The Pawnees were essentially a religious people, if one may be allowed to use the term in connection with a tribe whose morals were at such a low ebb.  They worshipped Ti-ra-wa, who is in and of everything.  Differing from many tribes, who adore material things, the Pawnees simply regarded certain localities as sacred—­they became so only because they were blessed by the Divine presence.  Ti-ra-wa was not personified; he was as intangible as the God of the Christian.  The sacred nature of the Pawnee deity extended to all animal nature —­the fish that swim in the rivers, the birds that fly in the air, and all the beasts which roam over the prairie were believed by the Pawnee to possess intelligence, knowledge, and power far beyond that of man.  They were not, however, considered as gods; their miraculous attributes were given to them by their ruler, whose servants they were, and who often made them the medium of his communications to man.  They were his messengers, his angels, and their powers were always used for good.  Prayers were made to them in time of need, but rather pleading for their intercession with Ti-ra-wa than directly to them.  All important undertakings were preceded by a prayer for help, and success in their undertakings was acknowledged by grateful offerings to the ruler.  The victorious warrior frequently sacrificed the scalp torn from the head of his enemy, which was burned with much elaborate mummery by the medicine-men, and he who brought back from a raid many horses always gave one to the chief medicine-man as a thank-offering to Ti-ra-wa.

The Pawnees entertained feelings of reverence and humility only toward their god; they really did not love him, but looked to him for help at all times.  The young braves were particularly exhorted to humble themselves before Ti-ra-wa, to pray to him, and to look to One Above, to ask help from him.

During Monroe’s administration, a very influential and physically powerful Indian named Two Axe, chief counsellor of the Pawnee Loups, went to pay a visit to the “Great Father,” the President of the United States.  Two Axe was over six feet high and well proportioned, of athletic build, and as straight as an arrow.  He had been delegated to go to Washington by his tribe to make a treaty with the government.

Having been introduced to the President, the latter made known to him, through the interpreter, the substance of a proposal.  The keen-witted Indian, perceiving that the treaty taught “all Turkey” to the white man, and “all Crow” to his tribe, sat patiently during the reading of the document.  When it was finished, he rose with all his native dignity, and in a vein of true Indian eloquence, in which he was unsurpassed, declared that the treaty had been conceived in injustice and born in duplicity; that many treaties had been signed by Indians of their “Great Father’s” concoction, wherein they had bartered away the graves of their ancestors for a few worthless trinkets, and afterward their hearts cried out for their folly; that such Indians were fools and women.  He expressed very freely his opinion of the President and the whites generally, and concluded by declaring that he would sign no paper which would ever cause his own breast or those of his people to sorrow.