Indian Superstitions and Legends. Page 2

  Then the maiden kneeled upon the ground, took from her bosom the most precious pink and white flowers, and, hiding them under the faded leaves, and breathing upon them, said: "I give you all my virtues, and all the sweetness of my breath; and all who would pick thee shall do so on bended knees."

  Then the maiden moved away through the woods and over the plains; all the birds sang to her; and wherever she stepped, and nowhere else, grows our tribal flower--the trailing arbutus.

  GOD'S KETTLE.

  About two hundred and fifty years ago Weme-gen-debay, a noted chief and a great hunter, discovered, while hunting in the wilderness east of Traverse Bay, Michigan, a great kettle made of pure copper. It was nearly covered with earth; and the roots of large trees had grown over and around it. When taken out of the ground it had the appearance of never having been used. The kettle was so large that a full-grown bear could be cooked whole in it. It was regarded as Manito aukick (God's kettle). Hence it was considered a sacred relic, was treated with a sort of reverential awe, and was kept securely hidden in a wild retreat unfrequented by man; never being used except when Tchi-bekan-kewin (the feast for the dead) was celebrated.

  When the Indians in the Grand Traverse region became civilized this magic kettle lost its sacred influence, and was used to boil maple sap to sugar, instead of for cooking bear at feasts. Blackbird, a noted Indian now living at Harbor Springs, Michigan, as late as 1840, made a bail for this kettle while he was at work in the Government blacksmith-shop at the old Mission on Grand Traverse Bay. When I asked him, a short time since, what had become of that magic kettle, he replied, "I do not know, but must believe Manito has taken it home; for it disappeared as mysteriously as it came."

  THANKSGIVING FEASTS, AND FEASTS FOR THE DEAD.

  In the spring-time of each year our forefathers held Ma-gosh- e-win--a religious feast of prayer and thanksgiving,--rejoicing that winter had passed, and that all nature was alive again. At such times they erected in the centre of their camping-ground a high pole, on which they hung all their old, cast-off garments. Around this pole men, women, and children would sing and dance. The prayer of their song was, that Kigi Manito, who had brought back Ke-sus, the sun,--melting the snow and unlocking the ice-bound lakes and streams,--would look down upon his dependent children with love and compassion, and give them peace and plenty through another year. After the close of this feast they celebrated the feast for the dead.

  All would march among the camp-fires; shaking hands whenever they met, singing in plaintive tones, "Ne-baw-baw-tchi-baw-yew ash- an-dis-win at-chak ne-bod" ("We are wandering about as spirits feeding the souls of the dead"), and at the same time eating, and throwing part of their food into the fire. This practice of feasting the dead, and of burying their weapons and utensils with them, was done in the same spirit as that in which the dominant race provides clothing, flowers, and marble for its dead. I believe there is no race on earth that has more reverence for its dead than ours. Our greatest sorrow, in being driven from our homes, has been our separation from the graves of our fathers, which we loved so much.

  No greater insult can be given to Indians than to speak evil of their dead; for, say they, "The dead cannot speak for themselves; and the living that will not defend them are worse than Mau-tchi Manito (the Devil)."

  LOVE AND MARRIAGE.

  My feelings have often been mortified in reading in American histories that it was a custom among our people to marry for so many moons. There never was a greater misstatement. All our traditions most clearly show that, in our primitive state, we were a very virtuous people. Love and marriage were regarded as of divine origin. The false reports quoted in histories were made by white fur-traders, who, in early days, came among us, and, in order to get in closer touch with our people, intermarried. They afterward deserted their Indian wives and children; returning to their own people, and branding us with the lie in order to hide their own shame.

  When our boys and girls become warmly attached to each other, they confidentially talk the matter over with their parents, who always sympathize with them in their love affairs; for, believe me, our children are never laughed at and tormented, as is the case with white people, as though it were a crime to fall in love.

  When lovers are married they repeat, generally in presence of both families, the following: "We now marry each other for life, before all our friends, now here assembled, by the command of the Great Spirit, who has united our hearts in one."

  Then the lovers simply join hands; their lips in mutual concert meet, and the marriage-knot is tied for life.

  THE SACRED WHITE DEER.

  There is a very old superstition, still extant among our people, that white, or albino deer--which are very rare--are sacred. They have for time out of mind been called Manito sucsee wabe ("the sacred white deer").

  It is believed that if anyone should shoot at and miss a white deer, he would be sick in consequence; and, that should he kill one, death would soon be the result. I once encamped while hunting with a white man for partner. Returning to our lodge one night, I told him how, during the day, I had had a chance to kill a most beautiful white buck, having the most perfect antlers I had ever seen, but that I had not had the heart to take his life, for I had always heard our old hunters say that the white deer was sacred, and that they never knew a hunter who killed one to live long. He called me many hard names, and among other things, said: "Pokagon, you are as superstitious as an uneducated redskin. Don't you know anything? Why, we could have sold that deer for more than fifty dollars!"

  Yet this same man, a few days later, when we had started on our morning hunt, went back to the lodge, a distance of at least half a mile, to get an old horse-chestnut which he claimed had brought him good luck for years. He would not hunt on Friday; fearing he might get shot. I suggested to him one Friday morning that, if he should fill his pockets with chestnuts, he would be perfectly safe. He talked very eloquently to me for some time; but he did not thank me for my advice.

  In conclusion, permit Pokagon to say that he once thought that man's proneness to trust in superstitions was such a reflection on his natural ability, as to declare him unworthy of being considered spiritual and immortal. But, after having associated with the dominant race, as well as his own, for more than fifty years, and after having learned that trust in superstitions creeps into the hearts of all races, whether savage, or civilized and enlightened, he has been forced to a contrary opinion; and he now believes with all his heart, that such trust in superstitions most emphatically declares that man is spiritual and immortal, and has a higher life beyond the grave. In fact, it appears to him just as natural for man to trust in some intelligence higher than himself, who he believes brought him into being, as it is for children to trust in their parents.

  As reasonable beings, without prejudice, we cannot for a moment believe that heathen who bow down to idols, or savages who trust in totums, or the civilized who have faith in mascots, believe there is any power in the object itself, but simply that there is somehow or other, a spiritual intelligence connected with it, which they cannot understand or explain, independent of the thing itself. They only know that it satisfies their nature to confide in it. As beings of common sense, we cannot believe otherwise than that their feelings are akin to those of the little girl who pets and caresses her doll, sleeps with it; and embraces it with all the tenderness of a devoted mother, and yet not for a moment believes it real. She is actuated to love and caress it in order to satisfy that parent love born in her own soul, which the God of nature has so wisely implanted in the breast of all human- kind.

  Those mother-like caresses of the little girl, as she plays with her doll, declare no more emphatically to our reason that she inherits maternal love, than do those acts of rational beings who idolize totums and mascots declare that they are spiritual beings connected in some way with a higher Intelligence, who created them and governs all, and to whom all are accountable in this life and in the life to come. Pokagon does not wish t
o be understood, because he has reasoned by way of analogy in proof of spirituality, that he wishes to encourage idol-worship, after the relation between God and man has been revealed to men. Nor can he understand how it is possible for true Christians to trust or confide in anything this side of eternity beyond the revealed God of Heaven, to satisfy their spiritual wants.

  SIMON POKAGON.