The miracles wrought by Pawnee medicine men, under the eyes of Major North, far surpass what is told of Indian jugglery.  But this was forty years ago, and it is probably too late to learn anything of these astounding performances of naked men on the hard floor of a lodge.  ‘Major North told me’ (Mr. Grinnell) ’that he saw with his own eyes the doctors make the corn grow,’ the doctor not manipulating the plant, as in the Mango trick, but standing apart and singing.  Mr. Grinnell says:  ’I have never found any one who could even suggest an explanation.’

This art places great power in the hands of the doctors, who exhibit many other prodigies.  It is notable that in this religion we hear nothing of ancestor-worship; all that is stated as to ghosts has been reported.  We find the cult of an all-powerful being, in whose ritual sacrifice is the only feature that suggests ghost-worship.  The popular tales and historical reminiscences of the last generation entirely bear out by their allusions Mr. Grinnell’s account of the Pawnee faith, in which the ethical element chiefly consists in a sense of dependence on and touching gratitude to Ti-ra-wa, as shown in fervent prayer.  Theft he abhors, he applauds valour, he punishes the wicked by annihilation, the good dwell with him in his heavenly home.  He is addressed as A-ti-us ta-kaw-a, ’Our father in all places.’

It is not so easy to see how this Being was developed out of ancestor-worship, of which we find no traces among Pawnees.  For ancestor-worship among the Sioux, it is usual to quote a remark of one Prescott, an interpreter:  ’Sometimes an Indian will say, “Wah negh on she wan da,” which means, “Spirits of the dead have mercy on me.”  Then they will add what they want.  That is about the amount of an Indian’s prayer.’[10] Obviously, when we compare Mr. Grinnell’s account of Pawnee religion, based on his own observations, and those of Major North, and Mr. Dunbar, who has written on the language of the tribe, we are on much safer ground, than when we follow a contemptuous, half-educated European.

The religion of the Blackfoot Indians appears to be a ruder form of the Pawnee faith.  Whether the differences arise from tribal character, or from decadence, or because the Blackfoot belief is in an earlier and more backward condition than that of the Pawnees, it is not easy to be certain.  As in China, there exists a difficulty in deciding whether the Supreme Being is identical with the great nature-god; in China the Heaven, among the Blackfeet the Sun; or is prior to him in conception, or has been, later, substituted for him, or placed beside him.  The Blackfoot mythology is low, crude, and, except in tales of Creation, is derisive.  As in Australia, there is a specific difference of tone between mythology and religion.

The Blackfoot country runs east from the summit of the Rocky Mountains, to the mouth of the Yellowstone river on the Missouri, then west to the Yellowstone sources, across the Rocky Mountains to the Beaverhead, thence to their summit.