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THE RELIGIOUS BELIERS
AND
T RAD IT I () NS
OF THE
ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA
BY
THE REV, STEPHEN D. P.E.E.T.
(Editor of the “American Antiquarian.)
BEING A PAPER READ BEFORE THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE.
Olſº, PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN.
AUTHOR'S COPY.


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THE RELIGIOUS BELIERS
AND
T RAD IT I () NS
OF THE
ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA.
BY
THE REV. STEPHEN D. P.E.E.T.
(Editor of the “American Antiquarian.)
BEING A PAPER READ BEFORE THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE,
OR, PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN.
AUTHOR'S COPY.

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THE SACRIFICIAL STONE FROM MEXICO.--THE FACE OF THE
SUN IN THE CENTRE.


THE RELIGIOUS BELIEES AND THADITIONS OF THE
ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. By the Rev.
S. D. PEET, Editor of the American Antiquarian.
HE traces of Bible ideas in the aboriginal religions of
America is the subject of a recent paper by the Rev.
M. Eells.” It is an interesting subject, and one on which he is
well qualified to speak. His acquaintance with the languages
and traditions of the North-west is quite complete; at the same
time his reading has extended over the wide field of American
archaeology and ethnology. In this article he does not
confine himself to personal observation, but quotes largely
from other authors. In these quotations he throws himself
upon authorities which are well known, and supplements his
own information and investigations by those which have been
conducted by others, and gathered into permanent shape by
various publications. There is a double advantage in this
course. In the first place, it permits him to announce his
own discoveries in a modest and unassuming form. In the
second place, it enables him to buttress his own positions by
the opinions of others, and through this means to exhibit
the analogies which exist between the religious beliefs of all
the native tribes of America. It should be said that the
* Transactions of Victoria Institute, vol. xix.
A.

2 ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
missionaries among the Indian tribes have great advantages,
and frequently find opportunities for learning the peculiar
beliefs of the aborigines. It is true that many have failed to
improve their opportunities, and have very strangely remained
in ignorance of the very systems of thought and of ethnical
religion which are so prevalent around them. Mr. Eells
has, however, taken the pains to investigate the traditions
and customs, and has brought out from time to time a con-
siderable amount of valuable material. This is fortunate, for
the opinion is held quite extensively in this country that the
missionaries are poor authorities on ethnological subjects.
It is not an opinion which is justifiable, for there are very
many scholars among these Christian laborers, and some of
the very best contributions to the science have come from
them. The many translations of the Bible into Indian are
monuments of industry. These translations were many of
them made at a time when there were no ethnologists in this
country, and had it not been for their self-denying and
scholarly labour there would be no record of the state of the
native languages at the time.
It is a remarkable fact that the Indian Bible which was
prepared by Rev. John Eliot in 1661 is now, not only very
scarce, bringing fabulous prices, but the persons who are able
to read it are still more scarce. The Dakotah dictionary of
Rev. S. L. Riggs is an extremely valuable work, and the only
one which has ever been prepared on that stock of languages.
In this department, the labors of the missionaries are
appreciated, but in the line of mythology and comparative
religion there seems to be a strange lack of confidence. (1)
It is said that they do not discriminate between the native
traditions and those which have been borrowed. (2) The
attitude of the missionaries toward their superstitions have the
effect to make the Indians reticent in reference to their belief.
(3) The missionaries are never allowed to enter into the
sacred feasts or religious ceremonies of the pagan Indians. (4)
The questions which are presented to the Indians are very
likely to bring back a response which is deceiving, and on this
account the missionaries are likely to confound the native
ideas with those which reflect their own thought. (5) The
teaching of preceding missionaries has had a tendency to
confuse the natives themselves, and they are quite likely to
mingle the Bible stories with their own traditions. On these
accounts, ethnologists are inclined to reject the testimony of
missionaries in reference to traditions. It is a question, how-
ever, whether there are any better authorities. The following

