Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03
QUEER INDIAN BELIEFS
Freaks Of Superstition Among Aboriginal
Peoples.
The Lost Inca Of Peru and HIS
Promised Return-ReligiOus
Revolt Of the PueblOs.

has collected some interesting facts about
certain freaks of superstition among various
aboriginal peoples in this continent 1t
seems strange to learn, for example, that
in Peru the natives have persistently re-
fused to believe that the last of the Incas Is
dead
For more than two centuries they cher
ished the tradition that he had only retired
to another kingdom beyond the mountains
from which he would return in his own
good time to sweep the Spanish oppressors
from the land.
In 1871 the slumbering hope found ex-
preston In a terrible Instruction under the
leadership of Condorcanqui, a descendant
of the ancient royal family, who boldly
proclaimed himself to be Tupac Amaru,
child of the sun and Inca of Peru. At the
head of an immense army he advanced to
the walls Of Cusco declaring his purpose to
blot out the very memory of the white
man and re-establish the Indian empire
Inspired by the hope of vengeance, even
boys became leaders of the people, and 1t
was only after bloody struggle of two
years duration that the Spaniards were
able to regain the mastery. So great was
the veneration of the people for the last
Of the children of the sun that they pros
ITaleU themselves III lHs 5ttCStS hc
passed along to the place of execution.
A superstitious idea was the cause OF
great revolt of the Pueblos In 1850, which
was the first determined effort made by the
natives of North America to throw off the
yoke of the foreign oppressor. The Pueblo
tribes along the Rio Grande and farther
to the west, a gentle and peaceful race had
at first welcomed the Spaniards as friends
who would protect them and teach them
wisdom. But the Spanish soldiers treated
them cruelty and the priests prohibited their
simple amusements. This went on till the
spirit of the people was ripe for rebellion
against the new tyranny.
Revolt In New Mexico.
At that time one Of their medicine men
named Pope had come back from a pilgrim
age to the far north. where he claimed to
have visited the magic lagoon of Shipapu,
whence his people traced their origin and
to which the souls of their dead were sup
posed to return after leaving this life. By
these ancestral spirits he had been endowed
with occult powers and was commanded to
go lack and arouse the Pucblos to con-
certed effort for deliverance from the yoke
of the strangers. Wonderful beings were
these spirit messengers. Swift as light and
impalpable as thought, they passed under
the earth from the magic lake to the secret
subterranean chamber of the prophet and
stood before him as shapes of fire. telling
him to prepare strings of yucca nuts and
send them with a message to all the villages
far ana near, SC that in every pueblo chiefs
might unite one knot from the string each
day and know when they came to the last
knot that then was the time to strike.
From the Pecos, across the Rio Grande,
to Zuni and the far-distant Hopi mesas,
every village accepted the yucca string and
began secret preparation for the rising. The
time chosen was the new moon OF August,
1850, but through a partial discovery OF the
plot the explosion was precipitated few
days earlier So sudden and complete was
he S,lrnriSa that rlv Standard in
the Pueblo country-priest, soldier and civil
ian-was killed, and the few survivors,
after holding out for time at Santa Fe,
fed to FL Paso. In October there remained
not single Spaniard in all New Mexico.
An Adroit Pretender.
In 1905 a prophet arose among the Shaw
rees. He was young man named Laule-
wasikaw. He announced himself as the
bearer Of a new revelation from the Master
of Life. He declared that he had been
taken up to the spirit world and had been
permitted to lift the veil of the past and
the future. He preached that every tool
and custom belonging to the whites must
be put away. His words aroused intense
excitement and tidings of the new gospel
were carried from camp to camp. The
prophet declared against the practice of
witchcraft, and incidentally he took ad-
vantage of the movement to get rid of peo-
pie who ventured to oppose his sacred
claims. 1t was only necessary for him to
denounce an individual a witch to have
him pay the forfeit of his life. Several
person ms were thus destroyed, one old woman
being roasted slowly over q fire for four
days. Doubts as to his sanctity arose and
he was beginning to lose his influence, when
an event occurred which silenced opposi-
ton and stamped him as one inspired.
BY some means he had learned that an
eclipse Of the sun was to take place In the
summer of 1906. AS the time drew near he
called about him the scoffers and boldly
announced that on a certain day he would
prove to them his supernatural authority
by causing the sun TO become dark When
the day and hour arrived and the earth at
noon was enveloped In the gloom OF twi-
light the prophet, standing in the midst Of
the terrified Indians, pointed to the sky and
cried: did 1 not speak TRUTH See, the
sun Is darkw There were no more doubt
ers. His fame spread abroad and apostles
began to carry his revelations to the re-
hottest tribes.
In 1875 a great excitement was caused
among the Piute Indians Of southwest Utah
by report that two mysterious beings with
white skins had appeared and announced
a speedy resurrection Of all dead Indians,
the restoration of the game, and the eturn
of the old time primitive life. 1t Is said that
the MormonS, who hold the theory that the
Indians are descendants Of the lost tribes
of Israel, cherish as a part of their faith
the tradition that some Of the missing
Hebrew emiyrants are still ice-bound In the
frozen north. whence they are destined
some day to emerge. When the news Of
this Indian revelation came to their ears
the Mormon priests accepted 1t as a pro-
phecy OF the speedy fulhllment Of their own
religious expectations, and one of their
leders, y son Pratt, preached a sermon
urging the faithful 20 arrange their affairs
and put their houses in order to receive the
long-awaited wanderers.
An OppOrtune Rain.
In 1887 Sword Bearer, a Crow medicine
man In Montana, claimed and was believed
to be invulnerable. On September so of the
year mentioned he headed a demonstration
against the local agency, and troops were
called on to arrest him and others con-
cerned The skirmish that followed was
rendered interesting by certain very pic
turesqua features. When the soldiers ar
rived they found the Crow warriors await
ing them on HILL mounted on their war
ponies and in full paint and buckskin. The
troops halted for parley just as mass Of
black thunder clouds gathering on the ho-
rizon threatened one of those cloudbursts
of extreme severity and suddenness so
characteristics Of the plains country.
While efforts were being made to arrange
the parley, horseElan started out of the
Crow ranks and galloped headlong down
toward the troops. 1t was the medicine
chief Sword Bearer. He was painted and
in his battle dress, wearing his war bonnet
of floating eagle feathers and with the
plumes of the same bird braided in the
nd tail nf IN