The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1900-01-05

OF those whose home was on the East
ern continent are found. They have
an idea of Great Being, a Ruler and
Creator of this world; also of good
spiritual beings, lower than this Su-
preme Being, but far above man: re-
mlnding us of the good angels; like
wise of spiritual. maligant beings with
their chief, reminding us of the devil
and his angels. Then they in general
believe that man is immortal, that the
world and man were created by the
Supreme Being, that he and angels
guard mankind; that man ought to
pray to him and to offer sacrifices at
times ank fast, and some had cere-
monies similar to infant baptism, cir
cumcision, dancing as religious rite
and publication from uncleanliness.
They also believed in a future place of
rewards and punishments aud that The
world would come to an end. They
had superstitious fear of serpents.
Traditions of deluge were very com
mon, and some some had others about
the dispersion of the human race, and
those which remind us OF the incest of
Lot. Also the belief was quite COM
mon that long ago Great Good Being
came from above to teach men better
ways-an incarnation.
The tribes of Puget Sound held
many of these ideas. Their idea of a
Supreme Being was somewhat dim
though they claim to have had one,
but that of good and bad spirits, call
Ell here their tamahnous, was univer-
sal, and influenced every person. They
tasted and prayed, offered sacrifices,
danced as religious rite. purified
themselves at times and believed in
place of future reward and punish
ment. Nearly or quite every tribe on
the Sound had a tradition of the de-
luge and also their Ararat. They had
too, a tradition Of great, wonderful
being, called by the Skokomish and
Nisqually Indians Do-kur-batt, and by
the Clallams Nu-ki-matt, who came
long ago, punished wicked and foolish
persons by changing them into ami
mails, and taught the better ones how
to fish and other useful arts. He
went northward, where the indians Of
British Columb bia have a similar tradi-
ton, only they have different name
for him.
These beliefs must have come in
one OF three different ways; either by
development, tradition or they were
inborn. Some claim that religion was
developed, because man felt the need
of it. 1t is little difficult to prove
that this was not the case in regard to
the Supreme Being, and his angels, a
providence. the Immortality of the
soul and future state of happiness.
But facts are decidedly against the
idea that the Indian believed either in
devil, hell or deluge to punish the
wicked, in prayer Or in sacrifice simply
because be wanted to do so.
While also it is difficult to prove
that come of these ideas were not born
in the Indian, that is, those about a
Supreme Being and Immortality, be-
cause all or about all nations of the
earth believe so, yet occasionally tribes
are found who do not believe in hell
or devil or sacrifices or an incarnation
or circumcision or publication. Hehce
the weight of evidence is against these
two theories. The only one that re-
mains is that these ideas came to the
Indians by tradition that is, from
those who had received them by revel-
alton. This being so, the ancestors OF
these Indians must. have come from
country where these truths were re-
vealed, and all evidence goes to prove
that this was so done on the Eastern
continent.
Thus to sum it all up, the weight of
evidence is that the origin OF Puget
Sound Indians, in common with that
of the other American Indians, was
on the Eastern continent and that
they came here mainly by way of
Behring Straits, but possibly also by
way of Greenland, and by drifting
across the Pacific ocean.