I asked Faribault, whether any of the tribes with whom he had lived, appeared to have any belief in one supreme Great Spirit. He replied, that, as far as he had been able to judge of this matter, the Sioux held this belief vaguely, but, that it did not influence their actions. The Dakotas have a Pagan custom of investing animals, hills, mountains, and all remarkable natural manifestations of unknown powers with especial spirits of good or evil influence, each demanding different forms of worship and propitiation. They have also—under certain conditions—a belief in the transmigration of souls into animals. They consider that this takes place when an Indian has been guilty of some act of cowardice or treachery. In such a case, his spirit is supposed, after death, to go into some animal or to take its form, and then it is sometimes believed that it haunts the neighbourhood of the camp. The superstitious nature of the Sioux is often strangely affected by traditions respecting these wandering spirits, and when under this influence, it is said by the half-breeds living amongst them, that they seem to possess the power of seeing supernatural things.
There was an instance of this mentioned as having occurred a few years previously. A Sioux died: it was known that he had dreamed that, after his death, he would enter the body of a bear, and would then wander round the tents of the tribe. After his death, an Indian looked out at daybreak, and declared that he saw upon an opposite hill a large grey bear. Upon hearing this rumour the tribe assembled, and many of the men imagined that they saw it. After this appearance there was a universal dread of the bear. It was frequently seen, and the Indians were careful to avoid meeting it. During the time that the tribe were encamped in this part of the country, south of the Minnesota, the bear was occasionally seen prowling over the hills. One of the chiefs was asked by a white man, who was trading with this tribe, why it was not killed, and he was told, that it was because it contained the spirit of a dead brother. There was no doubt in the minds of the Indians about the reality of the vision. They were positive in declaring that they saw the bear, and would point it out to the half-breeds staying in the camp, who could never see it. This power of seeing what is to other men unseen, is stated to be possessed by many of the Dakotas, and is probably, in a great measure, due to a highly sensitive condition of mind, caused by their long periods of self-imposed abstinence. Faribault said, that Sioux, when travelling the country, will suddenly start and tremble, and point to something not visible to the half-breeds, and declare that they see the form of the spirit that they dread.
The dreams and fasts of the Dakotas, and the time passed by them in solitude, explain much that is strange and exceptional in their nature. It is thus intelligible how it happens, that the young Indians have such an earnest and vivid belief in the spiritual nature of the unknown and mysterious world, and that they invest with supernatural attributes the mysterious powers which surround them. It must seem natural to them, that thunder and lightning, sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, should be considered as manifestations of powerful spirits, that require to receive worship and sacrifice. What, however, is not so obvious, is the cause which impels them to worship large rocks and stones, which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be supposed to possess active powers of good or evil. Upon this subject I asked the Indians for their explanation, saying, that I supposed they did not directly worship a stone, such as that near Mendota, but the spirit who had placed it there. Faribault said, that this worship also followed upon dreams, and the Indians, who were present, concurred in his statement. It sometimes happens that a Sioux, in his dream, instead of seeing the image of the sun or some animal, will see nothing but one of these large Spirit rocks. It is thus conveyed to his mind, that this is his god, by which his actions and fate are to be governed during his life, and to whom he must offer sacrifices.
The whole tribe will occasionally take part in the worship of a boulder.[49] A dreamer, usually in this case, a man who is supposed to be gifted with prophetic power, dreams that it has become necessary to propitiate some unknown spirit. Then if he afterwards dreams of one of these boulders he acquaints the tribe with the nature of his dream, and the camp is immediately moved to the neighbourhood of the particular stone that is to receive sacrifices. This worship of Spirit rocks continues to take place. There is a large rounded mass of granite on the west bank of the Mississippi, lying upon the prairie a few miles below Lake Pepin, which is still visited by wandering bands of Sioux. It had been painted a bright red colour. When passing near the spot where it was situated, I saw the fires of the encampment of Indians who had come there to perform their ceremonies.
