The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1854-08-30
The Indian Heaven.
Bancroft gives the following sketch o.
the Indian faith:

1.-THE Indian faith:
The same motive prompted them to bury
with the warrior his pipe, and his manitou;
his tomahawk, quiver and bow, ready ben,
Tor action. and his most splendid apparel;
to place by his side the bowl, his maize
end his venison. tor the long journey to
the country Of his ancestors. Festivals in
honor Of the dead were also frequent
when part of the food was given to the
flames. that so it might serve to nourish
the departed. The traveller would find in
the forest dead body placed on a scaffold
erected on piles, carefully wrapped in bark
If a mother lost her babe, she would cover
it with bark, and envelop it anxiously in
the softest beaver skins; at its burial place
she would put by its side its cradle. its
beads and its rattles; and as last service
of maternal love, would draw milk from
her bosom in cup Of bark, and burn it
in the fire, that her infant might still find
nourishment on its solitary journey to the
land OF shades. Yet the newborn babe
would be buried. not as usual. on a scaE
fold. but by the wayside. that so its spirit
might secretly steal into the bosom OF some
passing matren, and be born again under
happier auspices. On burying her daugh.
ter. the Chippewa mother adds, not snow
shoes and beads and moccasins only. but
sad emblem Of woman's lotin the wilder
nessl) the carrying belt and the paddle.
| know my daughter will be restored TO
me, she once said, as she clipped lock
Of hair as q memorial; by this lock Of hair
shall take it with me; alluding to the day
when she too, with her carrying belt and
paddle, aud the little relic of her child.
should pass through the grave to the dwell
ing place Of her ancestors.
The faith, as well as the sympa,hies OF
the savage. descended also to Inferior
things. OF each kind OF ANIMAL, they say
there exists one, the source and origin Of
all, Of vast eize. the type and original of
the whole class. From the immense IN
visible beaver come all the beavers. by
whatever run Of water they are found; the
same is true of the elk and buffalo. OF the
eagle and robbin, Of the meanest quad.
ruped Of the forest. Of the smallest insect
that buZzes in tho air. There lives for
each class OF animals. this invisible vast
type. or elder brother. Thus the savage
established his right to be classed by phi
losophers in the rank Of realists. and his
chief effort at generalization was rever.
ant exercise Of the religious sentiment.
Where these elder brothers dwell; they do
not exactly know; yet i, may be that the
giant minitnsr M.hich are brothers to beasts.
are hid beneath the waters, and that those
of the birds make their homes in the blue
sky. But the Indian believes, also, OF
each individual animal. that il possesses
the mysterious. the indestructible principle
of life; there is not breathing thing but
has its shade which can never perish
Regarding himself in comparison with 9th
or ANIMALS, but as the first among co-ordi-
nate existences, he respects the brute crea-
tion. and assigns to it, as to himself, per-
petuity of being. The ancients OF these
lands believed that the warrior. when re-
leased from lie, renews the passions and
activity of this world; is seated once more
among his friends; shares again the Joy.
Gus feast; walks through the shadowy for
ests. that are alive with the spirits Of birds;
and there, in his PARADISE:
By midnight moons, DER moistening dews,
In vestment of the chase arrayed,
The hunter still the deer pursues-
The hunter aud the deer a shade.