CHAPTER IX.

In the remarks which I am about to make relative to the Shoshones, I may as well observe that the same observations will equally apply to the Comanches, Apaches, and Arrapahoes, as they are but subdivisions and offsets from the original stock—­the Shoshones.  The Wakoes, who have not yet been mentioned, or even seen, by any other travellers, I shall hereafter describe.

I may as well here observe, that although the Shoshones are always at peace with the Comanches and Apaches, they had for a long while been at war with their descendants, the Arrapahoes, as well as the whole of the Dacotah and Algonquin tribes, as the Crows and Rickarees, Black-feet, Nez-perces, and others.

First, as to their religion—­a question highly interesting, and perhaps throwing more light upon their origin than can be collected from tradition, manners, and customs.  From my knowledge of the Indians, I believe them, if not more religious, most certainly to be more conscientious, than most Christians.  They all believe in one God—­Manitou, the author of good, and worship him as such; but believing that human nature is too gross to communicate with the Arbitrator of all things, they pray generally through the intervention of the elements or even of certain animals, in the same manner that the Catholics address themselves to their saints.

The great Manitou is universal among this family, and indeed among all the savage tribes of North America.  The interceding spirit alone varies, not with the tribe and nation, but according to individual selection.  Children are taught to know “Kishe Manito” (the Almighty), but no more.  When the boy is verging upon manhood, he selects his own personal deity, or household god, which is made known to him in his dreams.  When he states his intention of seeking the spirit, the parents of the young man order him to fast for three days; then they take away his bow and arrows, and send him far into the woods, the mountains, or the prairies, to wait for the visitation.

An empty stomach and inaction in the lone wilderness are certain to produce reveries and waking dreams.  If the young man is thirsty, he thinks of water; of fire or sunshine, if he feels cold; of buffalo or fish, if he is hungry.  Sometimes he meets with some reptile, and upon any one of these or other natural causes or productions, his imagination will work, until it becomes wholly engrossed by it.

Thus fire and water, the sun or the moon, a star, a buffalo, or a snake—­any one of them, will become the subject of his thoughts, and when he sleeps, he naturally dreams of that object which he has been brooding over.

He then returns home, engraves upon a stone, a piece of wood, or a skin, the form of this “spirit” which his dream has selected for him, wears it constantly on his person, and addresses it, not as a god, but as an intercessor, through which his vows must pass before they can reach the fearful Lord of all things.