# View of the Hebrews/Chapter 3 (pages 105-124)

page 105 in some respects answers well to Israel's ancient ark of the covenant; and essentially the same use is made of it, as of the ark in the other tribes of Indians described. It is a sack, containing a few aromatic plants, or roots, and the feathers or skins of some rare bird, or small animal. These contents the owner imagines possess some kind of hidden virtue, which renders the owner invulnerable.
Major Long, speaking of the Omawhaws, far up the Missouri, says, they believe in one God, "the Creator and preserver of all things, the fountain of mystic medicine;'"—meaning, the healer of their evils. This tribe of Chippeways, (Mr. Herman informs,) call their sacred sack, their "medicine bag." The contents appear to be essentially the same, and for the same end, with the contents of the sacred ark in other tribes;—the symbol of the presence of the Great Spirit. Hence Mr. Herman informs that the chief captain, when going to war, harrangues his warriors, and exhorts them to reflect on the long fast performed in their youth; and adds; "Moreover, young men, it behoves you all to take special care of your medicine bags; for their contents ought of all things to be most precious to you, especially during such an expedition as the one on which you now embark. Should the medicine bag of any one be placed on the ground, and any one inadvertently seat himself upon it, the first person who perceives him in that situation, ought instantly to spring up, and push the other flat on his back. This violent act will prevent any ill consequences from the unintended offence." Here it is evident their medicine bag, so called, is a religious symbol, as is the holy ark of the other tribes. And essentially the same care must be taken not to offend the Great Spirit by any improper use of it. The lapse of ages among illiterate savages scattered in unknown distant tribes, would naturally produce as great a variation among different tribes, in relation to this ancient venerable symbol—the ark of the covenant—as is this difference between these western more savage tribes, and tribes less savage farther to the south. But they unite in the essential points. Both are sacred symbols borne to their wars. Both contain their most consecrated things; and each must be treated with the most sacred caution. No other account can be so rationally given of the origin of these Indian symbols, as the law of the holy ark in Israel.
The Rev. Dr. Morse, in his report of his tour among the Indians at the west, made under commission from our government, in 1820, to ascertain the actual state of the Indians in our country, says; "It is matter of surprise, that the Indians, situated as they have been for so
page 106 many successive ages and generations, without books or knowledge of letters, or of the art of reading or writing, should have preserved their various languages in the manner they have done. Many of them are copious, capable of regular grammatical analysis, possess great strength, gracefulness, and beauty of expression. They are highly metaphorical in their character; and in this and other respects resemble the Hebrew. This resemblance, in the language, and the similarity of many of their religious customs, &c. to those of the Jews, certainly give plausibility to the ingenious theory of Dr. Boudinot, exhibited in his interesting work, entitled "Star in the West." A faithful and thorough examination of the various languages of the Indian tribes, would probably show that there are very few of them that are throughout radically different.—The differences of these languages are mostly differences of dialect."
The various Indian tribes, visited by Dr. Morse, had their Great Spirit. Speaking of the manners and customs of the Sauks, Fox tribe, Pattowattamies, and others, he says; "Other feasts to the Great Spirit are frequently made by these Indians." Of one of these feasts, he says; "They seat themselves in a circle on the ground; when one of the guests places before each person a wooden bowl with his portion of the feast, and they commence eating. When each man's portion is eaten, the bones are collected, and put into a wooden bowl, and thrown into the river, or burnt. The whole of the feast must be eaten. If any one cannot eat his part of it, he passes his dish, with a piece of tobacco to his neighbor, and he eats it; and the guests then retire. Those who make the feast never eat any part of it themselves. They say they give their part of it to the Great Spirit." Here seems manifestly the same feast noted by other authors among other and different tribes in the different parts of the continent, and probably answering to the passover in ancient Israel. The different and distant tribes have their circumstantial differences; while yet certain things indicate that the feast is a broken tradition of the passover. In Exodus xii. 8, speaking of the passover, it is commanded;— "With bitter herbs shall ye eat it."
Why does the Indian, (in this account of Dr. Morse,) accompany his portion of this singular Indian feast to his neighbor with a piece of tobacco? Is it not, probably, for the same reason that other distant tribes partake of their similar feast answering to this with bitter vegetables, as has been stated? And what heathen religion could ever have originated such a practice? This seems necessarily to have originated in the ancient law of the passover.
page 107 Another tradition from a Hebrew rite the Doctor states. He says; "The women of these nations are very particular to remove from their lodges to one erected for that particular purpose, at such seasons as were customarily observed by Jewish women, according to the law of Moses. No article of furniture ever used in this lodge, is ever used in any other; not even the steel and flint with which they strike fire. No man approaches this lodge, while a woman occupies it." The existence of this extensive Indian rite is fully ascertained. And of its origin there appears but very little room to doubt.
