Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-10-19
INDIAN CUSTOMS.
SouS Of the Tribes Are sun Ros.
slippers,

Son0 81 the Tribes Are Sun VEoP4
slippers.
A Fscent article written by Matt
DuhR contains a graphic description Of
some II the strange customs of certain
tribes Of Oklahoma Indians. Mr.. Duhr
sayst
Yes, some of our redmen are sun
wOrshipers. have seen many Iowas
and Tarvness address their prayers and
lamentations to the glorious orb of day.
The Iowas, who have dwindled down to
eighU-two persons, believe in spirits,
spiritual horses, dogs and birds. Billy
Dole, an old Iowa Amerind. once told
me: I hav' eleven squaws and
papooses up then l can see them, and
see lots of my ponies grazing on the
ever green prairies where white men
can't burn the grass
when asked who made the light
ming and thunder, the late Chief Tohee
said: The big, very big thunder, God
makes it to scare or kill bad people.
When He makes sheet or forked light
ming then He wants to just scare bad
people, but when he wants to kill a
great liar or thief then He shoots them
to death with ball. Only one Iowa
'Amerind' was ever killed by lightning.
All Iowas' preserve the account of that
terrible event with great care. 1t Is
taught and retold to the Iowa chill.
dren with religious precision.
Long ago, when over 100000 Iowas
lived in the State of Iowa, certain
foremost medicine man sent word to
all the members of the tribe to come
to his wigwam during the time when
the trees were green and partake of a
nine days feast Over $4,000 Iowas
assembled at the appointed place when
the flowers were blooming. Their pro-
visions had been used up. They were
very hungry; they were about starving.
Then the headmen asked the medicine
man when the promised feast would
come off. Then he laughed like a fool
and said: 4 just wanted to deceive
you, to fool you. l have hardly 0ny-
thing to eat myself ust then the
thunder god sent lightning bolt from
the clear sky and killed the greatest
/ liar of the Iowa nation.
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 a doodge dorg jargon, and then
take great pains to unlearn what they
/ impressed on their minds and tongues
Hardly any of the Amerindian my
thologies have been condensed and
printed. The Amerinds have many as.
sistant gods; the snow god, the rain
god, the tornado gods and a host OF
bigger and lesser gods. Some of our
Oklahoma Amerlnds firmly believe that
some of their noted ancestors dwell in
certain stars, and when they see 80
called shooting misunderstanding ex
claim that departed Amerind has de
scended from above to visit his rela
lives on earth,
"Some Of the ignoble red men mourn
with vigor for their dead and hav,
them entOmbed in $50 shroud collins
some nave mourners to sing, chant Oh
grunt the great deeds performed by thu
deceased. The hired mourners have tt
abstain from eating curing the mourn
ing. They are tied securely on theil
ponies, so that when sleeping they can
not fall from their horses. Some OF
these paid mOurners for the dead re
frain from eating for four days anC
nights.
"The last noted mourner was hire(
to mourn four days and nights on tn,
banks Of the sandy Cimarron. He wal
paid four gallons of whisky in advanc,
for his doleful services. He manageC
to drink all his wages, except on,
mouthful, before the last five minutes
Of his solemn contract. He drank tn,
last drink at midnight of the fourtl
day and expired in ten minutes."-
Kansas City Journal.