Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 39

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 39

The medicine sack contains the fetish or charm referred to, which with

a lock of some dead relative’s hair and a small piece of tobacco is

inclosed in several envelopes of skins of different kinds, on which

pictures of imaginary or real animals are rudely drawn.

 

This sack is made of raw buffalo hide (dried), the hair scraped off and

painted and fringed in various ways. It is well tied up, not pried into

by anyone, and mostly suspended to a pole outside the lodge in camp or

carried on the back of some woman when traveling. When the owner dies

it is buried with him. This is the arcanum of the medicine sack, and it

possesses none of the features of an ark, either inside or out.

 

 

IMMORTALITY

 

That the soul lives after death is the general assent, and that this

is a final state, but by pursuing the inquiry we do not arrive at any

certain idea of their occupation there, as they will always say they

do not know. This much, however, some acknowledged, that when they

die their soul is taken to the south to a warm country, though this

place does not appear to be either on the earth or in the heavens.

Here is a state of pleasure and happiness, free from all disease,

trouble, want, war, or accident. Some are more comfortably situated

than others, particularly those who have been great warriors and those

who have been attentive to their sacrifices and other ceremonies. No

punishment for offenses is apprehended, though rewards are granted. If

still questioned they will describe a counterpart or nearly so of the

Mohammedan paradise, or a shadowy image of this life, abstracting the

evil. There is no resurrection of the body, though they are presumed to

have other bodies furnished them in the future state, that present the

same features as in this life, yet are not subject to its vicissitudes.

 

Animals of all kinds are found there, though it does not appear that

they are the souls of those which lived in this world. Reasoning

powers and immortality are not ascribed to the brute creation.

Everything referring to a future state is not made the subject of their

conversations, and each man’s opinions differ. Some deny any such a

state and think death final to soul and body. Others that the soul

never leaves the neighborhood of its burial place. All information

regarding their belief in futurity is with difficulty extracted, and

not much importance is placed on the fact of their being immortal

beings; at their death also the greatest anxiety appears to be about

their family and relations left behind. They admit its uncertainty, and

fear nothing on the score of future punishment. Upon the whole there

is nothing in their belief of a future state which affects much their

general conduct through life and as little on the approach of death.

From this fact we may conclude very reasonably that the foregoing

system of their religion is the correct one, as they do not feel guilty

of moral offenses toward the Great Spirit entailing future punishment,

but expect to be rewarded for their devotedness in their manner of

worship. These Indians will also smoke, invoke, and give small pieces

of tobacco to the head of a bear after they have killed it. But this

does not imply they are to meet the animal in a future state. It is a

kind of thanksgiving, through the bear’s head, to the powers that have

enabled them to accomplish the feat of killing it without accident.

 

The killing of a grizzly bear by a single man is no trifling matter

and deservedly ranks next to killing an enemy. A coup is counted for

that action in their ceremonies where they publicly recount their brave

exploits. Moreover, every year persons are torn to pieces by these

animals when wounded or surprised in thickets where the person can not

escape. Therefore all ceremonies to the dead animal would have the

nature of invocations for aid and protection from the supernatural

powers whose business it is to interfere, and indeed such their words

imply on these occasions. It may have been some such ceremony the

Indian on the shores of Lake Superior made which was mistaken for

begging the animal’s pardon.

 

 

MYTHOLOGY

 

This subject would not present any useful information and only tire

the reader with endless fable without arriving at any important

conclusions. We could fill volumes with their stories of giants,

demons, transformations of men into animals and other shapes, but do

not think any fact thus elicited would avail any useful purpose. There

are a great many traditions that would seem to prove that the doctrine

of metempsychosis has formerly been the general belief, but they do not

appear to put much confidence in their reality at the present day, and

these stories are told more for amusement every evening than anything

else. Neither does it please absolutely to contradict or deny that

such things have been. In this way beaver are said to have been once

white men from the sagacity they show in building their lodges, evading

traps, etc. Thunder is said to be the flapping of the wings of the

large medicine bird. Piles of rocks are supposed to have been heaped up

by large white giants. The rainbow is called the sun’s wheel; though

they are aware that the colors are formed by the sun shining through

rain. All these and hundreds of others have legends of their formation

which are very long and one or two generally occupy an evening to

relate. Most of them, however, contain a kind of moral or double

meaning and are occasionally interesting and imaginative, sometimes

obscure.

 

To present an example we will record one recited by the “Thunder

Stomach,” an Assiniboin warrior at the time we write and interpreted by

myself, preserving as nearly as possible all the words and actually all

the ideas of the Indian.

 

 

LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF THE URSA MAJOR AND POLAR STAR, BY THE THUNDER

STOMACH, AN ASSINIBOIN WARRIOR

 

In the beginning a few Indians were made far in the northern regions.

