FUTURE OF THE COLUMBIAN TRIBES.
Dall, in speaking of the Tinnehs, to which family the Tacullies and Kenai belong, states that he found few who believed in the immortality of the soul, and none in future reward and punishment; any contrary assertion he characterizes as proceeding from ignorance or exaggeration. Other authors, however, in treating of tribes situated both in the extreme north, and in the center of this family, as the Loucheux and Chepewyans, declare that good and wicked were treated according to their deserts, the poor and rich often changing lots in the other life. Terrible punishment was sometimes inflicted upon the wicked in this world; thus, in Stickeen River stand several stone pillars, which are said to be the remains of an evil-doing chief and his family, whom divine anger placed there as a warning to others. According to Kennicott, the soul, whether good or bad, was received by Chutsain, the spirit of death, who was, for this reason probably, called the bad spirit.[XII-16]The Eskimos seem to have believed in a future state, for Richardson relates that a dying man whom he saw at Cumberland Inlet declared his joy at the prospect of meeting his children in the other world and there living in bliss. It is also a suggestive fact that implements and clothes were buried with the body, care being taken that nothing should press heavily upon it. The large destruction of property practiced by some Rocky Mountain tribes was for the purpose of obliterating the memory of the deceased.[XII-17]The Aleuts believed that the spirits of their relatives attended them as good genii, and invoked them on all trying occasions, especially in cases ofvendetta.[XII-18]The Chepewyan story relates that the soul arrives afterdeath at a river upon which floats a stone canoe. In this it embarks and is borne by the gentle current to an extensive lake in the midst of which is an enchanted island. While the soul is drifting toward it, the actions of its life are examined, and if the good predominate, the canoe lands it on the shore, where the senses revel in never-ending pleasures. But if the evil of its past life out-weigh the good, the stone canoe sinks, leaving the spirit-occupant immersed up to the chin, there eternally to float and struggle, ever beholding but never realizing the happiness of the good.[XII-19]This pronounced belief in a future reward and punishment obtained among several of the Columbian tribes. The natives of Millbank Sound picture it as two rivers guarded by huge gates, and flowing out of a dark lake—the gloom of death. The good enter the stream to the right, which sparkles in constant sunshine, and supplies them with an abundance of salmon and berries; the wicked pass in to the left and suffer cold and starvation on its bleak, snow-clad banks.[XII-20]The Okanagans call paradise, or the abode of the good spirit,elemehumkillanwaist, and hell, where those who kill and steal go,kishtsamah. The torments of the latter place are increased by an evil spirit in human form, but with tail and ears like a horse, who jumps about from tree to tree with a stick in his hand and belabors the condemned.[XII-21]
Some among the Salish and Chinooks describe the happy state as a bright land, calledtamathby the latter, evidently situated in the direction of the sunny south, and abounding in all good things. Here the soul can revel in enjoyments, which, however, depend on its own exertions; the wealthy, therefore, take slaves with them to perform the menial duties. The wicked on the other hand are consigned to a desolate region under the control of an evil spirit, known as the Black Chief, there to be constantly tantalized by the sight of game, waterand fire, which they can never reach. Some held that tamath was gained by a difficult road calledotuihuti, which lay along the Milky Way, while others believed that a canoe took the soul across the water that was supposed to separate it from the land of the living.[XII-22]
The Nez Percés, Flatheads, and some of the Haidah tribes believed that the wicked, after expiating their crimes by a longer or shorter sojourn in the land of desolation, were admitted to the abode of bliss. The Haidahs called the latter placekeewuck, 'above,' within which seems to have been a still brighter spot termedkeewuckkow, 'life above,' the abode of perennial youth, whither the spirit of the fallen brave took its flight. Those who died a natural death were consigned with the wicked toseewukkow, the purgatorial department, situated in the forest, there to be purified before entering the happy keewuck.[XII-23]The Queen Charlotte Islanders termed paradise 'the happy hunting-ground,' a rather strange idea when we consider that their almost sole avocation was fishing.[XII-24]The Nez Percés believed also in a purgatory for the living, and that the beavers were men condemned to atone their sins before they could resume the human form.[XII-25]It seems to have been undecided whether the wives and young children shared the fate of the head of the family; the Flatheads expressed a belief in reunion, but that may have been after one or all had been purified in the intermediate state. Those who sacrificed slaves on the grave, sent them alike with the master that died gloriously on the battle-field, or obscurely in his bed.
QUAWTEAHT AND CHAYHER.
