Argument VII.
In conformity to, or after the manner of the Jews, the Indian Americans have their Prophets, High-Priests,[[31]] and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum, or most holy place, so have all the Indian nations; particularly, the Muskohge. It is partitioned off by a mud-wall about breast-high, behind the white seat, which always stands to the left hand of the red-painted war-seat; there they deposit their consecrated vessels, and supposed holy utensils, none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place, for fear of particular damage to themselves, and general hurt to the people, from the supposed divinity of the place.
With the Muskohge, Hitch Lalàge signifies “cunning men,” or persons prescient of futurity, much the same as the Hebrew seers. Cheeràtahége is the name of the pretended prophets, with the Cheerake, and nearly approaches to the meaning of נביא, Nebia, the Hebrew name of a prophet. Cheera is their word for “fire,” and the termination points out men possest of, or endued with it. The word seems to allude to the celestial cherubim, fire, light, and spirit, which centered in O E A, or Yohewah. These Indians call their pretended prophets also Loá-che, “Men resembling the holy fire,” or as Elohim; for the termination expresses a comparison, and Loa, is a contraction of Loak, drawn from אלה, Elóah, the singular number of אלהים, Elohim, the name of the holy ones. And, as the Muskohge {80} call the noise of thunder, Erowah, so the Cheerake by inverting it, Worah, “He is;” thereby alluding to the divine essence: and, as those term the lightning Elóa, and believe it immediately to proceed from the voice of Ishtohollo Elóa Aba, it shews the analogy to the Hebrews, and their sentiments to be different from all the early heathen world.
The Indian tradition says, that their forefathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold things future, and controuled the common course of nature: and this they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed to it. They believe, that by the communication of the same divine fire working on their Loáche, they can now effect the like. They say it is out of the reach of Nana Ookproo, either to comprehend, or perform such things, because the beloved fire, or the holy spirit of fire, will not co-operate with, or actuate Hottuk Ookproose, “the accursed people.” Ishtohoollo is the name of all their priestly order, and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest: those friend-towns, which are firmly confederated in their exercises and plays, never have more than one Archi-magus at a time. But lameness, contrary to the Mosaic law, it must be confessed, does not now exclude him from officiating in his religious function; though it is not to be doubted, as they are naturally a modest people, and highly ridicule those who are incapable of procreating their species, that formerly they excluded the lame and impotent. They, who have the least knowledge in Indian affairs, know, that the martial virtue of the savages, obtains them titles of distinction; but yet their old men, who could scarcely correct their transgressing wives, much less go to war, and perform those difficult exercises, that are essentially needful in an active warrior, are often promoted to the pontifical dignity, and have great power over the people, by the pretended sanctity of the office. Notwithstanding the Cheerake are now a nest of apostate hornets, pay little respect to grey hairs, and have been degenerating fast from their primitive religious principles, for above thirty years past—yet, before the last war, Old Hop,[[32]] who was helpless and lame, presided over the whole nation, as Archi-magus, and lived in Choàte, their only town of refuge. It was entirely owing to the wisdom of those who then presided in South-Carolina, that his dangerous pontifical, and regal-like power, was impaired, by their setting up Atta Kulla Kulla,[[33]] and supporting him so well, as to prevent the then easy transition of an Indian {81} high-priesthood into a French American bloody chair, with a bunch of red and black beads; where the devil and they could as easily have instructed them in the infernal French catechism, as they did the Canada Indians: as—Who killed Christ? Answer, The bloody English; &c.[[XX]]
[XX]. A wrong belief has a most powerful efficacy in depraving men’s morals, and a right one has a great power to reform them. The bloody Romish bulls, that France sent over to their Indian converts, clearly prove the former; and our peaceable conduct, as plainly shewed the latter, till Britannia sent out her lions to retaliate.