This writer says; "The belief of these Indians relative to their creation is not very unlike our own. Masco, one of the chiefs of the Sauks, informed me that they believed that the Great Spirit in the first place created from the dust of the earth two men; but finding that these alone would not answer his purpose, he took from each man a rib, and made two women." Of the descendants of these two pair, they say, "that they were all one nation, until they behaved so badly, that the Great Spirit came among them, and talked different languages to them; which caused them to separate and form different nations." Here are manifest broken fragments of Moses' history of creation, and of the confusion of language at Babel. "I asked (says Dr. M.) how they supposed white men were made? He replied that Indians supposed the Great Spirit made them of the fine dust of the earth, as they know more than Indians." Dr. M. gives an account of their holding to a future state; and to some kinds of reward for the good, and of punishments for the wicked.
He informs from a Major Cummings, that the Indians are very suspicious of some evil intent, when questioned by the Americans; and that there is no way to obtain a full knowledge of their traditions and ways, but by a long residence in their country. This may account for the fact that their traditions (which seem manifestly Hebrew) were kept so long and to so great a degree, from the knowledge of our people.
Relative to their manner of transacting public business, they informed Dr. M.; "We open our council by smoking a pipe selected for the occasion; and we address the audience through a speaker chosen for the purpose; first invoking the Great Spirit to inspire us with wisdom. We open our council in the name of the Great Spirit, and close with the same."
He informs that the Indians "before attending on treaties, great councils, or any other important national business, always sacrifice
page 108 in order to obtain the good will of the Great Spirit. And adds; "There are no people more frequent or fervent in their acknowledgements of gratitude to God. Their belief in him is universal; and their confidence astonishingly strong.
Speaking of their feasts, he says; "The principal festival is celebrated in the month of August; sooner or later, as the forwardness of the corn will admit. It is called the Green Corn Dance; or more properly speaking, the ceremony of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the earth.
The question continually recurs, whence came things like these among the natives of our continent, or the American savages, unless these savages are the very tribes of Israel? No evidence is furnished that such a variety of Hebrew rites is found among any other people on earth, except the Jews. And it seems morally impossible they should have derived them from any other source than the ancient Hebrew religion.
Mr. Schoolcraft, a member of the New York Historical Society, (in his Journals of travels among the western Indians, round and beyond the western lakes, and to the mouth of the Mississippi, in 1820,) gives some accounts, which confirm some of the Indian traditions already exhibited. He speaks of attending a feast among the Sioux Indians; a feast of the first green corn. He says; "Our attention was now drawn off by the sound of Indian music which proceeded from another large cabin at no great distance; but we found the doors closed, and were informed that they were celebrating an annual feast, at which only certain persons in the village were allowed to be present; and that it was not customary to admit strangers. Our curiosity being excited, we applied to the governor, Casa, to intercede for us; and were by that means admitted. The first striking object presented was, two large kettles full of green corn, cut from the cob and boiled. They hung over a moderate fire in the midst of the cabin; and the Indians, both men and women, were seated in a large circle around them. They were singing a doleful song in a savage manner. The utmost solemnity was depicted upon every countenance. When the music ceased, as it frequently did for a few seconds, there was a full and mysterious pause, during which certain pantomimic signs were made; and it appeared as if they pretended to hold communion with invisible spirits. Suddenly the music struck up—but as we did not understand their language, it is impossible to say what they uttered, or to whom their supplications or responses were addressed. When the ceremony
page 109 ceased, one of the older Indians divided out all the boiled corn into separate dishes for as many heads of families as there were present, putting an equal number of ladles full into each dish. Then while the music continued, they one by one took up their dishes, and retiring from the cabin by a backward step, so that they still faced the kettles, they separated to their respective lodges; and thus the ceremony ceased."
This writer says, "The Indians believed in the existence of a great invisible Spirit, who resides in the regions of the clouds, and by means of inferior spirits throughout every part of the earth." Their word for spirit, he says, is manito, which he observes, "signifies the same thing among all the tribes extending from the Arkansaw to the sources of the Mississippi; and according to M'Kenzie, throughout the arctic regions." This word, Mr. S. remarks, with many others, strengthens the opinion "of which (he says) there appears ample grounds, that the erratic tribes of the north-western region, and of the vallies of the Mississippi, are all descended from one stock, which is presumed to have progressed from the north toward the south, scattering into different tribes, and falling from the purity of a language, which may, originally have been rich and copious." Here is good testimony to some of the points, adduced in this work, viz. that all the Indians are from one origin; all originally of one language; all from the northwest, the straits of Beering, leading from the north-east of Asia to the north-west of America; all have one God,—the Great Spirit above; and the feast of the first ripe fruits is among them extensively kept.
These Indians, Mr. S. informs, "have their good and bad manitoes," or spirits. The Old Testament informs of holy and of fallen angels.
Mr. S. speaks of the best of authors allowing that great corruptions have crept into the Indian language; and that the remarks of some upon the supposed poverty of the language of these Americans, are very incorrect.
He speaks of some of the Indians as looking to the people of our states for aid, and says, a council which he attended with the Sandy Lake Indians, thus closed; "The Americans (meaning the United States) are a great people. Can it be possible they will allow us to suffer?"