THE ABORIGINES OF North AMERICA. 3
are the sources of information concerning especially the
traditions of the uncivilised races:–(1) Indian interpreters,
camp retainers, and private adventurers; (2) there are many
persons who have occasionally come in contact with the Indians,
as travellers or explorers, or as newspaper correspondents,
who have furnished a small amount of information concerning
these native traditions; (3) a few military officers, especially
surgeons, have made a specialty of the subject, and these are
generally very reliable: among the number we are happy to give
the name of Dr. W. Matthews, U.S.A.; (4) the Ethnological
Bureau and the Peabody Museum have employed certain
parties who have made their home among the aborigines,
and have taken pains to learn all their traditions, and to
become acquainted with their customs and tribal organisms :
among those who have succeeded in penetrating the mysteries
two persons should be especially mentioned, Mr. Frank
Cushing, of Washington, and Miss Alice M. Fletcher, of New
York; (5) another source of information is represented by a class
of educated gentlemen who have, by their circumstances, been
thrown into contact with the natives, and who have taken up
the study of tradition and have written monographs: among
these should be mentioned Stephen Powers, of Ohio, and
Judge Rose, of California; (6) the papal missionaries, who
were formerly located among the Indians, have furnished
many reports which are now very valuable; (7) the Protes-
tant missionaries who are now labouring among the various
tribes.
These authorities are remarkably agreed in their evidence, so
that we are quite sure that we are getting the traditions into
a reliable shape, and can speak intelligently as to the religious
beliefs of the Aborigines.
On this subject there is much to say, but we shall be obliged
to condense what we have to say into the smallest compass.
I. There are some very remarkable coincidences. It is but a
few weeks since I had the opportunity of listening to a gentle-
man who had spent forty years as a teacher and Indian agent
among the Chippewas. He held exactly the same views that
Rev. Mr. Eells does. He said that he had been surprised
to find so much correspondence between the teachings of
conscience, as exhibited by the rude savages before they
had been trained or even affected by missionary labour, and
the teachings of the Bible. He had noticed this among the
pagans as often as among the Christian Indians.
The Chippewas hold the opinion that the “ancient
people,” the ancestors of the ancient tribe, were far advanced

4. ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
in their information, and a decline had taken place. It is a
common custom with the chiefs to refer to the “ancient
people.” The common response to the preaching and teaching
of missionaries is, “This was the belief of our ancestors,” and
it is represented that they taught exactly the same doctrine and
truths. This gentleman made the same division of the subject
that Rev. Mr. Eells does. There are four or five points on which
both missionaries seem to be agreed. These are:—(1) The
idea of the Great Spirit is a proof of the knowledge of the
existence of God ; (2) the view of the Indians concerning
the future state is a proof of the belief in immortality; (3)
the various superstitions of the Indians show that they all have
the sense of sin; (4) the prevalence of sacrifice shows that
the same doctrine of atonement or expiation for sin by sacrifice
was common among these tribes. These four doctrines–
the existence of God; immortality of the soul; the sinful-
ness of man; and the necessity of sacrifice;—seem to be held in
various modified forms by all the tribes in North America.
The researches of Rev. Mr. Eells have been among the Nez
Perces, those of Rev. S. L. Riggs among the Dakotahs, and
those of Mr. Williams, the gentleman referred to above, among
the Chippewas. These embrace three of the great aboriginal
families of the North, mainly hunters. The testimony of these
gentlemen shows what was common among the hunter races.
Other authorities might be cited to show that the same
opinions were held by the agricultural races; and still others
to show that similar opinions were held by the civilised
tribes. The testimony which comes to us from so many
different sources proves to a certainty that these ideas were
prevalent with the native mind. It has been disputed
whether the Indians really hold to the doctrine of a “Great
Spirit,” but the quotations by Mr. Eells are very numerous
and from many different authors, and show that this was
common. The term Great Spirit is not one which comes from
“accommodation” to the whites, but is used by them to
express a common belief. This idea seems to have been fun-
damental, and is a result of the teachings of nature. The
clear apprehension of the character of God we should not
expect, but the conviction that there was one great being
whom the Bible calls God seems to have been universal with
the American tribes. It is sometimes said that monotheism
is a late product of thought, but here is another case where
monotheism proves to be a primitive belief. It has also been
doubted whether immortality was a primary doctrine. Some
have said that it does not appear even in the Old Testament.

THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 5
But a modified belief of immortality is very general among
these rude tribes. So with the sense of sin and the doctrine
of sacrifice. These are taught by nature. They are not the
last products of Christian civilisation, but are found in the
low stages of savagery. The ethnic conscience seems to point
to the same beliefs and doctrines as fundamental in the Bible,
and in the natural constitution.
II. The classification of the native religions is very sug-
gestive. These religions may be divided by geographical
districts into several classes. (1) Shamanism. This is the
religion of the Eskimos, Aleutians, and many of the hyper-
borean tribes. It is peculiar to the fishermen of the north,
and is seldom found among other tribes. (2) Next to this
is Animism. This is more common among the hunters
than any other class. It is found in its highest stage of
development in the tribes which formerly inhabited the
whole region which lies between Hudson Bay and the
chain of the Great Lakes. It is a system which makes its
abode in forests and amid rocks, and is a powerful super-
stition. (3) Animal-worship is another system. This pre-
vailed among the people which were given to the mingled
hunting and agricultural life. It was most powerful among
the tribes which formerly had their habitat between the chain
of the Great Lakes and the Ohio River, and in the same
belt of latitude as one goes farther west. (4) Sun-worship
of an inferior kind was prevalent among the tribes south of
this belt, including the Mobilian tribes on the Gulf Coast, and
the Pueblo tribes of Colorado, Arizona, and Utah; also in
Peru. It was also prevalent among the Mound Builders. (5)
The Elemental worship, which included the rain, lightning, the
god of death and of war. This was common in Mexico and
New Mexico. (6) Anthropomorphism, a religion which gave
human attributes to the divinities, but assigned to them
supernatural powers. This prevailed in Central America.
These were the different religions which existed among the
civilised and uncivilised tribes. Is it not surprising that, under
such elaborate and well-organised systems, there should have
been so much of the natural effect of conscience most authori-
ties agree on the point. Notwithstanding the superstitions
which prevailed, and which resulted in so intricate ceremonies
and mysteries, the individual conscience maintained its force,
and often asserted itself in expressions which are quite mar-
yellous in their resemblance to the thoughts contained in reve-
lation. These are not the results of education, nor are they
taught by a priesthood, but they come from “primitive beliefs.”
6 ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
III. The symbolism of America points to the same truth.
This symbolism is worthy of study, because it reveals beliefs
which prevailed among the prehistoric races. A remarkable
and complicated system of symbolism was spread over the
continent corresponding to the traditions of the later races,
showing that there were many religious ideas among the pre-
historic races which have survived to historic times. We
trace in the symbols the various forms of religion which
existed before America was discovered, but in the customs
and tradition of the natives we recognise the very ideas em-
bodied in the monuments. The symbols of Central America
(and the Ohio valley and Mexico also) are most elaborate,
and these are especially worthy of study. Here animal
forms, elemental powers, human attributes are all com-
bined in the idols, showing that the divinities had a very
complicated character. We see sculptured tigers covering
human faces; we see also sun-symbols attending serpent
figures, and in the midst of both are human faces; we see also
crosses wreathed with serpents, surmounted by birds, and
before the crosses human forms offering sacrifices; we see
human figures with animal skins and serpents twisted about
them, but their faces are distorted, and every part full of a
strange and mystic significance; we see columns or pillars
elaborately decorated and sculptured, altars highly ornamented,
temples with façades wrought into strange symbolic shapes,
and many other forms of art and architecture all expressive of
the religious thought of the people. The anthropomorphic
character of the worship is seen in the human face, as every
part of the face was made to express a thought and to sym-
bolise a divinity. The tongue symbolises the sun, the eye
symbolises the rain, the cheek symbolises the drought and
famine, the hair and ornamentations on the head symbolise
the lightning. A wonderful system of nature-worship, which
combined personal attributes, animal figures, and elemental
powers all in one, appears to have embodied itself in these
symbolic shapes.
Take, for instance, the bas-reliefs of the Temple of the Cross
at Palenque, and see how nature-worship expresses itself there.
Here is the cross with its four points of the compass, or the
four winds, with its arrow signifying the lightning; the
thunder-bird surmounting it, and, before the cross, a priest
offering a child, or the figure of a child, in sacrifice. Before
the cross, on the façade of the temple, is the statue of a human
figure finished in the round, but covered with symbols which
are peculiarly significant and expressive. Take the Temple of



THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 7
the Sun (see plates), and see the mask, or human face, which
hangs suspended on the wall, back of the shrine or altar.
Here is the round face which symbolised the sun, the pro-
jecting tongue to symbolise the power of the sun. In front
of the Oratorio, or chapel, on the piers, are the bas-reliefs
which represent the nature-divinities. Here is the rain-
god on one side and the war-god upon the other. Notice,
however, that the rain-god is marked by a peculiar form
and face, the chief feature being the open, bulging eye.
Here we have a specimen of nature-divinity, but there is as-
cribed to it all the personality that it is possible to express by
the human face or by the human eye. The tiger-skin on the
back of the rain-god represents the animal attributes, but the
human face represents the personal attributes. The same
eye will be recognised in the face of the sun and in the faces
of the figures below the sun, showing that all the powers of
nature were personified. The rain-god has in his mouth the
pipe or tube through which he blows the winds, and in front
of his person may be seen the feathered serpent which
symbolises the lightnings which obey his will. Above the
piers on the façade is the winged circle which signifies the
cloud, and the rain the overshadowing divinity of the sky.
The Temple of the Sun is full of the emblems of personal
power, and illustrates how intensely the artists struggled to
express the attributes of the personal divinity which ruled the
powers of nature. I cannot look upon these figures without
being impressed with this thought, that there was a personal
divinity which looked out from the faces and the forms, and
that the people were impressed with the power of this divinity.
Here, then, we have the first doctrine embodied in Scripture,
the existence of a personal God. It is a principle of hemo-
theism that one divinity rules at a time, the conception of
that divinity absorbing all thought and feeling. If hemotheism
existed in Central America, it was henotheism which reached
theanthropomorphic stage, and was as expressive of personality
as was ever the same system in the classic regions of the East.
We do not maintain that monotheism existed among the
Toltecs, but we think that all this imagery, which is so
elaborate, was only the expression of the feeling which is
very strong in every human heart, that there is a God above
us to whom we are accountable, and on whom we depend; and
though the mind was beclouded and the religious consciousness
overshadowed, yet, amid the symbols and ceremonies of this
strange nature-worship, the conscience struggled to express
itself, and to make known the true divinity. The doctrine of
8 on THE worship AND TRADITIONs of
immortality is not without its witness also. In the sculp-
tures of Santa Lucia Cosumal-whuapa, in Guatemala, there are
figures which express this thought. Take this one. Here is a
ladder reaching upwards toward
the sky. On the ladder is a
human figure climbing; above
the ladder is a death’s head
with human arms attached; the
| head seems to smile upon the
human figure; the human face
looks up with a mild and
placid excession. Here there
is no fear of death, but a
climbing to immortality. Here
is another tablet. On one side
is a face which smiles out from
the sky above; it is surrounded
by flames, symbolic of the sun;
serpents form its head-dress
symbolising the lightnings;
many other figures symbolise
the nature-powers; below this
face is a human form, one hand
lifted as if in supplication, ano-
| ther hand outstretched as if to
- º || || betoken some offering. The
- º upturned face has the symbol
- º ANZ *_l of speech protruding from the
*Q mouth. There are many sym-
bols on the person, but the ex-
presion of the form and face is
that of a suppliant addressing a gracious God. Nothing
could better express the hope of immortality. Take next
the doctrine of sacrifice, and you will see it embodied in
the sacrificial stones and the many other provisions which
were made. The temples and altars and pyramids are full of
them. Take next the doctrine of sin, and you will find
that there are baptisms and lustrations, as well as sacrifices
(even circumcision was common), a marvellous resemblance
to the Jewish ritual. All of these are the concomitants of
nature-worship, and whatever their source, they show that the
same ideas of the need of a sacrifice and the importance of a
cleansing prevailed among the religions of the Toltecs, Aztecs.
and other civilised American races. The symbols in Central
America remind us of the symbols of Egypt, Assyria, and
-
-






THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 9
India; but the ceremonials remind us of the ritual of the
temple in Jerusalem, and the circumcision, baptism, and other
rites impress us with a very strange sense of recognition. We
are greatly amazed as we think of the resemblance, and do not
wonder that the superstitious Spaniards went to work to
destroy these symbols of worship, thinking that the devil had
counterfeited the Bible and presented it to these barbaric
races. The Orientalists look upon the hieroglyphics of the East
and study for words, but they do not often find in mythology,
archaeology, or philology, such striking resemblances to the
Jewish ritual as we in America do in these very barbaric
ornaments, symbols, and ceremonies of the American Aborigines.
Many of the Orientalists reduce the religious symbols, myths,
and expressions of the eastern races to an allegory, and recog-
mise in them a primitive sun-worship. In this way they
interpret Egyptian, Hindoo, and Scandinavian mythology, but
in America the sun-worship is on the face of things, and the
moral or personal conceptions are in the background. The
sacrifices are in their details appalling and full of cruelties,
but the superstitions at the back of them point to a fearful
sense of sin. The personifications which are common among
all the tribes of America and the mythologies which are full of
personal exploits, show that the divinity in America was always
regarded as a person. We have no “bright heavens,” no
All-father, no “shining sky,” no “thundering Jupiter,” no
“ mighty celestial power '', but the divinity is a hero with
divine attributes and supernatural powers, or an animal with
human attributes. It seems sometimes as if the “cul-
ture-heroes” were all of them of the same general character,
full of remarkable exploits, possessing natural traits, but
endowed with supernatural powers. We cannot dwell now
upon the culture-heroes who introduced civilisation, but will
only refer to them briefly. The White-God of the Aztecs,
Quetzalcoatl, the bearded god of the Toltecs, the Manco-Capac
of Peru, Virococha of Quito, the Montezuma of the Zunis were
all personal divinities. Below these, among the wild tribes, are
divinities with human attributes and with human history.
The Mano-bozho of the Mandans, the Hiawatha Atotarho
of the Iroquois, the Glooskap of the Abenakis, the Michabo
of the Algonquins, the Ioskeha of the Hurons,—all had
human attributes. Other divinities were prevalent among
these tribes, but the chief Law-giver and controller of the
tribes was a culture-hero. Still lower than these was the
animal divinity who was the creator or restorer, but who was
represented as the great “master of life.” The conception of