Amongst the various superstitious customs of the Dakotas, none are more singular than those which are related to serpent worship, and I listened with attention to the opinions of the Sioux upon this subject. They said that with serpents, as with other animals, the sacrifices made to them were entirely a personal matter, depending upon the nature of the dreams and upon the special kind of affinity that an Indian might believe himself to possess with them. With regard to rattlesnakes the methods of propitiation varied, for it happens that some of the men of a tribe find that they have a power of fascination over these reptiles. Others are aware of a feeling of dread of them, and consequently act differently. Usually a snake worshipper, upon meeting a rattlesnake, carefully clears and smooths the ground and places upon it his offering. He then fills his pipe with tobacco, lights it and turns the mouth-piece towards the snake, holding the bowl in his hands. He then makes his request.[50] But, said the Sioux, these things are done in secret and very little is known about them. Each Indian, especially concerned, knows how and in what manner to offer his sacrifice.
There is necessarily a difficulty in comprehending the depth or extent of the belief in the supernatural powers of the gods ruling over them, as understood and acted upon by ignorant and savage natures, such as the Dakotas, whose opinions have been formed after they have undergone long periods of fasting and suffering. An event occurred in a tribe then dwelling near the banks of the Minnesota, which proved that these Indians believed that their gods took a direct part in the government of the world beneath them, and manifested their anger by punishing those men who had offended them, unless a sufficient sacrifice was made as a propitiation. This event was reported in the year 1852, by Mr. Prescott, who was residing amongst the Sioux.
His letter ran as follows:—
“St. Peters, January 26, 1852.
“Sir,
“I mentioned an instance of human sacrifice amongst the Sioux, but I did not know for what cause at the time, but since I have found out the cause of the sacrifice.
“There came up a terrible thunder-storm. The lightning was flashing and falling in every direction about the Indian’s lodge, and the Indian thought the lightning or thunder was angry with him, and was about to kill him; so the Indian took his gun and shot his own son, and offered him as a sacrifice to the thunder, to save his own life.”[51]
Amongst the Indian races occupying the Northern American continent, the Dakotas and the Pawnees are the only tribes who are known to have had the custom of sacrificing human beings to their gods. It is of importance to remark that these two races dwelt in neighbouring lands, and had customs which point to analogies with the Toltecs and Aztecs, in Southern Mexico, and the Mound Builders in Ohio. With the Dakotas human sacrifices were the greatest of the propitiations to their angry gods. It was known that Faribault had dwelt with a tribe of the Sioux upon an occasion when one of these sacrifices occurred, and I asked him to give me a detailed account of the proceedings that then took place, for cases of that serious nature rarely happen, although some centuries earlier, when tribal wars were frequent and perilous, it may be conjectured that they were numerous.
Faribault said that, at the time when this human sacrifice occurred, he was living with a band of Sioux belonging to the Sissiton tribe, and they were encamped near the west shores of Lake Pepin. “They had come to the conclusion that, for some reason which they did not comprehend, a curse was upon them. Everything seemed to go wrong. Game was scarce and hard to kill, and there was much distress and sickness. Fastings and the usual sacrifices seemed to be of no avail, and nothing removed the evil influences which surrounded them. Finally an Indian, not a chief, but a man who was an orator and a prophet, had it made known to him by a dream what propitiation was required. This man had three daughters. The youngest of them was twelve years old; she was a beautiful child and her father’s favourite. He dreamt that, to appease the Great Spirit, it was necessary to sacrifice this child. In the morning before sunrise, he awoke the girl and told her to go out of the tent, wash herself and then put on her best dress and all her ornaments. He then called the tribe together and told them his dream. When they had heard what he declared they removed the tents to an adjacent camping ground and remained there until he joined them. He was then left alone with his daughter. He told her that in his dream he had seen the Great Spirit who had commanded that she should be sacrificed. His daughter accordingly stood up, and facing the sun, began to sing her death song, which was a kind of hymn. At noon, when the sun had risen to its highest point in the sky, he killed her.”