No sun nor moon had yet been formed, and all was utter darkness except

the light of the snow. A lodge of Indians was situated on the bleak

plains inhabited by eight persons who were seven brothers and one

sister. The brothers all went out hunting and left the woman at home

working at raiment. In their absence a stranger came outside the lodge

and called to the woman to come out, using flattering words with a

sweet mouth, but she moved not, nor looked upon his face. When her

brothers returned she related the circumstance, and the eldest said,

“You did right, my sister—had you listened to this man’s sweet words

and looked upon his face, you would have been obliged to follow him

wherever he went, without the power to stop or turn back.” She said

nothing but continued her labors and they again left to hunt.

 

Being anxious to ascertain the truth concerning the stranger and

expecting his visit, she put on four complete suits of raiment and four

pairs of moccasins, one on top of the other; also tied on a pair of

snowshoes. He came and used the same flattering words, when she stepped

outside and looked upon his face. He immediately departed at a swift

pace and she was obliged to follow in his tracks. Onward they traveled

far over the plains in a northerly direction and over immense piles

of snow. A long time passed without diminishing their speed, until at

length they came to a lodge full of men (beings). Her conductor entered

and disappeared, she followed and not seeing him took her seat near

the door. “Move to the next,” said the man at her side, “I am not he

whom you seek,” and she moved where he directed. “Farther on,” said

her neighbor, and she again changed her place. “Next,” said the other,

and she moved in this way from one to the other, until by making the

circuit of the lodge she at last found herself at the entrance without

seeing the one whom she had followed hither. She was about to leave the

lodge when the eldest Indian, apparently the master, said, “Remain,

I will tell you a story.” She stopped. “There was once a woman,” he

continued, “who ran off with a young man, and came to a lodge full of

strangers to seek her lover. She had on four entire dresses, and not

finding the man, would have left, but one of her dresses fell off.”[24]

 

[24] This remark recalls the story of the Babylonian Ishtar, who

was represented as losing one by one her seven garments and then as

receiving them back again one by one.

 

On saying this, an entire dress and pair of moccasins disappeared. He

repeated the words four times and at the end of each repetition a dress

was missing, which left her naked. They then took her up and cast her

out into the cold snow to freeze to death.

 

The brothers on their return from hunting missed their sister and

suspecting the cause of her departure followed the tracks and arrived

outside the lodge where they found their sister nearly frozen to death.

After wrapping her in a robe, and she had somewhat recovered, the

eldest brother said, “Go back into the lodge and tell them a story in

return.” She entered and said, “I come to tell a tale. There was once

a woman coaxed off and forced to follow a strange man. She came to a

lodge of strangers, who instead of protecting her, robbed her of all

her clothing and threw her out in the snow to die. Such men have no

hearts.” On concluding, the hearts of all the Indians inside flew out

of their mouths and stuck to the lodge poles outside, where they were

cut to pieces by the brothers. She left with her brothers for their

home, but got separated from them in a snow storm and wandered every

way, she know not whither. In the end, after a long time she came to a

large house of iron with flames of fire coming out of the chimney. She

feared to enter. “Come in,” said the master of the house. “If I enter,

how shall I be treated? What relation shall I bear to you?” “I will be

your brother,” he said. “No,” was the answer. “I will be your father.”

“No,” was again the answer. “Your uncle,” “your friend,” still “no”

was her answer. “I will be your husband.” This time she replied “Yes,”

the large iron doors flew open and she entered, they closing violently

behind her.

 

The inhabitant was a large, ugly man, and the interior of the building

was strewn with human carcasses half devoured in their raw state.

He was the first cannibal! The woman would have fled but could not,

and was compelled to become his wife according to her promise. He

treated her badly and although not forcing her to eat human flesh

was continually devouring it himself. They lived as man and wife

for a length of time, during which she had a male child by him. The

brothers had never given up the search for their lost sister, and in

the course of their travels for that purpose came to the house of the

cannibal during his absence. The woman let them in and recognized them.

The child was beginning to speak a few words, and among the first

he pronounced were: “Mother, what fine, fat men; kill one of them

that I may eat some good meat.” The brothers stared—the child was a

cannibal! “You little fool,” said the mother, “would you eat your own

uncle?” The brothers held a council with their sister as to the way the

cannibal being could be killed and she undertook his destruction. It

appears this being had the power of coming into his house any way he

chose, through the floor, through the walls, or any other manner, and

the only vulnerable part of him was a cavity in the top of his head,

not protected by the bone of the skull. She heated a stone red hot,

and when the cannibal as usual was coming up through the floor, head

foremost, she threw the stone into the hole in his head and burned up his brains, causing instant death.