The Rev. Lemuel Haynes informs, that about 60 years ago, he was living in Granville, Mass. A minister by the name of Ashley,
page 110 called on an old deacon, with whom he was living, being on his way from a mission among the Indians in the west, where he had been a considerable time. Mr. Ashley stated his confident belief that the Indians were the Israelites; for he said there were many things in their manners and customs, which were like those of ancient Israel. Various of these he stated. Mr. Haynes being then a boy, does not now recollect them. But the people he mentions as being impressed with the accounts; and the good old deacon long spake of them with much interest.
A brother minister informs me that his father was a lieutenant in the revolutionary war, and was long among the Indians; and that he became a firm believer that the Indians were the ten tribes of Israel from their traditions and rites; various of which he used to state; but which the minister does not now remember.
Various quotations have been given from Mr. Adair. It was thought when they were selected and inserted, they were amply sufficient. But it has occurred to the writer of these sheets that as he is a most material testimony, and his evidence fully substantiated, as has appeared, it must be desirable the reader should see more fully his arguments, and more of the facts by him stated under them.
His arguments that the natives of this continent are of the ten tribes are as follows. 1. Their division into tribes. 2. Their worship of Jehovah. 3. Their notion of a theocracy. 4. Their belief in the ministration of angels. 5. Their language and dialects. 6. Their manner of counting time. 7. Their prophets and high priests. 8. Their festivals, fasts, and religious rites. 9. Their daily sacrifice. 10. Their ablutions and anointings. 11. Their laws of uncleanness. 12. Their abstinence from unclean things. 13. Their marriages, divorces and punishments of adultery. 14. Their several punishments. 15. Their cities of refuge. 16. Their purifications and preparatory ceremonies. 17. Their ornaments. 18. Their manner of curing the sick. 19. Their burial of their dead. 20. Their mourning for their dead. 21. Their raising seed to a deceased brother. 22. Their change of names adapted to their circumstances and times. 23. Their own traditions; the accounts of English writers; and the testimonies given by Spanish and other writers of the primitive inhabitants of Mexico and Peru.
Some of his illustrations of these arguments will be here subjoined in his own words. Under the 1st argument. "As the nation hath its particular symbol, so each tribe, the badge from which it is denominated. The sachem of each tribe is a necessary party in
page 111 conveyances, and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of his tribe. If we go from nation to nation among them, we shall not find one, who doth not lineally distinguish himself by his respective family. The genealogical names, which they assume, are derived either from the name of those animals, whereof the cherubims are said in revelation to be compounded, or from such creatures as are most familiar to them. The Indians, however, bear no religious respect to the animals from whence they derive their names. On the contrary, they kill them when opportunity serves. When we consider that these savages have been above twenty centuries without the use of letters to carry down their traditions, it cannot reasonably be expected that they should still retain the identical names of their primogenial tribes. Their main customs corresponding with those of the Israelites, sufficiently clears the subject. Besides, as hath been hinted, they call some of their tribes by the names of cherubinical figures that were carried on the four principal standards of Israel.
His illustrations of the second argument, blended with those of many others, have been sufficiently given.
Under the third argument, he says: "Agreeably to the theocracy or divine government of Israel, the Indians think the Deity to be the immediate head of their state. All the nations of Indians are exceedingly intoxicated with religious pride, and have an inexpressible contempt of the white people.* They used to call us in their war orations, the accursed people.—But they flatter themselves with the name of the beloved people; because their supposed ancestors, as they affirm, were under the immediate government of the Deity, who was present with them in a very peculiar manner, and directed them by prophets, while the rest of the world were aliens and outlaws to the covenant.—When the old Archimagus, or any one of their magi, is persuading the people at any one of their religious solemnities to a strict observance of the old beloved or divine speech, he always calls them the beloved or holy people, agreeably to the Hebrew epithet, Ammi (my people) during the theocracy of Israel.—It is their opinion of the theocracy, that God chose them out of all the rest of mankind as his peculiar and beloved people; which alike animates both the white Jew and the red American with that steady hatred against all the world except themselves; and renders them (in their opinion) hated and despised by all."
* Within 20 years this trait of Indian character is much meliorated.
page 112 His illustrations of the 4th and 5th arguments have been given with those of other authors.
Under the 6th argument he says: "They count time after the manner of the Hebrews. They divide the year into spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They number their year from any of those four periods, for they have no name for a year, and they subdivide these, and count the year by lunar months, like the Israelites, who counted by moons. They begin a year at the first appearance of the first new moon of the vernal equinox, according to the ecclesiastical year of Moses. Till the 70 years captivity, the Israelites had only numeral names for the solar and lunar months, except Abib and Ethamin; the former signifying a green ear of corn; and the latter robust or valiant. And by the first of these, the Indians (as an explicative) term their passover, which the trading people call the green corn dance." Mr. Adair then proceeds to show more fully the similarity between the ancient Israelites and the Indians in their counting time, as has been noted.
