[203] Compare Bryant.
[204] “O-kee-pa, a Religious Ceremony, and other Customs of the Mandans,” Trübner & Co. London, 1867. Mr Catlin’s statements are attested by the certificates of three educated and intelligent men who witnessed the ceremonies with him, and is further corroborated by a letter addressed to Mr Catlin by Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, the celebrated traveller among the North American Indians, who had previously referred to them (he spent a winter among the Mandans).
[205] I read in the Times, March 6, 1871, that “The American papers state that workmen in Iowa, excavating for the projected Dubuque and Minnesota railroad, in the limestone at the foot of a bluff, discovered recently some caves and rock chambers, and, on raising a foot slab, a vault filled with human skeletons of unusual size, the largest being seven feet eight inches high. A figured sun on the walls is taken as indicating that the skeletons belonged to a people who worshipped that luminary [compare supra, [p. 152]] and the representation of a man with a dove stepping out of a boat, as an allusion to a tradition of the Deluge. The fingers of the largest skeleton clasped a pearl ornament, and traces of cloth were found crumbled at the feet of the remains. Many copper implements were found, and it is thought that the Lake Superior mines may have been worked at an early period. The remains were to be removed to the Iowa Institute of Arts and Sciences at Dubuque.”
[206] Compare account of Mandan tradition of the Creation, from “Hist. des Ceremonies Religieuses,” supra, [p. 191].
[207] Supra, p. 35. These tortures have their exact counterpart in India, e.g. the ceremony of the Pota (compare Sanscrit, “pota” = boat), thus described by Hunter (“Rural Bengal,” 1868, p. 463):—“Pota (hook-swinging), now stopped by Government, but still practised (1865) among the Northern Santals [who have the distinct tradition of the Deluge and dispersion referred to, supra] in April or May. Lasted about one month. Young men used to swing with hooks through their back [as seen in Catlin’s illustrations], as in the Charak Puja of the Hindus. The swingers used to fast the day preceding and the day following the operation, and to sleep the intermediate night on thorns.”
“On pleuroit et l’on s’attristoit dans les fêtes les plus gayes et plus dissolues; les cultes d’Isis et d’Osiris, ainsi que ceux de Bacchus, de Céres, d’Adonis, d’Atys, &c., étoient accompagnés de macérations et de larmes.”—Boulanger, iii. 355.
[208] Bryant (“Myth.” ii. 432) says, “There were many arkite” (i.e. commemorative of ark) “ceremonies in different parts of the world, which were generally styled Taurica sacra” (from taurus = bull). These mysteries were of old attended with acts of great cruelty. Of these “I have given instances, taken from different parts of the world; from Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, Crete, and Sicily.”
[209] Let the following points of resemblance be noted also in the “Panathenæa.” The lesser, and it is supposed the annual festival, was celebrated on the 20th of Thargelion, corresponding to the 5th May (compare Catlin). Every citizen contributed olive branches and an ox (vide Catlin) at the greater festival. “In the ceremonies without the city there was an engine built in the form of a ship, on purpose for this solemnity;” upon this the sacred garment of Minerva “was hung in the manner of a sail,” “the whole conveyed to the temple of Ceres Elusinia.” “This procession was led by old men, together, as some say, with old women carrying olive branches in their hands.” “After them came the men of full age with shields and spears, being attended by the Μετοίκοι or sojourners, who carried little boats as a token of their being foreigners, and were called on that account boat-bearers; then followed the women attended by the sojourner’s wives, who were named υδριαφοροι, from bearing water pots.”—Compare Burton, Catlin. Then followed select virgins, covered with millet, “called basket-bearers,” the baskets containing necessaries for the celebration. “These virgins were attended by the sojourner’s daughters, who carried umbrellas (vide Pongol Festival, [appendix]), little seats, whence they were called seat-carriers.”—Compare Burton (vide Potter’s “Antiquities,” i. 419.)
Compare also the following in the “Dionysia” or festivals in honour of Bacchus (ante, [p. 215]) with Catlin. “They carried thyrsi, drums, pipes, flutes, and rattles, and crowned themselves with garlands of trees sacred to Bacchus, ivy, vine, &c. Some imitated Silenus, Pan, and the Satyrs, exposing themselves in comical dresses and antic motions;” and in this manner ran about the hills “invoking Bacchus.” “At Athens this frantic rout was followed by persons carrying certain sacred vessels, the first of which was filled with water.”
Bryant (“Mythology,” ii. 219) speaking of Egypt (“the priests of Ammon who at particular seasons used to carry in procession a boat,” concerning which refer to page 254), says—“Part of the ceremony in most of the ancient mysteries consisted in carrying about a kind of ship or boat, which custom upon due examination will be found to relate to nothing else but Noah and the Deluge.” He adds that the name of “the navicular shrines was Baris, which is very remarkable; for it is the very name of the mountain, according to Nicolaus Damascenus, on which the ark of Noah rested, the same as Ararat in Armenia.” Herodotus speaks of “Baris” as the Egyptian name of a ship, l. 2, 96; Eurip. “Iphig. in Aulis,” v. 297; Æschylus, Persæ, 151; Lycophron, v. 747, refer to names of ships in connection with Noah. Sup., [p. 196]. Query—is our word barge a corruption of baris? or perhaps of baris in connection with “argus,” also a term for the ark. (With reference to this etymology vide my remark, [p. 116], and d’Anselme, [p. 196], and Bryant, ii. 251.)