To discover clearly the origin of the Indian religious system, I must occasionally quote as much from the Mosaic institution, as the savages seem to copy after, or imitate, in their ceremonies; and only the faint image of the Hebrew can now be expected to be discerned, as in an old, imperfect glass. The priesthood originally centered with the first male born of every family: with the ancient heathens, the royalty was annexed to it, in a direct line; and it descended in that manner, as low as the Spartans and Romans. But, to secure Israel from falling into heathenish customs and worship; God in the time of Moses, set apart the Levites for religious services in the room of the first-born; and one high-priest, was elected from the family of Aaron, and anointed with oil, who presided over the rest. This holy office descended by right of inheritance. However, they were to be free of bodily defects, and were by degrees initiated to their holy office, before they were allowed to serve in it. They were consecrated, by having the water of purifying sprinkled upon them, washing all their body, and their clothes clean, anointing them with oil, and offering a sacrifice.
It is not surprizing that the dress of the old savage Archi-magus, and that of the Levitical high-priest, is somewhat different. It may well be supposed, they wandered from captivity to this far-distant wilderness, in a distrest condition, where they could scarcely cover themselves from the inclemency of heat and cold. Besides, if they had always been possessed of the greatest affluence, the long want of written records would sufficiently excuse the difference; because oral traditions are liable to variation. However, there are some traces of agreement in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archi-magus officiates in making the supposed holy fire, for the yearly atonement {82} of sin, the Sagan clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. When he enters on that solemn duty, a beloved attendant spreads a white-drest buck-skin on the white seat, which stands close to the supposed holiest, and then puts some white beads on it, that are given him by the people. Then the Archi-magus wraps around his shoulders a consecrated skin of the same sort, which reaching across under his arms, he ties behind his back, with two knots on the legs, in the form of a figure of eight. Another custom he observes on this solemn occasion, is, instead of going barefoot, he wears a new pair of buck-skin white maccasenes made by himself, and stitched with the sinews of the same animal[[XXI]]. The upper leather across the toes, he paints, for the space of three inches, with a few streaks of red—not with vermilion, for that is their continual war-emblem, but with a certain red root, its leaves and stalk resembling the ipecacuanha, which is their fixed red symbol of holy things. These shoes he never wears, but in the time of the supposed passover; for at the end of it, they are laid up in the beloved place, or holiest, where much of the like sort, quietly accompanies an heap of old, broken earthen ware, conch-shells, and other consecrated things.
Observant ubi sesta mero pede sabbata reges,
Et vetus indulget senibus clementa porcis.
Juvenal, Sat. vi.
When the high-priest entered into the holiest, on the day of expiation, he clothed himself in white; and, when he finished that day’s service, he laid aside those clothes and left them in the tabernacle. Lev. xvi. 23.
When the Egyptian priests went to worship in their temples, they wore shoes of white parchment. Herodotus, Lib. ii. Cap. v.
The Mosaic ceremonial institutions, are acknowledged by our best writers, to represent the Messiah, under various types and shadows; in like manner, the religious customs of the American Indians, seem to typify the same; according to the early divine promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent; and that it should bruise his heel.—The Levitical high-priest wore a breast-plate, which they called Hosechim, and on it the Urim and Thummim, signifying lights and perfections; for they are the plurals of אור, Awóra, (which inverted makes Erowa) and תורה, Thòràh, {83} the law, as it directed them under dark shadows, to Messiah, the lamp of light and perfection. In resemblance of this sacred pectoral, or breast-plate, the American Archi-magus wears a breast-plate, made of a white conch-shell,[[34]] with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastens a buck-horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of the precious stones of Urim, which miraculously blazoned from the high-priest’s breast, the unerring words of the divine oracle. Instead of the plate of gold, which the Levite wore on his forehead, bearing these words,קדש לי יהוה Kadesh li Yohewah, “holy, or separate to God,” the Indian wears around his temples, either a wreath of swan-feathers, or a long piece of swan-skin doubled, so as only the fine snowy feathers appear on each side. And, in likeness to the Tiara of the former, the latter wears on the crown of his head, a tuft of white feathers, which they call Yatèra. He likewise fastens a tuft of blunted wild Turkey cock-spurs, toward the toes of the upper part of his maccasenes, as if in resemblance to the seventy-two bells, which the Levitical high-priest wore on his coat of blue. Those are as strong religious pontifical emblems, as any old Hebrews could have well chosen, or retained under the like circumstances of time and place. Thus appears the Indian Archimagus—not as Merubha Begadim, “the man with many clothes,” as they called the high-priest of the second temple, but with clothes proper to himself, when he is to officiate in his pontifical function, at the annual expiation of sins[[XXII]]. As religion is the touchstone of every nation of people, and as these Indians cannot be supposed to have been deluded out of theirs, separated from the rest of the world, for many long-forgotten ages—the traces which may be discerned among them, will help to corroborate the other arguments concerning their origin.