Under the 7th argument he says: "In conformity to, or after the manner of the Jews, the Indian Americans have their prophets, high priests, and others of a religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum, (holy of holies) so have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated vessels;—none of the laity daring to approach that sacred place. The Indian tradition says, that their fathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit, by which they foretold things future, and controlled the common course of nature: and this they transmitted to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred laws annexed to it. Ishtoallo, (Mr. Adair says of those Indians) is the name of all their priestly order: and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest. There are some traces of agreement, though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed holy fire for the yearly atonement for sin, the sagan (waiter of the high priest) clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breast plate made of a white conch-shell with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter skin strap, and fastens a buck horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of the precious stones of the Urim."
In this statement Mr. Adair exhibits evidence of which himself seems unconscious. He says the general name of all their priestly
page 113 order is Ishtoallo. And the name of the high priest's waiter is Sagan. Mr. Faber (remarking upon this) thinks the former word is a corruption of Ish-da-eloah, a man of God; see original of 2 Kings, iv. 21,22, 25, 27, 40, and other places. And of the latter word he says, "Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and who performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest. See Calmet's Dict, vox Sagan.'"
Here then is evidence to our purpose, that those Indians should call their order of priests, and the high priest's waiter, by those ancient Hebrew names of a man of God, and a deputy of the high priest. How could these events have occurred, had not those natives been Hebrew, and brought down these names by Hebrew tradition?
Under the 8th argument Mr. Adair says; "The ceremonies of the Indians in their religious worship are more after the Mosaic institutions, than of pagan imitation; which could not be, if the majority of the old nation were of heathenish descent. They are utter strangers to all the gestures practised by the pagans in their religious rites. They have another appellative which with them is the mysterious essential name of God; the tetragrammaton, or great four lettered name, which they never name in common speech. Of the time and place, when and where they mention it, they are very particular, and always with a solemn air. It is well known what sacred regard the Jews had to the four lettered divine name, so as scarcely ever to mention it, but once a year, when the high priest went into the sanctuary at the expiation of sins. Might not the Indians copy from them this sacred invocation, Yo-he-wah? Their method of invoking God in a solemn hymn with that reverend deportment, and spending a full breath on each of the two first syllables of the awful divine name, hath a surprising analogy to the Jewish custom, and such as no other nation or people, even with the advantage of written records, have retained. It may be worthy of notice that they never prostrate themselves, nor bow their bodies to each other by way of salute or homage, though usual with the eastern nations; except when they are making or renewing peace with strangers, who come in the name of Yah."
Mr. Adair proceeds to speak of the sacred adjuration of the Indians by the great and awful name of God; the question being asked, and the answer given, Yah, with a profound reverence in a bowing posture of body immediately before the invocation of Yo-he-wah; this he considers to be Hebrew, adjuring their witnesses to give true
page 114 evidence. He says, "It seems exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on the like occasions."
Mr. Adair's other illustrations under this argument, in various feasts, fastings, their ark, and their ever refusing to eat the hollow of the thigh of their game, have been sufficiently given, in connexion with the testimonies of others to the same points.
Enough has also been exhibited under the 9th, 10th and 11th arguments.
Under the 12th he says; "Eagles of every kind they esteem unclean food; likewise ravens, crows, bats, buzzards, swallows, and every species of owl." This he considers as precisely Hebrew; as also their purifications of their priests; and purification for having touched a dead body, or any other unclean thing.
Under most of his subsequent arguments the quotations before given have been sufficient. Under the 16th he says; "Before the Indians go to war, they have many preparatory ceremonies of purification and fasting like what is recorded of the Israelites."
Under the last argument he says; "The Indian tradition says that their forefathers in very remote ages came from a far distant country, where all the people were of one colour; and that in process of time they removed eastward to their present settlements." He notes and confutes some idle fabulous stories which he says "sprung from the innovating superstitious ignorance of the popish priests to the southwest;" and speaks of the Indian tradition as being altogether more to be depended on. He says, "They, (the rambling tribes of northern Indians excepted,) aver that they came over the Mississippi from the westward, before they arrived at their present settlements. This we see verified in the western old towns they have left behind them, and by the situation of their old beloved towns or places of refuge lying about a west course from each different nation."
"Ancient history (he adds) is quite silent concerning America, which indicates that it has been time immemorial rent asunder from the eastern continent. The north-east parts of Asia were also undiscovered till of late. Many geographers have stretched Asia and America so far as to join them together; and others have divided them into two quarters of the globe. But the Russians, after several dangerous attempts, have clearly convinced the world that they are now divided, and yet have a near communication together by a narrow strait in which several islands are situated, and through which there is an easy passage from the north-east of Asia to the north-west of
page 115 America. By this passage, it was very practicable to go to this new world, and afterward to have proceeded in quest of suitable climates.
Those who dissent from my opinion of the Indian American origin, (he adds) ought to inform us how the natives came here, and by what means they found the long chain of rites and customs so similar to the usage of the Hebrew nation, and in general dissimilar to the modes of the pagan world. Their religious rites, martial customs, dress, music, dances and domestic forms of life, seem clearly to evince also, that they came to America in early times before sects had sprung up among the Jews; which was soon after their prophets ceased; also before arts and sciences had arrived at any perfection. Otherwise it is likely they would have retained some knowledge of them."
