
language to understand the subject. Some gentlemen saw a much
more regular entertainment of the dramatic kind, which was
divided into _four acts_."

_Vide_ Abbe Gainet, "La Bible sans la Bible," i. 213, quotes
l'Abbe Domenech, who speaks of "the dance of the Deluge among
many nations of the north and west of America." Gainet also
says that there were two distinct traditions of the Deluge in
the east and west groups of the Society Islands (Otaheite).

L'Abbe Gainet (i. 211) gives an account of the _Mandans_ from
"Ceremoníes Religieuses," i. 7, which it will be interesting
to compare with Catlin, as it was written a century previous
to his visit. "The Mandans pretend that the Deluge was
formerly raised up against them by the white men to destroy
their ancestors.... Then the _first man_, whom they regard
as one of their divinities, inspired mankind with the idea
of constructing upon an eminence a _town_ and fortress in
wood, and promised them that the water should not pass that
point. They followed his advice and constructed the ark on
the banks of the Heart river. It was of a very large size,
so that a part of their nation found safety there whilst the
rest perished. In memory of this memorable event they place in
each of their villages a small model of this _edifice_ [which
may account for the erect position of 'the big canoe'], this
model still exists. The waters abated after that, and to this
day they celebrate, in memory of this ark, the fête of the
'_Okippe_,' which lasts _four days_."

This leads me to the final question, When was this custom instituted? Up to this I have not considered whether the custom was good or bad, demoniac or only corrupted; and as to the time of its institution I have merely assumed from the fact of its universality that it was primeval.

Before expressing my opinion, I must fortify myself with an extract from the Rev. W. Smith's very able work on the Pentateuch.[231]

[231] Longmans, 1868, i. 290.

"Strange, too, though it may appear, there is much in the outward
ceremonial of the Levitical worship that indicates an Egyptian
type. The fact need startle no one. For it is derogatory neither
to the holiness of the Almighty nor to the inspiration of his
delegate, that Moses should have borrowed from others rites which
were good in themselves, and which became idolatrous only then,
when employed in the worship of false gods. The most of external
forms are in themselves indifferent and receive their determinate
value from the feeling that prompts them, and the object to which
they are directed: when given to God they are divine worship--when
given to idols, they are idolatry. Nor is inspiration jeopardised
because the material details may have come from a human source.
Care and study and observation are not dispensed with in the mind
that receives the divine communications; and Moses was instructed
in all the wisdom and learning of the Egyptians for the very
purpose of enabling him to use it to the best advantage ... as
the Church consecrated to a higher purpose the temples and the
rites and festivals found among the pagan populations at their
conversion. We need not then be scandalised if we find the _ark
of Jehovah_ to be the counterpart of the shrine of Amun. The
resemblance strikes us at once on a glance at the woodcut token
from Lepsius' Denkmäler, Ab. iii., Bl. 109."

Let the reader refer to the engravings in Rev. W. Smith's Pentateuch, 291, 292. Dr Smith does not discuss the point further, only he says (p. 294), "In Egypt it is _the canopied boat_ in which the Deity is steered on the heavenly ocean; in Israel it is the covered chest, the form best adapted for holding the stone tables of the law."

But if "the canopied boat" should have corresponded among the Egyptians to "the big canoe" among the Mandans, and the other similar memorials we have come upon, what more appropriate symbol could Moses have incorporated? Was not the ark of the covenant, in which the law was preserved in the widespread inundation of corruption, the counterpart of the ark in which mankind, in the persons of Noah and his family, were saved? and in carrying on and embodying the tradition, we may see a motive why there may have been an intentional alteration of the symbol--viz. in order to wean his people from the corruption into which the whole Egyptian ceremonial had sunk?[232] And why should it not have been so? Is there not a probability and fitness in the conjecture of some such commemorative sacrifices and memorials among mankind when they lived together before the dispersion in the times immediately following the Deluge?

[232] Cardinal Wiseman in his letters to John Poynder, Esq. ("Essays
on Various Subjects," i. 257), says, "Dr Spencer, a learned
divine of the Established Church, published two folio volumes
replete with extraordinary erudition, entitled 'De Legibus
Hebræorum ritualibus et eorum ratione,' which has gone through
many editions both here and on the Continent. Now, the entire
drift and purport of this work is manifestly twofold--first,
to prove that the great design of God, in giving rites and
ceremonies to the Jews, was to prevent their falling into
idolatry; secondly, to demonstrate that almost every practice,
rite, ceremony, and act so given was directly borrowed from
the Egyptian heathens; ... that whether we speak of the more
solemn and especial injunctions, or of the minutest details
of the ceremonial law, of circumcision and of sacrifice in
all its varieties, and with all its distinctive ceremonies
of purification and lustrations and new moons; of the ark of
the covenant and the cherubim; of the temple and its oracles;
of the Urim and Thummim, and the emissary goat; of them all
Spencer has endeavoured to prove, and that to the satisfaction
of many learned men, that they pre-existed among the Egyptians
and other neighbouring nations."

I have not met with Dr Spencer's work. I may mention, however,
the pomegranates in the Levitical robe as an instance. _Vide_
references in this chapter and appendix.