Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 25

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 25

They do not kill the white traders among each nation, or in the few

instances they have done so it was from some motive of revenge, right

in their estimation and in conformity to their law of retaliation. When

the Blackfeet kill the whites at the Crow Fort it is from no enmity

to the whites as a people, for they could if they wished kill plenty

in their own country; it is that they do not wish the Crows, their

enemies, to have traders who supply them with the means of killing

them, by trading guns, ammunition, etc. The same reasoning on their

own side is the cause of their friendship toward their own traders.

Revenge, the great principle of destroying life, is strongly contended

for by the Indians as necessary to their existence, both individually

and as a body. The fear of the consequences of dispute prevents it,

or generally is settled amicably by payment. There being no competent

judiciary to try and punish crime renders it necessary for each one to

retaliate, or they would be liable to constant imposition. That revenge

among them supplies the want of courts of justice, prisons, and public

executions. If the revenge is disproportionate to the offense, it can

not be helped; their habits, customs, and organization all have that

tendency. In all this they see no offense to Wakoñda nor any idea of

moral wrong, even if they did believe in future punishment, which they

do not, yet they know it is an offense to the individual and all his

relatives, incurring their retaliation, which is the only punishment

they expect.

 

Inasmuch as the warrior believes that by prayers, fasts, personal

inflictions of pain and sacrifices they can secure the aid of Wakoñda

to effect the death of their enemies or for the gratification of

private revenge, by the same train of reasoning it must be manifest

that the soul of a warrior must occupy a high degree of happiness

in Indian paradise for accomplishing these acts through his

instrumentality.

 

The death of a man who killed another would suffice if it were possible

to stop there, but we have said enough on this subject to show they

have no power to stop. The taking of the second life produces an

obligation on the part of the kindred of the deceased to revenge, and

retaliation is continued. The original cause of quarrel is lost in the

greater necessity of defending life on either side. Therefore in their

yet deplorable state of ignorance the crime of murder as an act of the

same nature in our ideas can have no existence among them, neither can

anything be morally wrong in which the aid of Wakoñda is invoked and

if successful obtained. Robbery or theft is also an individual offense

though not by them considered as such to Wakoñda. An Indian gives for

his reason for stealing an article that his necessities required it and

he could not get it any other way. He will not steal an article he does

not want or can not use and run useless risk of detection, but a horse,

gun, knife, of other things will sometimes be taken and the act excused

on the plea of his necessities.

 

The risk attending the extraction of large articles or the disgrace

incurred by pilfering is, they grant, all the punishment necessary, and

these seldom are attended with any serious consequences. All must live

some way and the right to property not being well defined—besides each

being accustomed to frequent reverses—stealing is looked upon more

as a means of subsistence necessitated by the state of their peculiar

wants, and does not present the idea of theft to them as an immoral

act or one tending to aggravate Wakoñda. Robberies to the extent of

depriving another of his means of living are seldom if ever attempted,

though retaliation would of course be severe in proportion, and in the

progress of this retaliation the property thus acquired, be it horses

or women, would be destroyed, besides the risk attending the robber

personally.

 

Fornication and adultery are not considered offenses to Wakoñda. If the

consent of the woman has been obtained, punishment is seldom inflicted

on the man unless caught in the act. The woman, however, is punished

in various ways, sometimes, though not usually, by death. The property

of the offender is taken or destroyed for his trespass on the property

of the offended. The chastity of any woman not the property of another

man may be violated without any moral sense of wrong presenting itself,

though the seducer would be liable to be made to pay or in default of

doing so his horses would be killed by the relatives of the woman.

Moreover, they look upon women as intended for this purpose, and only

take into consideration the different claims upon them as an article of

property.

 

Rapes on virgins are nearly unknown. Were such a crime accomplished

the law would be death to the perpetrator, not because it is morally

wrong, but because it depreciates the price of the woman and lessens

her chance of marriage. It is also considered as an insult to her

relatives, intimating a contempt of their feelings and power of

protection.

 

The evils arising from falsehood or lying are with them of small

importance. Any lies an Indian could invent would not be productive of

any great evil, and owing to their associations the falsehood would

soon appear. This being the case it is not regarded as a great offense

even to the individual, much less Wakoñda. They all lie occasionally,

and the custom is so common as scarcely to attract any further notice

than their ridicule. Therefore there is no punishment attending on it

further than the person famed for lying would be neglected and despised

by the others. To call an Indian a liar would be insult certainly, but

not in the same degree as the same epithet among whites. It would not

be aggravation enough alone to merit a blow or any revenge. There is

no such thing as profane swearing among any of these prairie tribes,

nor is there a word in their language equivalent to even the smallest

profane oaths in such general use among whites. The name of Wakoñda is

never mentioned without manifestations of awe and reverence. In this

respect at least they are far superior to their Christian brethren. In

conclusion of this answer we come again to the starting point.

 

What in their estimation is crime, is wrong, is an offense to Wakoñda?