We learn in Dr. Robertson's history of America, that the Mexicans had their tradition that "Their ancestors came from a remote country situated to the north-west of Mexico. The Mexicans (he says) point out their various stations as they advanced from this into the interior provinces; and it is precisely the same rout which they must have held, if they had been emigrants from Asia."*
Mr. Adair says, that though some have supposed the Americans to be descendants from the Chinese; yet neither their religion, laws or customs agree in the least with those of the Chinese, which sufficiently proves that they are not of this line. And he says the remaining traces of their religious ceremonies, and civil and martial customs, are different from those of the old Scythians. He thinks, therefore, that the old opinion that the Indians are descended from the Tartars or ancient Scythians, should be exploded as weak and without foundation. Those who have advocated the affirmative have not been able to produce much, if any evidence, that any of the religious rites found among the Indians, and resembling those of ancient Israel, have ever been found among any people in the east of Asia. Such a thing cannot be expected. Those rites were arbitrary, established only in Israel; and designed to distinguish them from all other nations. It is utterly inadmissible then, to suppose these Indian rites may be accounted for, from an idea that the Indians may have learned them from other heathen nations. With very similar propriety might the unbeliever in divine revelation say that the Jews and ancient Israel derived their religion, not from God, as the bible purports, but from the
* B.4, page 41-2-3 page 116 heathen nations, who at that time might, for aught we know, have had just such religious customs.
If the aborigines derived these rites and customs from ancient Asiatic heathen; why have not some of those heathen themselves retained some of them, and disseminated them through some other parts of the world, besides the vast wilds of North and South America?
Capt. Carver is able to find that some of the people north east of Asia once presented to some of the Russians their pipe of peace. The people of Israel, as they passed by that people in ancient days, may have caught this custom from them; as none pretend this was a Hebrew rite. Or those few people thus noted in Asia may have caught this custom from the Indians over Beering's Straits. But this is nothing, compared with the many Hebrew rites found among the natives of America.
Capt. Carver, who travelled five thousand miles among the Indians of North America, states some customs observed by some of them in relation to marriage and divorce, which seem much like those of ancient Israel. He says; "When one of their young men has fixed on a young woman he approves of, he discovers his passion to her parents, who give him an invitation to come and live with them in their tent. He accepts the offer, and engages to reside in it for a whole year in the character of a menial servant. This however is done only while they are young men, and for their first wife; and not repeated like Jacob's servitude. When this period is expired, the marriage is solemnized."
"When from any dislike (he adds) a separation takes place, for they are seldom known to quarrel, they generally give their friends a few days notice of their intention, and sometimes offer reasons to justify their conduct." Some little ceremonies follow; and he says, "The separation is carried on without any murmurings, or ill will between the couple or their relations." Probably no other nation has such a resemblance in this respect to ancient Israel.
Capt. Carver says of the Indians "wholly unadulterated with the superstitions of the church of Rome:" "It is certain they acknowledge one Supreme Being, or giver of life, who presides over all things—the Great Spirit; and they look up to him as the source of good—who is infinitely good. They also believe in a bad spirit, to whom they ascribe great power. They hold also, that there are good spirits of a less degree, who have their particular departments, in which they are constantly contributing to the happiness of mortals."
page 117 "The priests of the Indians (he adds) who are at the same time their physicians—while they heal their wounds, or cure their diseases, they interpret their dreams, and satisfy their desires of searching into futurity." But Capt. Carver unites with other authors on the subject, in speaking of the difficulty of strangers among them obtaining much knowledge of their religious rites. He says; "It is very difficult to attain to a perfect knowledge of the religious principles of the Indians. They endeavor to conceal them." It is no wonder then, that Capt. Carver, passing by them on a tour of upwards of five thousand miles, discovered but few of these many rites resembling the religion of ancient Israel, stated by Mr. Adair. He says there was "one particular female custom" bearing resemblance to the rites in the Mosaic law; alluding to the well known Indian separation of women. Speaking of their "religious principles," which he says are "few and simple," he adds, "they (the Indians) have not deviated, as many other uncivilized nations, and too many civilized ones have done, into idolatrous modes of worship." "On the appearance of the new moon they dance and sing; but it is not evident that they pay that planet any adoration."
Here then, according to this author, is their one God, infinitely good, the giver of life, and of all good, presiding over all, who is the only object of worship; though they sometimes beg of the evil spirit to avert their calamities, which in their opinion, he brings.—Here are their good angels, ministering to the good; here their priests; and a "particular female custom" inexplicable unless by the Mosaic law. Here is their firm adherence to their "few simple doctrines," or rites, less deviating to idolatry than other uncivilized, and even many civilized nations. These facts are far from being destitute of their favourable bearing on our subject. How should such things be true of those savages, were they not the descendants of ancient Israel?
