Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-03
Myths Of the Iroquois.

The United States Bureau of Eth.
nology has recently issued from Wash.
ington a volume called ''Myths d the
Iroquoisg" 1t is part of the BUREAUS
second annual report. The book Is the
work of Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith the
Indianologist, who is an attache Of the
bureau. Mrs. Smith Is a resident Of
Jersey City. If the origin and history
of the American aborigines is ever to
be known at all, it must be donh by
gathering up their ancient folklore
and traditions. These are now fast
fading. Contact with the whitej race
for centuries has already ~wel4nigh
rubbed out whatever was essentially
aboriginal among them. This il now
here more clearly seen than in thd book
Mrs. Smith has prepared. Shi has
been devoting herself to Indian Studies
for a number of years. learning mcan-
time the language of the Sioux Nations.
She went among the Indiass, spent
months with them, and gathered with
p~ains-taking care the materia for this
publication. 1t was her PIN to go to
one and another chief AMI med cine
man and start him talking interview.
ing him in the newspape: way. She
listened and noted down. Thus n
by one, their Indian supertitions, their
ancient mythology, and the IT.
radicable belief in witshes that lay
underneath their Christian theology
were unfolded to her. The result is
unexpected in some ways. In the
oldest 1roquois mythology she found
no trace of a belief in Heaven, OF in a
separate spiritual word. The ancient
I1oquois were pagan of the pagans.
Neither does she find ia their language
or mythology the shallow Of a faith in
II controlling deity. The ''happy
hunting grounds" and the Great Spirit
of Good that constitute the present In
dian theology were shaped and mould
ed in the red mans mind through the
influence of the white mans religion.
So far from believing in nj Great
Spirit the primitive Iroquois had many
gods-no end of them, in fact. The
author found that their most ancient
gods were their remote ancestors. The
powers of nature were divinities, tho
thunder, the wind and whatever was
mysterious or terrible. Most. if not
all, pagan nations had a thunder god,
like Thor and Jove. The lroquois had
theirs, too. Hun by name. benefi-
cent being. The "Great Heads" were
among their popular beliefs. beings
who seem to have been mostly heads
hair and eyes. Among their good
spirits were a trio, three sisters, who
were the goddesses of corn, souashes
and beans. In witches and witchcra t
their faith was simply bottomless, rs il
is to-day, for the matter OF that. We
find Mrs. Smiths ''good Indians to
be the devoutest of Christians, vet when
it comes to a pinch they are, after all,
not unlike Mark Twain's converted
Sandwich Islanders. 1t has been said
that American history is lacking in the
element of romance, of poetry and ira
dition. Not so. The researches made
! by this writer uncover a mine as rich in
quaint imaginative lore as anythingthe
scandinavian mythology offers. Here
are poetry, romance, tradition and
myth. Here is material for musical
expression, too. That so little is known
of it is because the overcoming white
man has so nearly etlaced it. Where
is the A~merican::Wagner who can write
the opera Of Indian mythology.--M y
IaabH-