CONCERNING THE RELIGION, WORSHIP, AND SUPERSTITIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE INDIANS.
§ 29. I don't pretend to have dived into all the mysteries of the Indian religion, nor have I had such opportunities of learning them as father Henepin and Baron Lahontan had, by living much among the Indians in their towns; and because my rule is to say nothing but what I know to be truth, I shall be very brief upon this head.
In the writings of those two gentlemen, I cannot but observe direct contradictions, although they traveled the same country, and the accounts they pretend to give are of the same Indians. One makes them have very refined notions of a Deity, and the other don't allow them so much as the name of a God. For which reason, I think myself obliged sincerely to deliver what I can warrant to be true upon my own knowledge; it being neither my interest, nor any part of my vanity, to impose upon the world.
I have been at several of the Indian towns, and conversed with some of the most sensible of them in Virginia; but I could learn little from them, it being reckoned sacrilege to divulge the principles of their religion. However, the following adventure discovered something of it. As I was ranging the woods, with some other friends, we fell upon their quioccosan, (which is their house of religious worship,) at a time when the whole town were gathered together in another place, to consult about the bounds of the land given them by the English.
Thus finding ourselves masters of so fair an opportunity, (because we knew the Indians were engaged,) we resolved to make use of it, and to examine their quioccosan, the inside of which they never suffer any Englishmen to see; and having removed about fourteen logs from the door, with which it was barricaded, we went in, and at first found nothing but naked walls, and a fireplace in the middle. This house was about eighteen feet wide, and thirty feet long, built after the manner of their other cabins, but larger, with a hole in the middle of the roof to vent the smoke, the door being at one end. Round about the house, at some distance from it, were set up posts, with faces carved on them, and painted. We did not observe any window or passage for the light, except the door and the vent of the chimney. At last we observed, that at the farther end, about ten feet of the room was cut off by a partition of very close mats, and it was dismal dark behind that partition. We were at first scrupulous to enter this obscure place, but at last we ventured, and, groping about, we felt some posts in the middle; then reaching our hands up those posts, we found large shelves, and upon these shelves three mats, each of which was rolled up, and sowed fast. These we handed down to the light, and to save time in unlacing the seams, we made use of a knife, and ripped them, without doing any damage to the mats. In one of these we found some vast bones, which we judged to be the bones of men—particularly we measured one thighbone, and found it two feet nine inches long. In another mat we found some Indian tomahawks finely graved and painted. These resembled the wooden falchion used by the prize-fighters in England, except that they have no guard to save the fingers. They were made of a rough, heavy wood, and the shape of them is represented in the tab. 10, No. 3. Among these tomahawks, was the largest that ever I saw. There was fastened to it a wild turkey's beard painted red, and two of the longest feathers of his wings hung dangling at it, by a string of about six inches long, tied to the end of the tomahawk. In the third mat there was something which we took to be their idol, though of an underling sort, and wanted putting together. The pieces were these—first, a board three feet and a half long, with one indenture at the upper end like a fork, to fasten the head upon. From thence half way down, were half hoops nailed to the edges of the board, at about four inches' distance, which were bowed out, to represent the breast and belly; on the lower half was another board of half the length of the other, fastened to it by joints or pieces of wood, which being set on each side stood out about fourteen inches from the body, and half as high. We supposed the use of these to be for the bowing out of the knees, when the image was set up. There were packed up with these things, red and blue pieces of cotton cloth, rolls made up for arms, thighs and legs, bent too at the knees, as is represented in the figure of their idol, which was taken by an exact drawer in the first discovery of the country. It would be difficult to see one of these images at this day, because the Indians are extreme shy of exposing them. We put the clothes upon the hoops for the body, and fastened on the arms and legs to have a view of the representation; but the head and rich bracelets, which it is usually adorned with, were not there, or at least we did not find them. We had not leisure to make a very narrow search, for having spent about an hour in this enquiry, we feared the business of the Indians might be near over, and that if we staid longer, we might be caught offering an affront to their superstition. For this reason, we wrapt up those holy materials in their several mats again, and laid them on the shelf where we found them. This image, when dressed up, might look very venerable in that dark place where 'tis not possible to see it, but by the glimmering light that is let in by lifting up a piece of the matting, which we observed to be conveniently hung for that purpose; for when the light of the door and chimney glance in several directions upon the image through that little passage, it must needs make a strange representation, which those poor people are taught to worship with a devout ignorance. There are other things that contribute towards carrying on this imposture. First, the chief conjurer enters within the partition in the dark, and may undiscerned move the image as he pleases. Secondly, a priest of authority stands in the room with the people, to keep them from being too inquisitive, under the penalty of the deity's displeasure and his own censure.
Their idol bears a several name in every nation, as Okee, Quioccos, Kiwasa. They do not look upon it as one single being, but reckon there are many of the same nature; they likewise believe that there are tutelar deities in every town.
Lith. of Ritchies & Dunnavant Richmond, Va.
Idol call'd, OKEÈ, QUIÓCCOS, or KIWASA.
Tab. 11 Book 3 Pag. 155
Tab. 11. Their idol in his tabernacle.
The dark edging shows the sides and roof of the house, which consists of saplings and bark. The paler edging shows the mats, by which they make a partition of about ten feet at the end of the house for the idol's abode. The idol is set upon his seat of mats within a dark recess above the people's heads, and the curtain is drawn up before him.