It was observed in this book, that the Esquimaux natives and people round Hudson's Bay appear a different race from the American Indians, and may have come from the north of Europe. Capt. Carver notes an assertion from Grotius, that "some of the Norwegians passed into America by way of Greenland." Here may be the origin of the people of Greenland, Iceland, and round Hudson's Bay. But it gives no satisfactory account of the origin of the numerous Indian tribes of America.
Rev. Mr. Chapman, missionary of the United Foreign Missionary Society, at the Union Mission, in a letter of March 24, 1823, gives an account of some of the manners and customs of the Osage Indians.
page 118 He went with a large company of them to Fort Smith, who went to form a treaty of peace with the Cherokees. The evening before they arrived, on a hill, the chiefs informed that in the morning they must make their customary peace medicine, (a religious ceremony previous to a treaty) for the purpose of cleansing their hearts, and securing their sincerity of thinking and acting.—"Ten of the principal warriors, including the priest of the Atmosphere, (a name of one of their clans) were selected and sent beneath a ledge, to dream or learn whether any error had been committed thus far—or (as they expressed it) to watch the back track" Mr. Chapman proceeds to state their ceremonies— prayers, sacred paintings, anointings, &c.—Among these he says; "about two feet in advance, and in a line with our path, were three bunches of grass, which had been cut and piled about three feet apart, as an emblem of him whom they worshipped.
Here the priest stood with his attendants, and prayed at great length. Having finished his prayer, he again ordered the march on foot. The Indians from the right and left entered the path with great regularity; and on wheeling forward every individual was compelled to step upon each bunch of the grass." The company proceeded about forty rods; then halted and formed as before. The priest now "ordered his senior attendant to form a circle of grass about four feet in diameter, and to fix a handsome pile in the centre." By this he made another long prayer. Then stepping on the circle, and followed in this by his attendants, they passed on. The chief informed Mr. Chapman that this circle of grass too was a representation of their God. Mr. Chapman says; "It is the universal practice of these Indians to salute the dawn of every morning with their devotion." And upon the ceremonies he had described he adds; "Perhaps the curious may imagine that some faint allusion to the lost ten tribes of Israel may be discovered in the select number of dreamers (they being ten);—to the Trinity in unity, in the bunches (and the circle) of grass;—to the Jewish anointings and purifications, in their repeated paintings;—to the sacred rite of the sanctuary, in their secret consultations;—and to the prophetic office, in the office of their dreamers."
Let us look at the natives in an extreme part of South America, and see if they exhibit any evidence similar to what has been adduced to the natives of North America.
Don Alonzo de Ericilla, in his history of Chili, says of the natives there; "The religious system of the Araucanians is simple. They acknowledge a Supreme Being, the author of all things, whom
page 119 they call Pillan, a word derived from Pulli or Pilli, the soul; and signifies the Supreme Essence. They call him also, Guenupillan; the Spirit of Heaven; Bulagen, the Great Being; Thalcove, the Thunderer; Vilvemvoe, the Omnipotent; Mollgelu, the Eternal; and Avnolu, the Infinite." He adds; "The universal government of Pillan, (his Supreme Essence,) is a prototype of the Araucanian polity. He is the great Toqui of the invisible world." He goes on to speak of his having subordinate invisible beings under him, to whom he commits the administration of affairs of less importance. These, this author sees fit to call "subaltern divinities." We may believe they are but a traditional notion of angels, good and bad; such as is held by the Indians of North America.
This author says of this people; "They all agreed in the belief of the immortality of the soul. This consolatory truth is deeply rooted, and in a manner innate with them.—They hold that man is composed of two substances essentially different; the corruptible body and the soul, incorporeal and eternal."
Of their funerals, he says; "Their bier is carried by the principal relations, and is surrounded by women who bewail the deceased in the manner of the hired mourners among the Romans."
He also says; "They have among them a tradition of a great deluge, in which only a few persons were saved, who took refuge on a high mountain called Thegtheg, which possessed the property of moving upon the water."
Here then it seems the remote natives of Chili (a region 1,260 miles south of Peru, in South America,) furnish their quota of evidence that they originated in the same family with the North American Indians, and hold some of their essential traditions.
Whence could arise the tradition of those natives, of one "Supreme Being, author of all things?" That he is the "Supreme Essence; the Spirit of Heaven; the Thunderer; the Omnipotent; the Eternal; the Infinite?" Whence their tradition of the flood, and of several persons being saved on floating mountain, meaning no doubt the ark? Whence their ideas so correct of man's immortal soul?
This author says of those native Chilians, "Many suppose that they are indigenous to the country; while others suppose they derive their origin from a foreign stock, and at one time say, that their ancestors came from the north, and at another time from the west."
Their better informed or wise men, it seems, retain some impressions of their original emigration from a foreign land, and from
page 120 the north-west, or Beering' s Straits. Is it possible to give a satisfactory account of such traditions among those native Indians of Chili, short of their having received them from the Hebrew sacred Scriptures? And if from thence, surely they must be Hebrews.
