Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 10 (North American).djvu/66

18 observer the object of exceptional might, or it may be revealed in a dream or vision. To become the possessor of such an object is to have one's own powers proportionally increased; it is good "medicine" and will make one strong.

Every American language has its name for these indwelling powers of things. The Eskimo word is Inua, or "owner"; the Iroquois employ the word Orenda, and for maleficent powers, or "bad magic," Otgon; the Huron word is Oki; the Siouan, Wakanda. But the term by which the idea has become most generally known to white men, doubtless because it was the word used by the Indians first encountered by the colonists, is the Algonquian Manitou, Manito, or Manido, as it is variously spelled. The customary translations are "power," "mystery," "magic," and, commoner yet, "spirit" and "medicine"—and the full meaning of the word would include all of these; for the powers of things include every gradation from the common and negligible to the mysterious and magical: when they pertain to the higher forces of nature they are intelligent spirits, able to hear and answer supplications; and wherever they may be appropriated to man's need they are medicine, spiritual and physical.

The Indian does not make, as we do, a sharp division between physical and spiritual powers; rather, he is concerned with the distinction between the weak and the strong: the sub-human he may neglect or conquer, the superhuman he must supplicate and appease. It is commonly to these latter, the mighty Manitos, that the word "spirit" is applied. Nor must we suppose that the Manitos always retain the same shape. Nature is constantly changing, constantly transforming herself in every part; she is full of energy, full of life; Manitos are everywhere effecting these transformations, presenting themselves now in this shape, now in that. Consequently, the Indian does not judge by the superficial gift of vision; he studies the effects of things, and in objects of humblest appearance he often finds evidences of the highest