The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-15
ODD INDIAN BELIEFS.
EVERY TRIBE Has ITS DEVIL PLAcEs
-, AND aHosTa

u |-H
witches and sDooks Play q Proni-
nent Fart In the Lives Of the saw
ases-The Gigantic snake which
Formed Niagara Falls.
Fifty miles to the southwest of Tucson,
A. T., is dreary region Of desert-a rug
ged butte Of roughly conical shape rises
abruptly. from the plain and points like
finger toward the sky. Here and there its
sides are pitted with cayerns, and alto.
/ gether Its appearance Is SO weird that 1t Is
no wonder the Papago Indians Of the re
gion regard it with superstitious awe 1t
is called Rattlesnake rock because the an.
cient Of all the rattlesnakes makes his
home inside Of 1t. This fact is known
positively, because he has been seen many
times. The butte is sacred place, and
nobody ventures near it under ordinary
circumstances, but candidates for aborig-
inal diplomas" as medicine men sleep
by 1t overnight after fasting for q long
time, and the big serpent comes out and
leads them into the rock, where In an i'm
mense hollow chamber all sorts Of potent
things, such as snakes skins, birds claws
ETC., are hung up. The uses of these for
magical and curative purposes he teaches
to the novice, who Is thereafter regarded
by his people as graduated in the arts Of
healing and sorcery
On tho field Of the fight Of Wounded
Knee there was picked up an Indian baby
not more than months old, a little girl
She was found strapped to the back Of her
dead mother, who was shot in the massa,
ere. General Colby adopted the child, to
whom the name Zintka Lanuni Lost
Bird) was given and reared her as his
daughter. Although the little girl neither
knows nor remembers any conditions
other than those Of civilization, she has
namely, a fear Of shadows She is greatly
afraid even Of her own shadow, and this
would seem very surprising were 1t not
known that Indians, like most other say.
ages regard shadow as the ghost Of the
person or other object by which it Is
thrown.
The rules Of conduct by which savage
must govern his life are vastly more COM
pick than those which control civilized
man. This is because Of the multitude
Of ghosts which surround him on every
side The civilized man considers that he
is doing what is required of him If he
does not disturb the comfort of his neigh
bors, but the Indian is obliged to behave
himself In satisfactory way in respect to
rocks, in respect to deer, in respect 10 the
san and moon, and so on ad infnitum.
He has an infinite number of neighbors,
all Of whom are none the less real to him
because they are phantoms to us. For ex-
ample certain line of conduct must be
fulfilled by him in respect to rabbits;
otherwise he would not be able to catch
any rabbits. The great ancient OF rabbits
permits some of his Representatives to be-
captured only on the condition that Ger
tain forms shall be carefully observed by
the captors.
Every tribe of Indians has it's ghost
places or devil places, which are haunted
localities. In the country of the Tulare
Indians in southern California is an
enormous granite bowldcr which Is be.
lieyed to be inhabited by witches 1t is
known as Witch rock, and nobody, least
of all children, ventures to approach it,
In the lower part Of it Is curious open.
ing, which has the shape of a cavern, and
here the witches are supposed to dwell
Not far distant is pool which is supposed
to be occupied by the devil. The waters
of the pool are dark, being stained with
some vegetable matter, and close by is
mineral spring, which lends additional
mystery. That the devil does actually
live in the pool is indisputable, because
practically every member of the tribe has
seen him. They go, number of them
together, and hold each others hands
while they watch for him, and they never
fail to see him in The water. He is always
there, watching for somebody to come
along to be gobbled up.
To the primeval savage, as to the In.
dian of today, everything had Its phantas-
NAL essence, so to speak, and the essence
was more important than the external
pI, critics of the object. From this point
of view thing has tangible SHE'LL but
within 1t is contained potency of spirit.
This latter is The ghost, which Is at liberty
to leave the object when it wishes. OF
course the savage has ghost of his own,
of which he is vaguely conscious
Among the most appalling spooks that
haunt the 1roquois is a carnivorous ghost
in the shape of skeleton. Particularly
maleyolent spirits are certain huge heads
without bodies that go flying about, their
iuiiSS hciNlIiB tHriD III lieu Oh WlllpB
The Indians generally believe in super.
natural beings corresponding to our fairies
ard goblins, which have local abiding
places well recognized as such. They call
them tho little people"
Formerly there dwclt under Niagara
falls gigantic snake which now and
then would make its way to an Indian vii.
lagc in the neighborhood and coil itself
around the town. 1t swallowed the people
who tried to escape and rendered itself
further obnoxious by poisoning tho wells
with its spittle. Finally the serpent was
destroyed by stratagem. 1t was SO huge
that when the people laid its body out in
death it stretched over more than 20 arrow.
flights. Indeed when thrown into the
river it was too large to pass the rocks, so
that 1t became wedged in between them,
and the waters rose over 1t, thus fashion.
ing the horseshoe, which remains to this
day
The Chcrokees are very much afraid Of
certain mythical horned alligators which
are supposed to reside in several different
places in deep holes in the rivers. There
is one locality In Oklahoma where crca.
ture of this description has an under
ground tunnel from one river to another.
In the southern Allegheny region on the
dividing ridge Is an enchanted lake that
is the haunt Of several monstrous animals
possessed of magic powers. One Of these
is a great snake, which has the power of
fascinating Its human victim, and it is so
poisonous that single drop of it's spittle
falling upon person Is death. Equally
formidable is an enormous leech which
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