On the death of a relation, the survivors give way to excessive grief, bedaub themselves with white clay, blacken their faces, cut off their hair, and not unfrequently mangle themselves in a shocking manner, thrusting knives or arrows into the muscular parts of their thighs or arms, or cutting off a joint of one of their fingers. For a while they nightly repair to the place of sepulture to give expression to their grief; and may occasionally be seen affectionately plucking the grass from the grave of a deceased relation or friend.
Among those tribes where provisions are scarce, and procured with difficulty, it is not uncommon for an aged person, who is unable to provide for himself, to request his family to put him to death; and the request is complied with, or he is treated with much neglect. But this unnatural conduct results entirely from the pressure of circumstances, and the privations and sufferings to which those poor people are exposed; for in more favorable situations, they behave towards the aged and infirm with respect and tenderness.
Of the religion of the Indians we have no full and clear account. Indeed, of the opinions of a people who have nothing more than a few vague and indefinite notions, no distinct explanation can be given. On this subject, the Indians are not communicative; and to obtain a thorough knowledge of it would require familiar, attentive, unsuspected, and unprejudiced observation. But such observation is not easily made; and a few general, and on some points uncertain, notices only can be given.
On looking at the most renowned nations of the ancient heathen world, we see the people prostrating themselves before innumerable divinities; and we are ready to conclude that polytheism is the natural belief of man, unenlightened by revelation. But a survey of the vast wilds of America will correct this opinion. For there we find a multitude of nations, widely separated from each other, all believing in one Supreme God, a great and good spirit, the father and master of life, the maker of heaven and earthand of all other creatures. They believe themselves entirely dependent on him, thank him for present enjoyments, and pray to him for the good things they desire to obtain. They consider him the author of all good; and believe he will reward or punish them according to their deeds.
They believe in inferior spirits, also, both good and bad, whom they consider tutelary spirits. The Indians are careful observers of dreams, and think themselves deserted by the Master of life, till they receive a revelation in a dream; that is, till they dream of some object, as a buffalo, or beaver, or something else, which they think is an intimation that the Great Spirit has given them that object as a charm, or medicine. Then they are full of courage, and proud of their powerful ally. To propitiate the medicine, every exertion is made, and every personal consideration sacrificed. ‘I was lately the proprietor of seventeen horses,’ said a Mandan; ‘but I have offered them all to my medicine, and am now poor.’ He had turned all these horses, which constituted the whole of his wealth, loose into the plain, committed them to his medicine, and abandoned them forever. But, although they offer oblations to the medicines, they positively deny that they pay them any adoration, and affirm that they only worship the Great Spirit through them.
They have no regular periodical times either of private or public religious worship. They have neither temples, altars, stated ministers of religion, nor regular sacrifices; for the jugglers are connected rather with the medical art than with religious services. The Indians in general, like other ignorant people, are believers in witchcraft, and think many of their diseases proceed from the arts of sorcerers. These arts the jugglers pretend to counteract, as well as to cure natural diseases. They also pretend to predict the weather and to make rain; and much confidence is placed in their prognostications and their power.
The devotional exercises of the Indians consist in singing, dancing, and performing various mystical ceremonies, which they believe efficacious in healing the sick, frustrating the designs of their enemies, and securing their own success. They often offer up to the Great Spirit a part of the game first taken in a hunting expedition, a part of the first produce of their fields, and a part of their food. At a feast, they first throw some of the broth, and then of the meat, into the fire. In smoking, they generally testify their reverence for the Master of life, by directing the first puff upwards, and the second downwards, or the first to the rising, and the second to the setting sun; at other times, they turn the pipe to every point of the compass.
They firmly believe in the immortality of the soul, and in a state of future retribution; but their conceptions on these subjects are modified and tinged by their occupations in life, and by their notions of good and evil. They suppose the spirit retains the same inclinations as when in the body, and rejoices in its old pursuits. At times, an Indian warrior, when about to kill and scalp a prostrate enemy, addresses him in such terms as the following:—
‘My name is Cashegra: I am a famous warrior, and am going to kill you. When you reach the land of spirits, you will see the ghost of my father; tell him it was Cashegra sent you there.’ The uplifted tomahawk then descends upon his victim.
The Mandans expect, when they die, to return to the original subterraneousabode of their fathers: the good reaching the ancient village by means of the lake, which the weight of the sins of the bad will render them unable to pass. They who have behaved themselves well in this life, and been brave warriors and good hunters, will be received into the town of brave and generous spirits; but the useless and selfish will be doomed to reside in the town of poor and useless spirits.