I have seen in several of the Indian synhedria, two white painted eagles carved out of poplar wood, with their wings stretched out, and raised five feet off the ground, standing at the corner, close to their red and white imperial seats: and, on the inner side of each of the deep-notched pieces of wood, where the eagles stand, the Indians frequently paint, with a chalky clay, the figure of a man, with buffalo horns—and that of a panther, with the same colour; from which I conjecture, especially, connected with their other rites and customs soon to be mentioned, that the former emblem was designed to describe the divine attributes, as that bird excels the rest of the feathered kind, in various superior qualities; and that the latter symbol is a contraction of the cherubimical figures, the man, the bull, and the lion. And this opinion is corroborated by an established custom, both religious and martial, among them, which obliges them to paint those sacred emblems anew, at the first fruit-offering, or the annual expiation of sins. Every one of their war-leaders must also make three successful wolfish campaigns, with their reputed holy ark, before he is admitted to wear a pair of a young buffalo-bull’s horns on his forehead, or to sing the triumphal war song, and to dance with the same animal’s tail sticking up behind him, while he sings Yo Yo, &c. {30}
Now we know it was an usual custom with the eastern nations, to affix horns to their gods. The Sidonian goddess Ashtaroth was horned: and Herodotus says, the Egyptians painted their Venus, or Isis, after the same manner: and the Greek Jo, (which probably was Yo) had horns, in illusion to the bull’s head, the chief emblem of the celestial cherubic fire, representing Yo (He Wah) as its name plainly indicates. A horn was, likewise, a Persian emblem of power[[VII]].
[VII]. The metaphorical expressions, and emblematical representations, of the law and the prophets, are generally suited to the usages of the eastern countries. And this metaphor, of a horn, is commonly so used, through all the divine registers, multiplying the number of horns of the object they are describing, to denote its various, great, and perfect power; unless where seven is mentioned as a number of perfection, as in St. John’s figurative, magnificent, and sublime description of Christ.
That the Indians derived those symbolical representations from the compounded figures of the cherubim, seems yet more clear, from the present cherubic names of their tribes, and the preeminence they formerly bore over the rest. At present, indeed, the most numerous tribe commonly bears the highest command; yet their old warriors assure us, it was not so even within their own remembrance. The title of the old beloved men, or archimagi, is still hereditary in the panther, or tyger family: As North-America breeds no lions, the panther, or any animal it contains, is the nearest emblem of it. The Indian name of each cherub, both terrestrial and celestial, reflects great light on the present subject; for they call the buffalo (bull) Yanasa; the panther, or supposed lion, Koè-Ishto, or Koè-O, “the cat of God;” the man, or human creature, Ya-we; and the eagle, Ooóle; fire is Loak; the solar light, Ashtahále; and air, Màhàle, in allusion to מי, water, and אל, the omnipotent; the note of aspiration is inserted, to give the word a fuller and more vehement sound. Their eagle and buffalo tribes resemble two other cherubic names or emblems. They have one they call Spháne, the meaning of which they have lost; perhaps it might have signified the man.
Near to the red and white imperial seats, they have the representation of a full moon, and either a half moon, or a breastplate, raised five or six feet high at the front of the broad seats, and painted with chalky clay; sometimes black paintings are intermixed. But, let it be noticed, that in the {31} time of their most religious exercises, or their other friendly rejoicings there, they do not pay the least adoration to any of those expressive emblems; nor seem to take any notice of them: which is the very reverse to the usage of all the ancient heathen world. Hence one would conclude, that they not only brought with them the letter, but the meaning of those reputed cherubimical figures, which were designed to represent the inseparable attributes of Yohewah.
It is universally agreed, by the Christian world, that every religious observance of the ancient heathens, which the Mosaic law approved of, was at first derived from divine appointment; and as we are assured in the first pages of the sacred oracles, concerning Cain, Gen. iv. 16. “that he went out from the presence of the Lord,” we learn, that God, in that early state of the world, chose a place for his more immediate presence,—פגים, his faces, appearances, or forms residing in, or between, the cherubim. We may, therefore, reasonably conclude, from the various gods, and religious worship of the ancient heathens, and from the remaining divine emblems, and family names of the Indian Americans, that the former deduced those emblems they deifyed, from the compounded cherubim in paradise: and that the Indians derived their cherubic figures, and names of tribes, from the cherubim that covered the mercy-seat, in the tabernacle, and in Solomon’s temple, alluded to and delineated in several parts of the sacred oracles.
Argument III.
Agreeable to the THEOCRACY, or divine government of Israel, the Indians think the Deity to be the immediate head of their state.
All the nations of Indians are exceedingly intoxicated with religious pride, and have an inexpressible contempt of the white people, unless we except those half-savage Europeans, who are become their proselytes. Nothings is the most favourable name they give us, in set speeches: even the Indians who were formerly bred in amity with us, and in enmity to the French, used to call us, in their war orations, hottuk ookproose, “The accursed people.” But they flatter themselves with the name hottuk oretoopah, “The beloved people,” because their supposed ancestors, as they affirm, were under the immediate government of the Deity, who was present with them, in a {32} very particular manner, and directed them by prophets; while the rest of the world were aliens and out-laws to the covenant.
When the archi-magus, or any one of their magi, is persuading the people, at their religious solemnities to a strict observance of the old beloved, or divine speech, he always calls them, “The beloved,” or holy people, agreeable to the Hebrew epithet, Ammi, during the theocracy of Israel: he urges them, with the greatest energy of expression he is capable of, a strong voice, and very expressive gestures, to imitate the noble actions of their great and virtuous forefathers, which they performed, in a surprizing manner, by their holy things, and a strict observance of the old, beloved speech. Then, he flourishes on their beloved land that flowed with milk and honey, telling them they had good, and the best things in the greatest plenty: and speaks largely of their present martial customs, and religious rites, which they derived from their illustrious predecessors,—strictly charging them not to deviate, in the least, out of that old, beloved, beaten path, and they will surely meet with all the success that attended their beloved forefathers.