Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/660

* INDIANS. 576 INDIANS. of more frpqucnt importance than others. Among tho phiins Tndinns tlip spirit hnrt'nln va4 all- iiii|)ortant, while with the agriiiilliiral trihes the rain-jjods took prei-eilence. Tlie sun and its earthly representative, lire, were everywhere venerated. Certain trihes had trihal "niedieine" or palladiums, with which the nation's prosiRM- ity was supi>osed to be bound up and around which centred their most elaborate ceremonial. 'J'hus the Kiowa had their Tainie image of stone, the Cheyenne their sacred arrows, the Omaha their great shell. Kaeh man had also his own secret personal medicine. The priest was also a doctor, medicine and re- ligion being so insi'parahly connected in Indian idea that there was usually but one word to designate both. The priests were frequently or- ganized into cult societies, and there were also brotherhoods bound together by certain secret rites. Urcat stress Wius laid upon dreams and sacrifice. Among the Pawnee, in former times, a captive girl was annually sacrificed to the god- dess of fertility. The cannibalistic practices of the Eastern tribes after a victory, and the canni- bal feasts of the Xorthwest coast, in which a slave was the usual victim, were also more or less sacrificial in motive. With these exceptions human sacrifice was rare, such bloody rites as those of the Aztecs being unknown in the North. There were special ceremonies for girls at pu- berty, and for young men on first taking rank with the warriors. Among the great religious ceremonials may be noted the greeu-corii dance of thanksgiving for the new crops, among the Eastern tribes; the sun dance and the more re- cent ghost dance of the iilains tribes; the sal- mon dance of the Columbia region, and the cele- brated snake dance of the Hopi of Arizona. To these may be added the peyote cult of the South- em plains. Tribal religions were sometimes sub- ject to revival or revolution as new prophets arose from time to time. Thus the religion of the ghost dance, which has practically super- seded the old beliefs and ceremonial forms of the plains trit)es, had its origin in Nevada about fif- teen years ago. Each tril)e had its genesis tradition and its culture hern — usually a great trickster and fre- quently an anthropomorphic animal — tof;cther with giants, dwarfs, fairies, witches, and various riionsters, as well as animal tribes and chiefs, concerning all of whom there was a great deal of mj-th and folk-lore. Certain .stories must be told only in winter, and others only at night, in order not to offend the chief personages concerned. Soci.i. Okganization. Government was ba.sed upon the gentile or clan system evervwhere ex- cepting among certain tribes of the plains and the Pacific region, notably the Kiowa and Klamath. Under this system the tribe was or- ganized into ccrtjiin clans or gentes. the members of each clan being considered as so closely related to each other that intermarriage within the clan was forbidden. Children usually belonged to the mother's clan and descent was in the female line. Chiefship and certain civil and religious func- tions inhered in particiilar clans. Captives or other aliens must be adopted into a family and clan in order to become members of the tribe. These clans were commonly known by the name of some class of animals, e.g. bear. l>eaver. wolf, etc.; more rarely by plant or other designations. In other words, the clan was distinguished bv a totem, as it is now universally called, and the totemic practices were inseparably tied up with their religious rituals and social organization. ^^ee Totkmi.sm. Among the plains tribes generally the clan system was either absent or quiescent, the unil being the band, each band having its ui ap pointed place in the camping circle at the gri'at tribal gatherings, as for instance the annual sun dance. In exceptional eases tribes combined into con- federacies, sometimes accidental and temporary, at other times built up in steady |>ursuance of a definite policy, as among the Iroquois and Creeks, Land was the common property of the clan, tribe, or confederacy, excepting in certain tril)es of California and the northwest coast, where it is asserted that individual ownership existed. Game, timber, and other natural product-s were also free, and hospitality was so much a car- dinal virtue that it might almost be said that everything which was not hedged in by some sacred talm va.s common property within the tribe and might be had for the asking, or with- out it if there seemed need. While this system almost eliminated the individual pauper, it killed ambition and hindered advancement by making it impossible for any man to rise far above the general level. Accunuilation was impossible, and een what property he might |)ossess was usually destroyed at his death. The niggard was rated with the coward, and in some tribes a man rose to the highest rank of distinction by giving away all that he owned. Along the Lower Columbia and the northwest coast this public surrender of the savings of a lifetime was a recognized tribal custom known as the pot latch. Slavery wa.? a regular institution on the Pa- cific Coa.st from Alaska to California, the slaves being prisoners of war, their children and de- scendants, who thus constituted a i>ermanent slave caste within the tribe, condenuied to hard labor, harsh treatment, sale, or death at the will of their masters. Slavery of a milder type seems to have existed among the South Atlantic tribes. In more modern times the Southern Indians fol lowed the example of the colonists, and Ix'came the owners of negro slaves. Numerous societies exi.sted for various pur- poses, militarj-, religious, and social. The plains tribes had a custom by which two young imii mutually agreed to become partners or 'friend'^' through life, the compact being sometimes rati- fied by a public exchange of names. Woman, while subject to her husband in ordi- nary affairs and debarred from certain societies and ceremonies, had jet well-defined rights of her own. She was complete mistress in household affairs, and among the Eastern tribes had either a voice or a rcpresen(ati(m in councils. With the Iroquois all important questions must be passed upon by a council of the women, who alone had power to declare war. The right of adoption, which meant the decision of a cap- tive's fate, rested also with the women. In gen- eral her position was highest in the agricultural tribes. In the division of labor most of the l:eay work fell to her share, v.hile the dangerous .nnd arduous undertakings belonged to the man. I'olygamv was recognized in most of the tribes excepting the Pueblos. RfRiAL. The method of disposing of the dead