[XXII]. The only ornaments that distinguished the high-priest from the rest, were a coat with seventy-two bells, an ephod, or jacket without sleeves, a breast-plate set with twelve stones, a linen mitre, and a plate of gold upon his forehead.
These religious, beloved men are also supposed to be in great favour with the Deity, and able to procure rain when they please. In this respect also, we shall observe a great conformity to the practice of the Jews. The Hebrew records inform us, that in the moon Abib, or Nisan, they prayed for {84} the spring, or latter rain, to be so seasonable and sufficient as to give them a good harvest. And the Indian Americans have a tradition, that their forefathers sought for and obtained such seasonable rains, as gave them plentiful crops; and they now seek them in a manner agreeable to the shadow of this tradition.
When the ground is parched, their rain-makers, (as they are commonly termed) are to mediate for the beloved red people, with the bountiful holy Spirit of fire. But their old cunning prophets are not fond of entering on this religious duty, and avoid it as long as they possibly can, till the murmurs of the people force them to the sacred attempt, for the security of their own lives. If he fails,[[35]] the prophet is shot dead, because they are so credulous of his divine power conveyed by the holy Spirit of fire, that they reckon him an enemy to the state, by averting the general good, and bringing desolating famine upon the beloved people. But in general, he is so discerning in the stated laws of nature, and skilful in priestcraft, that he always seeks for rain, either at the full, or change of the moon; unless the birds, either by instinct, or the temperature of their bodies, should direct him otherwise. However, if in a dry season, the clouds, by the veering of the winds, pass wide of their fields—while they are inveighing bitterly against him, some in speech, and others in their hearts, he soon changes their well-known notes—he assumes a displeased countenance and carriage, and attacks them with bitter reproaches, for their vicious conduct in the marriage-state, and for their notorious pollutions, by going to the women in their religious retirements, and for multifarious crimes that never could enter into his head to suspect them of perpetrating, but that the divinity his holy things were endued with, had now suffered a great decay, although he had fasted, purified himself, and on every other account, had lived an innocent life, according to the old beloved speech: adding, “Loak Ishtohoollo will never be kind to bad people.” He concludes with a religious caution to the penitent, advising them to mend their manners, and the times will mend with them: Then they depart with sorrow and shame. The old women, as they go along, will exclaim loudly against the young people, and protest they will watch their manners very narrowly for the time to come, as they are sure of their own steady virtue. {85}
If a two-year drought happens, the synhedrim, at the earnest solicitation of the mortified sinners, convene in a body, and make proper enquiry into the true cause of their calamities; because (say they) it is better to spoil a few roguish people, than a few roguish people should spoil Hottuk Oretoopah: The lot soon falls upon Jonas, and he is immediately swallowed up. Too much rain is equally dangerous to those red prophets.—I was lately told by a gentleman of distinguished character, that a famous rain-maker of the Muskohge was shot dead, because the river over-flowed their fields to a great height, in the middle of August, and destroyed their weighty harvest. They ascribed the mischief to his ill-will; as the Deity, they say, doth not injure the virtuous, and designed him only to do good to the beloved people.
In the year 1747, a Nàchee warrior told me, that while one of their prophets was using his divine invocations for rain, according to the faint image of their ancient tradition, he was killed with thunder on the spot; upon which account, the spirit of prophecy ever after subsided among them, and he became the last of their reputed prophets. They believed the holy Spirit of fire had killed him with some of his angry darting fire, for wilful impurity; and by his threatening voice, forbad them to renew the like attempt—and justly concluded, that if they all lived well, they should fare well, and have proper seasons. This opinion coincides with that of the Israelites, in taking fire for the material emblem of Yohewah; by reckoning thunder the voice of the Almighty above, according to the scriptural language; by esteeming thunder-struck individuals under the displeasure of heaven—and by observing and enforcing such rules of purity, as none of the old pagan nations observed, nor any, except the Hebrews.