10 ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
the divinity varied according to the cultus of the people.
The culture-hero was the divinity of the more advanced tribes,
but an animal divinity was the master of life with the more
degraded tribes. Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, a great
authority, thinks that all culture-heroes were personifications
of the sun-divinity; but he has taken some examples from
tribes which had not reached sun-worship, and therefore is
mistaken in his interpretation. They were divinities which
possessed human attributes, and it is gratuitous to identify
them with nature-powers, for some did not even symbolise
these powers. The animal divinities, also, had personal attri-
butes, and many of them had a history which was almost as
human as the culture-heroes. The Coyote, the Wolf and Dog
of the Chinooks, the Serpent of the Pecos, the Raccoon of the
Navajoes, the Eagle of the Pimas, the Hawk of the Californians,
the Grizzly Bear of the Mount Shastas, the Raven of the Thlin-
keets, the Dog of the Tinnehs were all supernatural beings
whose work was to create or to restore, and who assumed
control over other animals by their supernatural powers as well
as by their human intelligence. This element of personal cha-
racter which is so frequently ascribed to animal divinities must
have come from the religious consciousness, and not from any
elaborate philosophy. It takes a great deal of study to trace any
analogy between the animal divinities and the sun or nature-
powers; but a very primitive fancy was enough to personify an
animal, and make it represent a divinity with human attributes.
The attempt to maturalise the human divinities and culture-
heroes breaks down, but the work of humanising animal
divinities is done for us by the natives already. Take the
adventures of any one of these “culture-heroes’’ or “masters
of life” which bears an animal name and semblance, and see
how much of the human element there is, and how little of the
natural. The imagery is always expressive of the habits of the
people: bows and arrows, canoes, caves, trees, lodges, medicine-
bags, villages, islands, lakes, mountains, forests, fire-brands,
waves, saltwater, river banks, and a thousand things which are
familiar to the savage and hunter tribes are mentioned when
telling the story of their animal divinities. There is a different
framework for the culture-heroes, which bear personal names.
Here there are council-houses, conversations, hours of medi-
tation, and many other scenes which indicate a contemplative
and purely human condition.
Personality was ascribed to all the divinities. Even the
fetiches, which were mere stones or sticks of trees, had
personal qualities, and were supposed to be possessed by

THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 11
spirits resembling human souls. The animals were also
personified, and were regarded as human personalities. The
myths and poetic stories always represent the animals as if they
were human beings. There are myths in which the animal
divinities and human divinities are associated. Sometimes
the animal is supreme and sometimes the human deity is
supreme. But in the narratives the adventures of the one are
quite similar to those of the other, and transformation
frequently takes place. This idea of personality is as
common in America as in Africa. It is a prominent feature
in American mythology.
IV. The religion of the aborigines of America had one
quality which we must consider. The far-off, the mysterious,
the incomprehensible, the wonderful, the unknown are always
suggestive of divinity. It would seem that all the divine attri-
butes were condensed into this. Whatever had this was
divine. It might be a stick or a snake, a tree or a stone.
If it was strange and outré, it was regarded as “a Manitou.”
This was the nature of superstition. It magnified the
shadowy ; it deified the wonderful. If an object was mys-
terious, it was sure to be worshipped. The dark rock, the
rapid stream, the shadowy cave, the over-hanging forest, the
swift lightnings were worshipped for no other reason than
that they were mysterious. The animals which were wild
and weird were always exalted to the level of supreme deities.
If they were subtle and stealthy, and held themselves aloof
from men, they were feared. They were the greatest deities
because they were mysterious. It was on this account that
the Coyote, the Eagle, and the Hare were chosen to represent
the supreme divinity. These creatures were wary and wild,
and far off from man. They roamed the forest, cleaved the air,
hid among the rocks, and were full of mystery, and so were
regarded as superior. These were the chief divinities of the
hunter races. It was on this account that the nature-powers
were worshipped. These were the divinities of the civilised
races. Every element that was mysterious, incomprehensible,
or full of power was exalted to the level of a supreme divinity.
Even the human personalities which figured so conspicuously
in the systems of the Toltecs and Aztecs were worshipped as
supreme because of the mystery which surrounded them.
The White-God was mysterious. He came from a far-off
country, and went away again. His advent and his departure
were enveloped in mystery. He was a Melchizedek in dis-
guise. His character was different from every other person.
He suffered for his people, and secured good for them, but

