FOOTNOTES:
[174] Consult Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, (New York, 1904-05) v, p. 347.—Ed.
[175] The consensus of modern opinion is, that the Indians worshipped the sun only as a symbol. They were in a stage neither monotheistic nor pantheistic, but recognized all manifestations of the unseen, without a sense of personal unity. Consult on this subject, J. W. Powell, "Mythology of North American Indians," in U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1879-80, pp. 17-56; D. G. Brinton, Myths of the New World (third edition, Philadelphia, 1896); R. M. Dorman, Origin of Primitive Superstitions among the Aborigines of America (Phila., 1881).—Ed.
[176] José de Acosta, a Jesuit historian (1539-1600), born in Spain, was missionary to Peru for many years. Upon his return to Spain he published Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias (Seville, 1590), both in Latin and Spanish. An English translation appeared in 1604.—Ed.
[177] Clavigero asserts of the Indians of Mexico, that their first heaven (that of the warriors, &c.) they called "la casa del sol" (the house of the sun), which luminary they worshipped every morning at sunrise.—Gregg.
[178] I have since met with the same, in substance, related by Mr. Schoolcraft.—Gregg.
Comment by Ed. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864), for many years Indian agent at Mackinac, and a prolific writer on Indian subjects.
[179] The Shawnees have four missionary establishments among them, viz. a Methodist, Baptist, Moravian, and Quaker. There are also missionaries of different sects among most of the tribes of the border, the labors of whom have been attended with some degree of success. There is, I believe, but one Catholic Mission upon the frontier, which is among the Potawatomies, about a thousand of whom have embraced this faith. The Catholics, however, appear to have succeeded better than most other denominations, in their missionary efforts. It is so in Mexico, so in Canada, and appears so everywhere else that they have undertaken the Christianization of the heathen. I would not be understood to attribute this to any intrinsic superiority of their religion, but to the peculiarities of its forms and ceremonies. The pageantry of their worship, the palpable representation of the divine mysteries by the introduction of images, better accords with their pristine idolatry, than a more spiritual faith. Catholics, indeed, have had the sagacity to permit the Indians (at least in some countries) to interweave many of their own heathen ceremonies with the sacred Christian rites, forming a singular mêlée of Romish and pagan worship, which is especially the case in Mexico. Also, the less rigid Catholic creed and customs do not debar them from their wonted favorite amusements, not to say vices. It is therefore that whole tribes sometimes simultaneously embrace this imposing creed.—Gregg.
[180] See Thwaites, Hennepin's New Discovery (Chicago, 1903), ii, pp. 537, 538.—Ed.
[181] Adair, who resided forty years with the southern Indians, previous to 1775, speaks of the same among them all.—Gregg.