Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/66

 54 On the defcent. of tie American Indians from the Jews.

Eette fignifies wood ; and they term any kind of cheft, box, or trunk, Eette Oobe i and frequently, Oobe i which feems to point to the " ark of the purifier," that was fo fatal to the laity even to touch ; a ftrong emanation of the holy fire, light, and fpirit, refiding in it, as well as in that which the priefts carried to war, againft the devoted enemy.

The Chikkafah fettled a town, in the upper, or moft weftern part of the Mufkohge country, about 300 miles eaftward of their own nation, and called it Ooe-afa ; which is derived from O E A, and Afa* " there," or " here, is ;" moving from his former dwelling, they afk him, IJh-ooe-a (turn ?) " are you removing hence, in the name, or under the patronage, of YO HE WAH ?" And it both fignifies to afcend, and remove to another place. As, O E A, ABA, the omniprefent father of mankind, is faid to dwell above, fo the Indian hopes to remove there from hence, by the bounty of Ifhtohoollo, the great holy One : according to their fixed ftandard of fpeech, had they made any nearer approach to O E A, the ftrong religious emblem of the beloved four-lettered name, it would have been reckoned a prophanation.
 * . e. " YO HE WAH prefides in this place." And, when a perfon is re

Phutchik fignifies a ftar, and Oonna " he is arrived :" but Phutchik Oomiacbe y " the morning-ftar i" becaufe he is the forerunner of light, and refembles the fun that reflects it. And Oonna-hah fignifies to-morrow, or it is day. The termination denotes their gladnefs, that the divine light had vifited them again : and, when they are afking if it is day, they fay Onna He (tak ?\ The laft monofyllable only afks a queftion -, and the fasminine gender treble note is the mid fyllable of the great divine name which may reflect ibme light upon the former obfervations.

Although the Hebrews had a proper name for the human foul, calling it 1WM; yet in Prov. xx. 27, it is called mrp "tt, " The candle, or lamp of God ;" and figuratively applied, it conveys a ftrong idea of the human foul : Thus the Indians term it, Nana JJhtohoollo, " fomething of, or a relation to, the great holy One ;" very analogous to the former method of expreffing the rational principle, in allufion to the celeftial cherubic name ttfN, A/be* Fire, as they believe the Deity refides in the new year's, fuppofed holy fire. Becaufe IJh, Man, received his breath from the divine infpiratiori of the beneficent creator YAH, they term the human J fpecies,

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