12 ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
was overcome by his enemies, and retired. His return was
hourly expected. He was the Christ of the American races.
He was not Hercules, nor Dyonysus, nor Apollo, nor Mercury.
He was more like Christ than any of these, but he was very
mysterious. Some say that he was an historic personage, a
Buddhist priest; others that he was a personification of the
sun; others that he was a pure creation of the fancy; —but,
whatever he was, he bore a remarkable character. His moral
attributes were, unlike those ascribed to the other di-
vinities, certainly in contrast to those possessed by the other
nature-divinities. Strangely enough this culture-hero was
driven away, and the nature-gods took his place. Where did
this idea which is so much like the Christ come from ? Was it
brought in from another continent, or was it the product of
the native thought and conscience? The Bible idea was not
totally unknown, for the Toltec divinity, in his life and
character, has a wonderful resemblance to the promised
Messiah.
V. We now turn to the main question, and shall, by
quoting the opinions of others, suggest an explanation.
There are many writers who have given opinions upon this
question which are worthy of regard. Some of these writers
are mere speculative thinkers, but others have based their
opinions upon facts, rather than upon theories. The ethnic
religions of the earth have been studied attentively, and
among them those of the native races of America have gained
prominence. Perhaps they have not been treated as fully as
they should have been, but they are at least taken into the
account.
The religious sentiment is the first object of thought.
This is a mysterious power in nature. The question is, in
what way this sentiment first expresses itself.
On this point there seems to be a great diversity of
opinion. Caspari says that “Parents, chieftains, and sages
were the first objects of religious reverence and homage.”
Jules Baissac, on the other hand, concludes that the generative
principle was the beginning. Motherhood was deified. Next
to this the male principle, and after that the phallic worship
was the form which the religious sentiment took Comte
takes the ground that the earliest attitude assumed by the
mind in interpreting nature was a fetichistic one. Spencer.
however, thinks that the very fact that the first man could
easily distinguish animate from inanimate objects would refute
this, and takes the position that animistic and fetichistic
beliefs were not primary beliefs. De Brosses and Tiele assert

THE ABORIGINES OF North AMERICA. 13
but Quatrefages and Tylor deny the primitiveness of fetichism
or animism.
Darwin conceives the first men to be capable of rising in
thought above the knowledge furnished by the senses. He
says that the same high mental faculties which first led men
to believe in unseen spiritual agencies, then in fetichism, then
in polytheism, and ultimately in monotheism, would infallibly
lead him, so long as his powers remained poorly developed, to
various strange superstitions and customs. These are aberra-
tions of the human intellect, but they show the loftiness of
man’s powers. Lubbock also ascribes to the earliest men a
like ability to conceive of the super-sensual; and Tylor says,
that “high above all the doctrines of souls, of divine manes, of
local nature, spirits, of the great deities, of the elements, there
are to be discerned in savage theology shadows quaint or
majestic of the conception of a supreme deity.” He says also
that the races of North and South America, of Africa, of
Polynesia, recognising a number of great deities, are usually
considered polytheists, yet their acknowledgment of a supreme
creator would entitle them to the name of monotheists. Max
Müller takes the ground that fetichism itself points to ante-
cedent ideas which give force to the fetich.
The great objection to these views is found in the low morality
of the native religions, but it should be added that the cha-
racter of the deity partakes of the character of the worshippers.
The ideas of morality among the natives of America are
quite low, but their divinities compare favourably with
others. There were many deceptions practised by the gods,
and occasionally a deed of lust appears in the record. Yet
they never equal the amours of the classical divinities, and the
deceptions, if compared with those of the Scandinavian, are
harmless and without malice. The sacrifices which were intro-
duced by Montezuma, the King of Mexico, were cruel and
bloodthirsty; but so were the sacrifices of the Phoenicians.
Cannibalism existed in America, but there was a peculiar
superstition about it. It was to secure the bravery or the virtue
of the victim that the people ate his flesh. Phallic worship
prevailed to some extent on this continent, but never reached
the base degradation which was common in the East.
The worship of Bacchus never prevailed to any extent here.
We do not claim for the divinities of America any quality of
holiness; but there was often a benevolent disposition in them
which was quite remarkable amongst such a race. The White-
Gods and the culture-heroes were the embodiments of lofty
and majestic purity, of self-denial for the good of others, and