As the prophets of the Hebrews had oracular answers, so the Indian magi, who are to invoke YO He Wah, and mediate with the supreme holy fire, that he may give seasonable rains, have a transparent stone, of supposed great power in assisting to bring down the rain, when it is put in a bason of water; by a reputed divine virtue, impressed on one of the like sort, in time of old, which communicates it circularly. This stone would suffer a great decay, they assert, were it even seen by their own laity; but if by foreigners, it would be utterly despoiled of its divine {86} communicative power. Doth not this allude to the precious blazoning stones of Urim and Thummim?
In Tymáhse, a lower Cheerake town, lived one of their reputed great divine men, who never informed the people of his seeking for rain, but at the change, or full of the moon, unless there was some promising sign of the change of the weather, either in the upper regions, or from the feathered kalender; such as the quacking of ducks, the croaking of ravens, and from the moistness of the air felt in their quills; consequently, he seldom failed of success, which highly increased his name, and profits; for even when it rained at other times, they ascribed it to the intercession of their great beloved man. Rain-making, in the Cheerake mountains, is not so dangerous an office, as in the rich level lands of the Chikkasah country, near the Missisippi. The above Cheerake prophet had a carbuncle, near as big as an egg, which they said he found where a great rattlesnake lay dead,[[36]] and that it sparkled with such surprizing lustre, as to illuminate his dark winter-house, like strong flashes of continued lightning, to the great terror of the weak, who durst not upon any account, approach the dreadful fire-darting place, for fear of sudden death. When he died, it was buried along with him according to custom, in the town-house of Tymáhse, under the great beloved cabbin, which stood in the westernmost part of that old fabric, where they who will run the risk of searching, may luckily find it; but, if any of that family detected them in disturbing the bones of their deceased relation, they would resent it as the basest act of hostility. The inhuman conduct of the avaricious Spaniards toward the dead Peruvians and Mexicans, irritated the natives, to the highest pitch of distraction, against those ravaging enemies of humanity. The intense love the Indians bear to their dead, is the reason that so few have fallen into the hands of our physicians to dissect, or anatomise. We will hope also, that from a principle of humanity, our ague-charmers, and water-casters, who like birds of night keep where the Indians frequently haunt, would not cut up their fellow-creatures, as was done by the Spanish butchers in Peru and Mexico.
Not long ago, at a friendly feast, or feast of love, in West-Florida, during the time of a long-continued drought, I earnestly importuned the old rain-maker, for a sight of the pretended divine stone, which he had assured me he was possessed of; but he would by no means gratify my request. He {87} told me, as I was an infidel, literally, “one who shakes hands with the accursed speech,” and did not believe its being endued with a divine power, the sight of it could no ways benefit me; and that, as their old unerring tradition assured them, it would suffer very great damage in case of compliance, he hoped I would kindly acquiesce; especially, as he imagined, I believed every nation of people had certain beloved things, that might be easily spoiled by being polluted. I told him I was fully satisfied with the friendly excuse he made to my inconsiderate request; but that I could scarcely imagine there were any such beloved men, and beloved things, in so extremely fertile, but now sun-burnt soil. Their crops had failed the year before, by reason of several concurring causes: and, for the most part of the summer season, he had kept his bed through fear of incurring the punishment of a false prophet; which, joined with the religious regimen, and abstemious way of living he was obliged strictly to pursue, it sweated him so severely, as to reduce him to a skeleton. I jested him in a friendly way, saying, I imagined, the supreme holy fire would have proved more kind to his honest devotees, than to sicken him so severely, especially at that critical season, when the people’s food, and his own, entirely depended on his health; that, though our beloved men never undertook to bring down seasonable rains, yet we very seldom failed of good crops, and always paid them the tenth basket-full of our yearly produce; because, they persuaded our young people, by the force of their honest example, and kind-hearted enchanting language, to shun the crooked ways of Hottuk Kallákse, “the mad light people,” and honestly to shake hands with the old beloved speech—that the great, supreme, fatherly Chieftain, had told his Loáche to teach us how to obtain peace and plenty, and every other good thing while we live here, and when we die, not only to shun the accursed dark place, where the sun is every day drowned, but likewise to live again for ever, very happily in the favourite country.