The Southern Intelligencer, in extracts from the missionaries among the Chickasaws, informs us that an old Indian, stating to them some of the traditions of the Chickasaws, (most of which were sufficiently wild and pagan) gave the following. "The Great Spirit first made the ground, and animals; afterward he made man;"—"A woman was made in like manner."—"The Great Spirit drew lines on the surface of the earth with his rod; these afterward became rivers." There is an old tradition (he adds) concerning a great flood of water." He goes on to speak of its rising to the skies. "The Chickasaws came from the west," he says.—"The world is to be burned, or turned upside down; it is generally thought it will be burned." (See Isa. xxiv. 1—6) "A certain description of persons infamously wicked, will be burned with it. They will roll in fire; yet cannot die." "There are to be other signs before the end of the world; such as great shaking of the earth, &c." This old Indian adds; "It has been said by old Indians that before that event should take place, (the burning of the world) the Indians and whites would mix, so that the tribes would be confused and lost, and not know to what nation they formerly belonged."
It appears that among abundance of trash, in Indian traditions, there are running through them some things which must have been transmitted from the Hebrew Scriptures.
This old Indian has promised the missionaries to visit them again, and relate to them more of their traditions.
In Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, we learn that the Omawhaw tribe of Indians (who inhabit the west side of the Missouri River, fifty miles above Engineer Cantonment,) believe in one God. They call him Wahconda; and believe him to be the greatest and best of beings; the Creator and Preserver of all things; the Fountain of mystic medicine.* Omniscience, omnipresence, and vast power are attributed to him.—And he is supposed to afflict them with sickness, poverty, or misfortune, for their evil deeds. In conversation he is frequently appealed to as an evidence of the truth of their asservations—"Wahconda hears what I say."
* Sacred rites.
page 121 These Indians have many wild pagan notions of this one God. But they have brought down by tradition, it seems, the above essentially correct view of him, in opposition to the polytheistical world.
The name of God is remarkable—Wahconda. It has been shown that various of the Indians call God Yohewah, Ale, Yah, and Wah, doubtless from the Hebrew names Jehovah, Ale, Jah. And it has been shown that these syllables which compose the name of God, are compounded in many Indian words, or form the roots from which they are formed. Here we find the fact; while the author from whom the account is taken, it is presumed, had no perception of any such thing. Wah-conda; the last syllable of the Indian Yohewah, compounded with conda. Or Jah, Wah, their monosyllable name of God thus compounded.—Here is evidence among those children of the desert, both as to the nature and the name of their one God, corresponding with what has been exhibited of other tribes.
A religious custom, related by Mr. Long, goes to corroborate the opinion that these people are of Israel. He relates that from the age of between five and ten years, their little sons are obliged to ascend a hill fasting, once or twice a week during the months of March and April, to pray aloud to Wahconda. When this season of the year arrives, the mother informs the little son, that the "ice is breaking up in the river; the ducks and geese are migrating, and it is time for you to prepare to go in clay." The little worshipper then rubs himself over with whitish clay, and at sun rise sets off for the top of a hill, instructed by the mother what to say to the Master of Life. From his elevated position he cries aloud to Wahconda, humming a melancholy tune, and calling on him to have pity on him, and make him a great hunter, warrior, &c.
This has more the appearance of descending from Hebrew tradition, than from any other nation on earth; teaching their children to fast in clay, as "in dust and ashes;" and to cry to Jah for pity and protection.—Such are the shreds of evidence furnished, one here and another there, through the wilds of America, suggesting what is the most probable, if not evident origin, of the natives of this continent.
In the Percy Anecdotes, we have an account that the Shawano Indians in an excursion captured the Indian warrior called Old Scranny, of the Muskhoge tribe, and condemned him to a fiery torture. He told them the occasion of his falling into their hands was, he had forfeited the protection of the Divine Power by some impurity or other, when carrying the holy ark of war against his devoted enemy.
page 122 Here he recognized the one God, his providence, speaks of his holy ark borne against enemies, alludes to the purity of those who bear it, and if they become impure, the Divine Being will forsake them. The bearing which ideas like these have on our subject, needs no explanation.
Melvenda and Acasta (authors noted in the Star in the West) both affirm that some of the natives had a tradition of a Jubilee, according to the Jubilee in Israel. Edwards, in his West Indies, assures us, that the striking uniformity of the prejudices and customs of the Caribbean Indians to the practices of the Jews, had not escaped the notice of historians, as Gomella, Du Testre, and others.
In Hunter's narrative of the manners and customs of the Indians, printed in Philadelphia in 1823, things are exhibited strikingly to our purpose. This writer spent the younger part of his life among the Indians in the Arkansas territories, and up the Missouri. He was taken by the Indians when a child. He grew up among them, and lived among them many years. He seems (if I mistake not) not to be aware of any question relative to their origin. And he seems not to have undertaken to make any comparison between them and ancient Israel, as though they might be of that people. But he states many facts, which may answer for themselves. Among the many opinions and traditions of those wild natives, he gives the following. I shall give them in his own words, that all may judge for themselves. "It is certain that they acknowledge, at least as far as my acquaintance extends, one Supreme all powerful, and intelligent Being, viz. the Great Spirit, or Giver of life, who created, and governs all things."— That he (the Great Spirit) often held councils and smoked with the red men (i.e. in ancient times;) gave them laws to be observed—but that in consequence of their disobedience, he withdrew from and abandoned them to the vexations of the bad spirit, who had since been instrumental of all their degeneracy and sufferings."
