The Hishtanyi Chayan was the first to accede to Hayoue’s demands, but conditionally.  He insisted that when their duties were fulfilled Hayoue and his brother should return to the Rito with the rescued.  But Hayoue refused to consent even to this.  The grounds given by him were obvious, though hard to listen to.  In case they found a few, he promised to return; but should there be many yet alive he was determined upon founding a new settlement.  He reproached the council bitterly for having allowed the lack of arable soil to have been taken as a pretext for depriving his own small clan of its allotment in order to give it to a larger one.  That small clan should not come back and again be in the way of the others.  “Tzitz hanutsh,” said he in closing, alluding to his own performances, “has saved the tribe; it has done its duty.  Now we will go and see whether our brethren and sisters are still alive; and in case we find them, seek for another spot where there will be sufficient room for all.”

Every one present did not understand these words; but the members of the council knew to what the young man was alluding, and they bowed their heads in shame.  Even the Hishtanyi Chayan felt the reproach, for he knew that it was partly his fault, since had he followed the hint dropped by Topanashka, and his own first impressions, all might have taken a different turn.  He did not therefore insist any longer, and did not even think it advisable to invoke the will of Those Above in aid of his personal desire.  His silence determined the people of the Rito, for they took it for granted that the higher powers approved of Hayoue’s resolution to leave.

It may seem strange that the Chayan did not insist upon consulting the Shiuana first, for Hayoue would have been compelled to abide by their final decision.  Here the question arises how far the Indian shaman is sincere in his oracular utterances,—­how much of his decisions is honest error, and how much of his official acts may be deception or mere jugglery.

In most cases of importance the shaman is honest.  He really believes that what he says is the echo from a higher world.  This firm belief is the fruit of training; and the voices he hears, the sights he sees when alone with Those Above are the products of honest hallucination.  His training and the long and painful discipline he undergoes in rising from degree of knowledge to degree of knowledge, the constant privations and bodily and mental tortures, prepare him for a dreamy state in which he becomes thoroughly convinced that he really is a medium.  As such he speaks in council, and he is most thoroughly satisfied that what he says is the truth.  Of course there are among them some who are rogues, who profit by the credulity of others, and who even invent tricks in order to fasten their authority upon the people in an illegitimate manner.  These tricks themselves are not performed in the majority of cases as conscious sleight of hand.  They may have been