Crime and wrong can be nothing more than offenses to persons subject

to their law of retaliation, the punishment being greater or less

according to the object which entails it. Although they do not believe

in future punishments, yet they think that Wakoñda can be offended and

does punish in this life; not for crimes, as they have no existence,

but for neglect of proper fasts, sacrifices, and personal privations

and inflictions necessary to propitiate his anger. They believe that

they are under obligations to worship Wakoñda, not from the fact of

their creation or even as to the author of all good, but through fear

of his power. In almost every emergency an Indian can be placed, the

cause of which is not visible or the result doubtful, that is, where

his own powers fail, he applies to Wakoñda. These applications are made

by presenting to the Sun, Thunder, and other supernatural agencies

offerings of considerable value, by fasting, by lacerating their

bodies, prayers, and incantations, with the view of avoiding sickness

in their families, personal harm of every description, attacks of

enemies, to obtain success in war, to collect the buffalo near their

camp, to avoid the attacks of bears, strokes of lightning, or even

the appearance of ghosts. Where success has not followed these rites

and ceremonies they believe it is caused by the offerings not being

of sufficient value, or not of long duration, or their having been

too seldom performed. Therefore the neglect or incompetency of these

sacrifices constitutes the crime and the punishment is visible in the

misfortune that occurs. This part of the subject will meet with further

consideration under the head of religion.

 

 

PRAYERS

 

PRAYER OF A WARRIOR.[17]—“O Wakoñda, you see me a poor man; have pity

upon me. I go to war to revenge the death of my brother; have pity upon

me. I smoke this tobacco taken from my medicine sack, where it has been

enveloped with the remains of my dead brother.[18] I smoke it to my

Tutelary, to you; aid me in revenge. On my path preserve me from mad

wolves. Let no enemies surprise me. I have sacrificed, I have smoked,

my heart is low, have pity upon me. Give me the bows and arrows of

my enemies. Give me their guns. Give me their horses. Give me their

bodies. Let me have my face blackened on my return. Let good weather

come that I can see. Good dreams give that I can judge where they are.

I have suffered. I wish to live. I wish to be revenged. I am poor. I

want horses. I will sacrifice. I will smoke. I will remember; have pity

upon me.”

 

[17] Almost every sentence is repeated over three or four times in a

low running tone, with the pipe presented to the Charm, Amulet, or Sun.

 

[18] Meaning with a lock of his hair.

 

PRAYER TO GHOSTS.—“Spirits of our dead relatives, I make this feast

for you to call you all around me. I smoke this tobacco which has been

inclosed with your hair; be near us and hear. My friends are around me,

and you are called to the feast. Call on all the spirits of our dead

friends to aid in giving us what we ask. Make the buffalo come near

and the clouds and wind fair to approach them, that we may always have

meat in camp to feed us and you. Help us in every way; let our children

live. Let us live. Call on all these spirits and ask them to assist you

in helping us.

 

“If we hunt, be with us. If we go to war, be with us. Enable us to

revenge some of your deaths upon our enemies. They have killed you;

they have brought our hearts low. Bring their hearts low also. Let us

blacken our faces. Keep us from harm, rest quiet, we will not cease to

cry for and remember you. You are remembered in this feast, eat some of

it [here small bits are scattered around]. This to you, my father. This

for you, my grandfather, my uncle, my brother, the relations of all

present eat, rest in quiet, do not let disease trouble us. We eat for

you, we cry for you, we cut ourselves for you.”

 

In conclusion, if the spirit addressed be recently dead they will all

cry, and some of the immediate relatives cut their legs and arms, but

if it is a feast to the memory of those long since dead some of the

concluding words are left out. There is a good deal of repetition and

often a long prayer is said, but the above is in amount what they ask.

For the previous ceremony before the prayer is said, see the article

where feasts to the dead are described.

 

 

THE MOON

 

They say the moon is a hot body and derives its light from its own

nature, not as a reflection of the sun’s rays; that it is eaten up

monthly or during a given period by a great number of moles, which they

call we-as-poo-gah (moon nibblers). These moles are numerous all over

the prairies, have pointed noses, no teeth, and burrow in the ground.

They (the Indians) believe that in eating up the moon their noses are

burned off, their teeth worn out, and for their damage have been cast

down from above, where they are doomed to burrow in the earth and get

nothing to eat. The same operation is going on all the time by other

moles, who in their turn will be thrown down. They think Wakoñda causes

a new moon to grow when the old one has been destroyed. The moon is

not supposed to be an abiding place for beings, but is worshipped and

sacrificed to on account of its affording light by which to travel at

night. They take the dark part of the face of the moon to be a large

light Man holding kettle in each hand. Stars are other bodies of fire

far off, which they admit may be the residences of spirits or beings,

though no great stress is laid on the idea. They are not regarded as

parts of a system. Except the Polar Star and the Ursa Major, but few of the planets, if any, are known.