He replied, that my speech consisted of a mixture of good and ill; the beginning of it was crooked, and the conclusion straight. He said, I had wrongfully blamed him, for the effect of the disorderly conduct of the red people and himself, as it was well known he fasted at different times for several days together; at other times ate green tobacco-leaves; and some days drank only a warm decoction of the button snake-root, without allowing {88} any one, except his religious attendant, to come near him; and, in every other respect, had honestly observed the austere rules of his religious place, according to the beloved speech that Ishtohoollo Elóa Aba gave to the Loáche of their forefathers: but Loak Ishtohoollo was sorely vexed with most of their young people for violating the chastity of their neighbours wives, and even among the thriving green corn and pease, as their beds here and there clearly proved; thus, they spoiled the power of his holy things, and tempted Minggo Ishto Elóa, “the great chieftain of the thunder,” to bind up the clouds, and withold the rain. Besides, that the old women were less honest in paying their rain-makers, than the English women behaved to their beloved men, unless I had spoken too well of them. The wives of this and the other person, he said, had cheated him, in not paying him any portion of the last year’s bad crop, which their own bad lives greatly contributed to, as that penurious crime of cheating him of his dues, sufficiently testified; not to mention a late custom, they had contracted since the general peace, of planting a great many fields of beans and pease, in distant places, after the summer-crops were over, on the like dishonest principle; likewise in affirming, that when the first harvest was over, it rained for nothing; by that means they had blackened the old beloved speech, that Ishtohoollo Eloa of old spoke to his Loáche, and conveyed down to him, only that they might paint their own bad actions white. He concluded, by saying, that all the chieftains, and others present, as well as myself, knew now very well, from his honest speech, the true cause of the earth’s having been so strangely burnt till lately; and that he was afraid, if the hearts of those light and mad people he complained of, did not speedily grow honest, the dreadful day would soon come, in which Lóak Ishtohoollo would send Phutchik Keeraah Ishtò, “the great blazing star,” Yahkàne eeklénna, Loak loáchàché, “to burn up half of the earth with fire,” Pherimmi Aiúbe, “from the north to the south,” Hassé oobèa perà, “toward the setting of the sun,” where they should in time arrive at the dreadful place of darkness, be confined there hungry, and otherwise sorely distrest among hissing snakes and many other frightful creatures, according to the ancient true speech that Ishtohoollo Aba spoke to his beloved Loáche.
Under this argument, I will also mention another striking resemblance to the Jews, as to their TITHES—As the sacerdotal office was fixed in the tribe {89} of Levi, they had forty-eight cities allotted them from the other tribes. And Moses assures us, in Deut. xiv. 28, 29, that those tribes paid them also once in three years, the tithe, or tenth of all they possessed, which is supposed to be about the thirtieth part of their annual possessions; by which means they were reasonably maintained, as spiritual pastors, and enabled to fulfil the extensive and charitable application of their dues, as enjoined.
It hath been already hinted, that the Indian prophets undertake by the emanation of the divine spirit of fire, co-operating with them, to bring down proper rains for crops, on the penalty of loosing their own lives; as the Indians reckon that a regular virtuous life will sufficiently enable their great beloved men to bring blessings of plenty to the beloved people; and if they neglect it, they are dangerous enemies, and a great curse to the community. They imagine his prophetic power is also restrictive as to winter-rains, they doing more hurt than good; for they justly observe, that their ground seldom suffers by the want of winter-rains. Their sentiments on this head, are very strong; they say, Ishtohoollo Aba allows the winter-rain to fall unsought, but that he commanded their forefathers to seek for the summer-rain, according to the old law, otherwise he would not give it to them. If the seasons have been answerable, when the ripened harvest is gathered in, the old women pay their reputed prophet with religious good-will, a certain proportional quantity of each kind of the new fruits, measured in the same large portable back-baskets, wherein they carried home the ripened fruits. This stated method they yearly observe; which is as consonant to the Levitical institution, as can be reasonably expected, especially, as their traditions have been time out of mind preserved only by oral echo.