14. ON THE WORSHIP AND TRADITIONS OF
of benevolence, so that we may say that an approach to the
high standard of character which appears in the Bible is here
found. We do not say where this standard came from, but
only state that it was here.
The two sides of the aboriginal religion are in great con-
trast. The Divine side is always advancing towards a better
moral standing, and is full of good. But the human side is
always retrograding into a very inhuman and gross supersti-
tion.
VI. The closing thought of this paper is the most im-
portant. Was there any historic connexion between the
aboriginal religions of America and the teaching of the
Bible On this point we will not give a decisive answer.
There are evidences for and against the position. The common
opinion or train of thought of American ethnologists is in
favour of the autochthonous origin of everything which is
native American. Yet there are many things which go to
prove the contrary:-
1. There are many symbols in America which are analo-
gous to those in the East; symbols which remind one at once
of those mentioned in the Bible. (a) The cross or sacred
Tau of Egypt is found in America. It assumed not one
form, but many. (b) The serpent is a very common symbol.
(c) The tree; this with the serpent reminds us of the Garden
of Eden, and of the serpent and tree-worship so widely spread
over the world. (d) The symbol of the ark. (e) The symbol
of the cloven tongue reminds one of the confusion of tongues.
(f) There are towers or pyramids around which traditions hang
reminding one of the Tower of Babel.
2. There are customs in America, which resemble the com-
mon customs recorded in the Bible. (a) Circumcision was
practised. (b) There were baptisms and lustrations which
remind us of the Scripture rites. (c) There were vestal virgins,
and the custom of burying alive those who had violated the
vow, reminding one of the custom which was common in Rome.
3. There are many traditions which remind us of those
found in the Bible. (a) The tradition of the Creation.
(b) The tradition of the Flood. (c) The tradition of the
Dispersion of the race. (d) The tradition of the incest of
Lot and his daughters, with the reproach upon the origin of
the Moabites. These have their correlatives in the mytholo-
gies of America. We do not say that they are the same
traditions, or that the American tribes derived their ideas
from the Bible, or even from any one who was familiar with

THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. 15
the Bible. We only say that these events are recorded in the
native traditions of America and in Bible history. The
cosmogonies in America are generally local, or associated with
local surroundings. The imagery is local, the deluge is also
local. There are mountains which have traditions of the
Deluge connected with them–American Ararats. But the
persons saved were the ancestors of particular tribes. There
are also “arks,” but they are the “big canoes’’ in which
the “medicine-man” came over during the flood. There are
traditions of the world being repeopled, but it is repeopled by
the ancestors of particular tribes. -
The truths which are embodied in the native traditions
are very similar to those found in Bible history, proving,
perhaps, some common origin long ago, but the imagery is in
great contrast. One of the most remarkable coincidences
which we have noticed is found in the Tale of Incest, which
has just come to light as a tradition of the Navajoes. This
story has been published in the American Antiquarian.
The story is adapted to the Indian customs in its details, but
the general purport of it and the reproach which was brought
upon the Utes as the fruits of the incest remind us of the re-
proach which the Jews brought upon the Moabites because of
the incest of Lot. Dr. Washington Matthews, who has furnished
me with a copy of the myth, says there is no doubt of its pre-
Columbian or prehistoric character, and has referred to the
remarkable resemblance which exists between it and the story
in the Bible. The fashion is to explain away all these resem-
blances to Bible stories, but they seem to be accumulating
more and more ; and it is among the possibilities that by-
and-by the evidence will be so overwhelming that it will
convince the most sceptical. For the present we only refer to
the general resemblances and the correlation between the
facts and truths found in the traditions of America, and those
which are so marked in the Bible record, and leave others
to decide whether these coincidences could be produced by
any law of ethnic development, or by any other cause than
that of an historic connexion.

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JOURNAL OF TRANSACTIONS.
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