Evening star., 1934-10-04
!: s. & s.: |; E. 1T n! IN T. 4
INDIANS USE NET
TOHALT GHOSTS
Primitive Cree Tribe in
Canada Studied by
Dr.. John Cooper.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Curious customs of the primitive
Cree Indians who dwell on the eastern
shore of James Bay in Northern Can
ada are reported by Rev. DR.. John M.
Cooper, professor Of anthropology at
the Catholic University of America,
who has just returned from Summer
OF chronological work among these
people.
DR.. Cooper gave special attention to
the attitudes toward death, since be-
lief In the return of spirits is almost
universal among them. Once a per-
son dies, he found, a net is imme-
diately placed around his tent in order
that his departed soul cannot return.
The corpse always is taken out OF the
back door and sometimes a net is
stretched completely around the little
cemetery where the body is buried.
There is no particular desire to be
inhospitable to the ghosts" DR..
Cooper explains, but only wish to
discourage the soul from lingering
about its own haunts when it might
be making progress on its long journey
to the happy land of the hereafter IN
the North where the departed souls
can be seen dancing whenever the
Northern lights shine.
Two Souls in Human.
These natives, Father Cooper found,
believe every human being has two
souls one dwelling either in the heart
or the head and the other outside but
near the body With death both go
together to the celestial country 1t
Is terrible misfortune when the head
soul decides to go wandering. Then
the person becomes insane. Appar-
emily. however, the soul of the mad
man remains within convenient dis
tance and is reunited with the bush
soul at the instant of death.
Father Cooper's task was rendered
difficult by the necessity Of separating
the truly aboriginal ideas of the In
dians from those which they have OBJ
tanned from Christian missionaries.
Thus, he says, apparently there was
no aboriginal idea of hell or of a
spirit corresponding to Satan. Many
of the Indians would relate such be-
liefs but questioning usually brought
out some Christian influence.
Quite remarkable was the treatment
accorded animals. Like primitive
peoples in general, these Crees seemed
to be very kind to wild creatures in
general. Hunting is considered strictly
q means Of getting something to eat,
not as a sport, and the creatures must
be killed as painlessly as possible.
Otherwise other animals of the same
race would be angry and leave the
country. The same idea applies to
the tanning of animals. Although
reindeer are being introduced, the In
dians persistently refuse to make any
effort to tame the caribou, practically
an identical creature. The caribou
race, they consider, would be angered
at such a lack of respect and depart
for other pastures.
The little beaver dog, the tradi-
tional dog of the American Indian, is
kept about the homes and treated
with all the tenderness of a human
baby. The dog is eSs ssltially a men,
Der of the family. In recent years
large dogs, such as Newfoundlands
and the Eskimo dogs, have been in
troduced. These, DR.. Cooper says, are
treated with disrespect and often with
extreme cruelty. They are beaten
and half-starved. The explanation
given him was that these dogs didn't
belong" They were foreigners and
as such had no rights in the COM
munity.
Absence of Scourges.
DR.. Cooper also gave considerable
attention to the health of the people,
still living very close to the ways of
their ancestors. He found an almost
complete absence of the scourges of
civilized ommunities-cancer. heart
diseases and chronic kidney diseases.
: Whether this Is due to some factor
in the way of life of the natives is
unknown, There is, however, some
tuberculosis and very high rate of
infant mortality, due to the primitive
methods
The natives have, he found, very
large materia medica, consisting
largely of local herbs, which they
insist are more effective than the
medicines they get from white doc
tors. He has brought back to Wash
ington a large collection of these
plants for study by Catholic Univer-
sity botanists. This system of rnedi-
cine is remarkable, he says, in that
there are very few instances where
any magical potency is ascribed to
the plants. They are valued entirely
for their natural properties. The
Indians have some understanding of
infection and quite efficient anti
septics.
DR.. Cooper also brought back to
Washington a number of decorated
bear skulls. The skull Of the first
bear killed in a season is elaborately
decorated and set up outside the
door. The head of the first goose
killed In the season is decorated
al "a hoy talry