Modern writers inform us, that the Persees pay a tithe of their revenues to the chief Destour, or Archimagus of a city or province, who decides cases of conscience, and points of law, according to the institution of Zoroaster—a mixture of Judaism and paganism. Their annual religious offering to the Archimagi, is a misapplication of the Levitical law concerning tithes, contrary to the usage of the American Aborigines, which it may be supposed they immediately derived from the Hebrews; for, as the twelfth tribe was devoted to the divine service, they were by divine appointment, maintained at the public expense. However, when we consider that their government was {90} of a mixed kind—first a theocracy—then by nobles, and by kings—and at other times by their high-priest, it seems to appear pretty plain, that the Deity raised, preserved, and governed those people, to oppose idolatry, and continue, till the fulness of time came, the true divine worship on earth, under ceremonial dark shadows, without exhibiting their government in the least, as a plan of future imitation. Besides, as Messiah is come, according to the predictions of the divine oracles, which represented him under various strong types and shadows, surely christians ought to follow the copy of their humble Master and his holy disciples, and leave the fleecing of the flock to the avaricious Jews, whose religious tenets, and rapacious principles, support them in taking annual tithes from each other; who affect to believe that all the Mosaic law is perpetually binding, and that the predicted Shilo, who is to be their purifier, king, prophet, and high-priest, is not yet come. The law of tithing, was calculated only for the religious œconomy of the Hebrew nation; for as the merciful Deity, who was the immediate head of that state, had appropriated the Levites to his service, and prohibited them purchasing land, lest they should be seduced from their religious duties, by worldly cares, He, by a most bountiful law, ordered the state to give them the tithe, and other offerings, for the support of themselves and their numerous families, and also of the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger.
I shall insert a dialogue, that formerly passed between the Chikkasah Loáche and me, which will illustrate both this, and other particulars of the general subject; and also shew the religious advantages and arguments, by which the French used to undermine us with the Indians.
We had been speaking of trade, which is the usual topic of discourse with those craftsmen. I asked him how he could reasonably blame the English traders for cheating Tekapê húmmah, “the red folks,” even allowing his accusations to be just; as he, their divine man, had cheated them out of a great part of their crops, and had the assurance to claim it as his religious due, when at the same time, if he had shaked hands with the straight old beloved speech, or strictly observed the ancient divine law, his feeling heart would not have allowed him to have done such black and crooked things, especially to the helpless, the poor, and the aged; {91} it rather would have strongly moved him to stretch out to them a kind and helping hand, according to the old beloved speech of Ishtohoollo Aba to his Hottuk Ishtohoollo, who were sufficiently supported at the public expence, and strictly ordered to supply with the greatest tenderness, the wants of others.
He smartly retorted my objections, telling me, that the white people’s excuses for their own wrong conduct, were as false and weak as my complaints were against him. The red people, he said, saw very clearly through such thin black paint; though, his sacred employment was equally hid from them and me; by which means, neither of us could reasonably pretend to be proper judges of his virtuous conduct, nor blame him for the necessary effect of our own crimes; or urge it as a plea for cheating him out of his yearly dues, contrary to the old divine speech, for the crops became light by their own vicious conduct, which spoiled the power of his holy things. So that it was visible, both the red and white people were commonly too partial to themselves; and that by the bounty of the supreme fatherly Chieftain, it was as much out of his power, as distant from his kindly heart, either to wrong the beloved red people, or the white nothings; and that it became none, except mad light people, to follow the crooked steps of Hottuk Ookproose, the accursed people.
