CHAPTER II. RELIGION OF THE INDIANS.—THEIR WEAPONS, AND SYSTEM OF WARFARE.-THEIR LODGINGS, DRESS, ORNAMENTS, ETC. "Yet simple nature to his hope has given, Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven; THE Indians, before receiving instruction from Europeans, generally believed in the existence of a Supreme Deity, embodying a principle of universal benevolence, and that to him their gratitude was due for all natural benefits. On the other hand, they stood in fear of a spirit of evil, whose influence upon human affairs they considered as being more direct and familiar. To this being, known among many tribes as Hobamocko, much more assiduous devotion was paid than to the Great Spirit, it being far more essential in their view to deprecate the wrath of a terrible enemy, than to seek the favor of one already perfectly well disposed towards his creatures. Besides these two superior deities, a sort of fanciful mythology, not unlike that of many ancient Eastern nations, invested every notable object with its tutelary divinity, and bestowed on each individual his guardian spirit. A general idea that the good would be rewarded, and the bad punished, was entertained. Far away to the warm. South-west, a pleasant land was fabled, in which the hunter, after death should pursue his favorite employment, in the midst of abundance, and a stranger for ever to want or fear; "Where everlasting Autumn lies Their heaven was as far removed from the sensual paradise of the Mahometans, as from the pure abstractions of an enlightened religion. Ease, comfort, and a sufficiency for the natural wants, seemed all-sufficient to these simple children of nature, to render an eternity delightful. The description handed down to us of the Indian powwows or conjurers, and their medicine-men, derive an additional piquancy and interest from the fact, that those who detail them were generally as superstitious as the poor natives themselves. We might cite pages in which the necromantic performances of the red men are spoken of with all the pious horror that would naturally be excited by what were considered the direct operations of the devil, as displayed in the works of his children. Winslow, taking occasion to explain the meaning of the word "Paniese," often applied to notable warriors in New England, says, "The Panieses are men of great courage and wisdom, and to these also the devil appeareth more familiarly than to others, and, as we conceive, maketh covenant with them to preserve them from death by wounds with arrows, knives, hatchets, &c." The works of the learned divine, Cotton Mather, are filled with similar extravagances. These powwows, says Gookin, "are partly wizards and witches, holding familiarity with Satan, that evil one; and partly are physicians, and make use, at least in show, of herbs and roots for curing the sick and diseased. These are sent for by the sick and wounded; and by their diabolical spells, mutterings, exorcisms, they seem to do wonders. They use extraordinary strange motions of their bodies, insomuch that they sweat until they foam; and thus they continue for some hours together, stroking and hovering over the sick. These powwows are reputed, and I conceive justly, to hold familiarity with the devil.” Wherever the Indians have enjoyed free intercourse with the whites, they have been no less eager to adopt than apt to acquire the use of their more efficacious weapons. It is of the primitive instruments for offence or defence that we shall now speak. Scattered over the whole country, even at the present day, small triangular bits of wrought flint, quartz, or other stone are turned up by the plough, or seen lying on the surface of the ground. These arrow-heads, with occasionally one of a larger size, which might have served for a lance, a stone tomahawk, a rude pestle, or the fragment of a bowl of the same material, constitute almost the only marks now visible, in the thickly settled Eastern states, of the race that formerly inhabited them. The opening of a tomb sometimes brings to light other relics, and various specimens of native art have been preserved among us from generation to generation, as curious relics of antiquity; but until we arrive at the Western tumuli, (commencing at the state of New York) we find but slight impressions upon soil at the hands of the red men, and the few and simple articles to which we have alluded, constitute the most important productions of their skill, except those formed from a perishable material. How the arrow and lance heads could have been attached with any degree of firmness to the wood, seems almost incomprehensible. Captain Smith describes a species of glue which assisted in accomplishing this object, but the shank or portion of the stone that entered the wood is in some of the specimens so short and ill defined, that it seems impossible that it should have been held firm in its place by such means. The arrow-heads were chipped into shape, presenting something the same surface as a gunflint, while the tomahawks and pestles, being of a less intractable material, were ground smooth, and some of them were highly polished. A handle was commonly affixed to the "tom-hog" or tomahawk by inserting it in a split sapling, and waiting for the wood to grow firmly around it; after which, it was cut off at the requisite length. The Indian bow was shorter than that formerly used in England, and was so stiff as to require great strength or skill to bend it. It became a much more effective weapon after the introduction of steel or iron arrow-heads, which quickly superseded those of stone. Clubs, sometimes armed with flints, with the bow and tomahawk, constitute the principal weapon of the race. Daggers of flint or bone, and shields of buffalo hide, were in use among some of the Western tribes. Divided into innumerable petty nations, nearly the whole Indian population lived in a state of insecurity, from the constant hostility which prevailed between different tribes. So strong a clannish spirit as they all exhibited has seldom been noticed in any country, and the bitterest hatred was inherited by every individual towards the members of an unfriendly tribe. War, as in most nations, whether barbarous or enlightened, was ever esteemed the most honorable employment. The manner in which hostilities were conducted will appear by a detail of some of the more noted Indian wars, as given in the ensuing chapters of this work. The whole was a system of stratagem and surprise; a pitched battle in an open field was almost unknown, and greater honor was ascribed to the chief who, by a night attack, destroyed his enemies at a disadvantage, and brought away their scalps in triumph, without loss to his own people, than to deeds involving the greatest personal exposure. The remorseless cruelty with which women and children were destroyed in the heat of conflict, has furnished a theme for many a tale of horror. Previous to a declaration of war against another tribe, the chief men and councillors of the nation were in the habit of holding solemn consultations, accompanied by numerous fantastic ceremonies. When fully resolved upon |