"They believe that notwithstanding the offences of his red children, he continues to shower down on them all the blessings they enjoy. In consequence of this his parental regard for them they are truly filial and sincere in their devotions, and pray to him for such things as they need; and return thanks for such good things as they receive." Mr. Hunter goes on to speak of these Indians believing the Great Spirit to be present, and invisible, and being eternally unchangeable. And he adds; "They believe in a future state of existence." As to their devotions, he says: "At the breaking up of winter, having
page 123 supplied themselves with such things as were necessary, we offered up our orisons (devotions) to the Great Spirit for having preserved us, and supplied all our wants. This (he adds) is the constant practice of the Osages, Kansas, and many other nations of Indians west of the Mississippi.—You then witness (he says) the silent but deep, impressive communication the native of the forest holds with his Creator."
Mr. H. goes on to assure us that the natives have their particular times "set apart for devotional purposes,—such as the declaration of war; the restoration of peace; and extraordinary visitations." He adds; They have also rejoicings which assume something of the pious form; such as their harvests; and the return of the new moon. In general, however, a day seldom passes with an elderly Indian, or others who are esteemed wise and good, in which a blessing is not asked, or thanks returned, to the Giver of life."
"Shortly after a council have determined on war, all who are able to walk, and the old men sometime borne by others, assemble in a grove, or some place rendered sacred, and offer up their prayers to the Great Spirit for success against their enemies. Some one of the old men, or prophets, addresses the assembly; states the cause of their grievances; and enjoins on the warriors to merit success by being brave, and placing their confidence in the great Giver of life." "Similar meetings (he adds) are generally held on the conclusion of peace; or the attainment of victory. When triumphant, they dance and sing songs of victory, in which the name of the Great Spirit is frequently introduced with great reverence." How exactly do these accounts accord with those of Messrs. Boudinot, Adair, and others, of the natives in other regions! Who can doubt but these Indians have all one origin? and who can doubt the origin of their religion?
On the occurrence of an epidemic, such meetings are holden; and some old man, or a prophet (if one be present) addresses the Indians, and assures them that the calamity is a visitation from the Great Spirit, to chastise them for their ill spent lives, and wilful offences against him. He then commands them to be penitent for what has passed, and to reform. Silent prayers are then offered, with promises to become more obedient to their Great Father.—All amusements and recreations cease; and individual prayers and fastings are frequently observed for many successive days.—All their various devotions are performed in a standing posture."
"At the ingathering of corn, (he adds) they observe general rejoicings; at which all who are able join in appropriate dances, songs,
page 124 and feasts, and in thanks to the Great Spirit for his munificence toward them."—He goes on to state that on those occasions, and at new moons, they keep lamps burning all night before and after the occasion: but for what purpose neither he nor they can tell; "as the Indians themselves conform to it only in obedience to usage." Possibly the nightly lamps burning in the temple of ancient Israel, may best explain the origin of this custom. The writer says; "They in general on discovering the new moon utter a short prayer to the Great Spirit." In all the tribes I have visited, (he adds) a belief of a future state of existence; and of future rewards and punishments, is maintained; though this in many respects is various, and generally confused and indistinct." "This belief of their accountability to the Great Spirit, (he adds) makes the Indians generally scrupulous and enthusiastic observers of all their traditionary dogmas.—This conduct with most of the Indians is founded on a perfect conviction that the cultivation and observance of good and virtuous actions in this life, will in the next entitle them to the perpetual enjoyment of ease and happiness—where they will again be restored to the favour and enjoy the immediate presence, counsel and protection of the Great Spirit; while dereliction from it—will as assuredly entail on them endless afflictions." The writer continues—"Every Indian of any standing has his sacred place, such as a tree, rock, fountain, &c. to which he resorts for devotional exercise. Sometimes many resort to the same place. Preceding any public meeting held either for religious or festive purposes, or the assembling of a counsel, they uniformly retire to their respective places of private worship, and solicit the counsel and protection of the Great Spirit. Those who omit (these meetings) are thought less of, and their conduct is ascribed to an indifference to holy things, and want of solicitude for the national welfare."
"The religious opinions entertained and modes of worship observed by the several Indian tribes, with which I have any acquaintance, (says Mr. Hunter) vary in their general character but little." "I have several times heard the chief of the Great Osages observe, both in public and private meetings, that all good actions would be rewarded, and all bad actions punished by the Great Spirit."
"At first (says Mr. Hunter) one might be led to suppose that this belief was a modification of doctrines taught by some of the missionaries; but such is not the case." He goes on to state reasons to show that "these things are from Indian tradition previous to their having any knowledge of white people."