As there was no interruption to our winter-night’s chat, I asked him in a friendly manner, whether he was not afraid, thus boldly to snatch at the divine power of distributing rain at his pleasure, as it belonged only to the great beloved thundering Chieftain, who dwells far above the clouds, in the new year’s unpolluted holy fire, and who gives it in common to all nations of people alike, and even to every living creature over the face of the whole earth, because he made them—and his merciful goodness always prompts him to supply the wants of all his creatures. He told me, that by an ancient tradition, their Loáche were possessed of an extraordinary divine power, by which they foretold hidden things, and by the beloved speech brought down showers of plenty to the beloved people; that he very well knew, the giver of virtue to nature resided on earth in the unpolluted holy fire, and likewise above the clouds and the sun, in the shape of a fine fiery substance, attended by a great many beloved people; and that he continually weighs us, and measures out good or bad {92} things to us, according to our actions. He added, that though the former beloved speech had a long time subsided, it was very reasonable they should still continue this their old beloved custom; especially as it was both profitable in supporting many of their helpless old beloved men, and very productive of virtue, by awing their young people from violating the ancient laws. This shewed him to be cunning in priestcraft, if not possessed of a tradition from the Hebrew records, that their prophets by the divine power, had, on material occasions, acted beyond the stated laws of nature, and wrought miracles.
My old prophetic friend told me, with a good deal of surprize, that though the beloved red people had by some means or other, lost the old beloved speech; yet Frenshe Lakkàne ookproo, “the ugly yellow French,” (as they term the Missisippians) had by some wonderful method obtained it; for his own people, he assured me, had seen them at New Orleans to bring down rain in a very dry season, when they were giving out several bloody speeches to their head warriors against the English Chikkasah traders. On a mischievous politic invitation of the French, several of the Chikkasah had then paid them a visit, in the time of an alarming drought and a general fast, when they were praying for seasonable rains at mass. When they came, the interpreter was ordered to tell them, that the French had holy places and holy things, after the manner of the red people—that if their young people proved honest, they could bring down rain whenever they stood in need of it—and that this was one of the chief reasons which induced all the various nations of the beloved red people to bear them so intense a love; and, on the contrary, so violent and inexpressible an hatred even to the very name of the English, because every one of them was marked with Anumbole Ookkproo, “the curse of God.”
The method the Chikkasah prophet used in relating the affair, has some humour in it—for their ignorance of the christian religion, and institutions, perplexes them when they are on the subject; on which account I shall literally transcribe it.
He told me, that the Chikkasah warriors during three successive days, accompanied the French Loáche and Ishtohoollo to the great beloved house, where a large bell hung a-top, which strange sight exceedingly surprized {93} them; for, instead of being fit for a horse, it would require a great many ten horses to carry it. Around the inside of the beloved house, there was a multitude of he and she beloved people, or male and female saints or angels, whose living originals, they affirmed dwelt above the clouds, and helped them to get every good thing from Ishtohoollo Aba, when they earnestly crave their help. The French beloved men spoke a great deal with much warmth; the rest were likewise busily employed in imitation of their Ishtohoollo and Loáche. At one time they spoke high, at another low. One chose this, and another chose that song. Here the men kneeled before the images of their she-beloved people; there the women did the like before their favourite and beloved he-pictures, entreating them for some particular favour which they stood in need of. Some of them, he said, made very wild motions over their heads and breasts; and others struck their stomachs with a vehemence like their warriors, when they drink much Ookka Homma, “bitter waters,” or spirituous liquor; while every one of them had a bunch of mixed beads, to which they frequently spoke, as well as counted over; that they loved these beads, for our people strictly observed, they did not give them to their Loáche and Ishtohoollo, as the red people would have done to those of their own country, though it was very plain they deserved them, for beating themselves so much for the young people’s roguish actions; and likewise for labouring so strongly in pulling off their clothes, and putting them on again, to make the beloved physic work, which they took in small pieces, to help to bring on the rain. On the third day (added he) they brought it down in great plenty, which was certainly a very difficult performance; and as surprizing too, that they who are always, when opportunity answers, persuading the red people to take up the bloody hatchet against their old steady friends, should still have the beloved speech, which Ishtohoollo Aba Eloa formerly spoke to his beloved Loáche.——Thus ended our friendly discourse.