The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-03-05
INDIAN CUSTOMS
Sonae Of the Tribes Are worshiper6
of the Sum-

sed.e Of the Tribes Are worshipese
of the Sun.
A recent article written by Matt
Duhr contains a graphic description of
some Of the strange customs of certaiD
tribes Of Oklahoma indians. Mr. Gutsh
says:
| Yes, some Of our red men arN son
worshipers. . have seen many lowas
and Turvness address their prayers ans
lamentations to the glorious orb of das
The Iowas, who have dwindleu down o.
eighty-two persons. believe in spirits
| spiritual horses. dogs and birds. Billy
I Dole, an old Iowa Amerind. once 8,D
! me: 1 have eleven sQuawS and puponSeS
| UP there. | can see them and see Cots
Of my ponies grazing on the evergreen
| nr;lirics where whiW men can't burn
| the grass
when asked who made aa:e li-lit9ing
| and thunder the late khicf Tohee said
The big, very big thunder, God makes
it to scare or kill bad peop0. @'heW
he makes sheet or fOrked lightninga
then he wants to just scare bad people
or thief then he shoots them to death
with a ball Only one Iowa Am@inR
was ever killed by lightning All lowas
preserve the account OF th,@ terrible
event with great care. 1t is taught ana
retold to tie Iowa children with SELF
gious precision.
Long ago. when over 100000 Iowas
,,{, - "a
foremost medicine man sent word to
all the members of TIE tribe to come to-
his wigwa1u during the time when the
trees were green and partake Of a nine
days feast. Over $4,000 Iowas assem-
bled at the appointed place when the
flowers were blooTing- Their provisions
had been Used up. They were very
hungry. They were about starving.
Then the hcadmen asked the medicine
man when the promised feast would
come off. Then he laughed like a fool
and said: I just wanted to deceive, TO
fool you. l ave hardly Anything to eat
myself Just then the thu.der god sent
lightning bolt from the clear sky and
killed the greatest liar Of the Iowa nu-
ton.
Most of the Amerindian parents re-
frain from teaching their infants baby
talk. The papooses are taught to speak
correctly from their birth or shortly
after. White folks first teach their off
spring doodg dorge jargon and then
take great pains to unlearn what they
impressed, on their minds and tongues.
To nf hn A NV.
thologies have been condensed and
printed. The Amerinds have many as
sistant gods-the snow god. the rain
god, the tornado gods and host Of big
ger and lesser gods. Some Of our Okla
homa Amerinds firmly believe that
some of their noted ancestors dwell in
certain stars, and when they see so
called shooting misunderstanding ex-
claim that departed Amerind has de-
scended from above to visit his rela-
tives on earth.
"Some Of the ignoble red men mourn
with vigor for their dead and have
them entombed in fifty dollar shroud
collins. Some have mourners to sing.
chant or grunt the great deeds perform
ed by the deceased. The hired mourn
ers have to abstain from eating during
the mourning. They are tied securely
on their ponies so that when sleeping
they cannot fall from their horses.
Some Of these paid mourners for the
dead refrain from eating for four days
and nights.
1.-THE last noted mourner was Hired to
mourn for days and nights OH the
banks at the salty Cimarron. He was
paid four gallons Of whisky in advance
for his doleful services. He managed
to drink all his wages except one
mouthfu1 before the last five minutes
Of his solemn contract. He drank the
last drink at midnight of the fourth
day and expired in ten minutes."-Kan
sas City Journal.