The Ahts hold that the soul inhabits at once the heart and the head of man. Some say that after death it willreturn to the animal form from which its owner can trace his descent; others that, according to rank, disembodied souls will go to live with Quawteaht or with Chayher. Quawteaht inhabits a beautiful country somewhere up in the heavens, though not directly over the earth; a goodly land flowing with all manner of Indian milk and honey; no storms there, no snow nor frost to bind the rivers, but only warmth and sunshine and abundant game and fish. Here the chiefs live in the very mansion of Quawteaht, and the slain in battle live in a neighboring lodge, enjoying also in their degree, all the amenities of the place. And these are the only doors to this Valhalla of the Ahts; only lofty birth or a glorious death in battle can confer the right of entry here. The souls of those that die a woman's death, in their bed, go down to the land of Chayher. Chayher is a figure of flesh without bones—thus reversing our pictorial idea of the grisly king of terrors—who is in the form of an old gray-bearded man. He wanders about in the night stealing men's souls, when, unless the doctors can recover the soul, the man dies. The country of Chayher is also called chayher. It resembles a subterranean earth but is every way an inferior country: there are no salmon there and the deer are wretchedly small, while the blankets are so thin and narrow as to be almost useless for either warmth or decoration. This is why people burn blankets when burying their friends; they cannot bear that their friend be sent shivering to the world below. The dead Aht seems to have been allowed in some cases to roam about on earth in the form of a person or animal, doing both good and evil, a belief which induced many to make conciliatory offerings of food to the deceased. Some Chinook tribes were afraid to pronounce the names of their dead lest they should be attracted and carry off souls. This was especially feared at the sick-bed, and the medicine-man had to be constantly on guard with his familiars to frustrate such attempts.[XII-26]The Aht sorcerer even sent hisown soul down to chayher to recover the truant, in which he generally succeeded, unless the spirit of the sick man had entered a house.[XII-27]Some among the tribes believed that the soul issued from animals, especially sea-gulls and partridges, and would return to its original form. The Songhies said the hunter was transformed into a deer, the fisherman into a fish; and the Nootkas, that the spirit could reassume a human form if the celestial abode were not to its taste.[XII-28]
FUTURE OF THE CALIFORNIANS.
In striking contrast to the preceding beliefs in futurity, and to that of the Clallams, who with universalistic feeling believe that the good spirit will receive all, without exception, in his happy hunting-ground, we are told that the Pend d'Oreilles had no conceptions whatever of soul or immortality, so that the missionaries found it difficult to explain these matters to them. It is certainly strange that a tribe surrounded by and in constant contact with others who held these ideas should have remained uninfluenced by them, especially as they were extremely superstitious and believed in guardian spirits and dreams.[XII-29]Disbelief in a future state is assigned to many tribes, which upon closer examination are shown to possess ideas of a life after this; such statements must, therefore, be accepted with caution. Among the Californians who are said to identify death with annihilation, are the Meewocs and the tribes of the Sacramento Valley, yet the latter are afraid to pronounce the name of a deceased person, lest he should rise from dark oblivion.[XII-30]But these may be regarded as exceptions, the remainder had pretty definite ideas of futurity, heaven being generally placed in the west, whither the glorious sun speeds to rest. TheNorthern Californian regarded it as a great camping-ground, under the charge of the good spirit, where all meet after death, to enjoy a life free from want. But there were dangers upon the road which led to this bliss; for Omahá, the evil spirit, hovered near the dying man, ready to snatch and carry off the soul as soon as it should leave its earthly tenement. To prevent such a calamity, the friends who attended the burning of the body shouted and gesticulated to distract the Evil One's attention and enable the heart, in which the soul resided, to leap out of the flames and escape to heaven. If the body was interred, they thought the devil would have more chance of capturing the heart, which would then be sent back to earth to annoy the living.[XII-31]The natives near the mouth of Russian River burned their dead to prevent their becoming grizzlies, while those about Clear Lake supposed that the wicked alone were thus metamorphosed, or condemned to wander as spirits.[XII-32]Others, however, who adhered to interment, sought to complete the ceremony before night, when the coyote, in which form the evil spirit probably appeared, begins to howl, and for three days they kept up noisy demonstrations and fires at the graves; after that the fate of the soul was no longer doubtful. If captured, the good spirit could redeem it with a big knife. It was the belief in some parts that the deceased remained in the grave during the three days, and then proceeded to heaven, where earth and sky meet, to become stars, chiefs assuming the most brilliant forms.[XII-33]
The bright rivers, sunny slopes, and green forests of the Euroc paradise are separated from the earth by a deep chasm, which good and wicked alike must cross on a thin, slippery pole. The former soon reach the goal, aided, doubtless, by the good spirit, as well as by the fire lighted on the grave by mourning friends, but the wicked man has to falter unaided along the shivering bridge;and many are the nights that pass before his friends venture to dispense with the beacon, lest the soul miss the path, and fall into the dark abyss. Nor does retribution end with the peril and anxiety of the passage, for many are liable to return to the earth as birds, beasts, and insects. When a Kailta dies, a little bird carries the soul to spirit-land, but its flight is impeded by the sins of the wicked, which enables a watching hawk to overtake and devour the soul.[XII-34]
The Cahrocs have a more distinct conception of future reward and punishment, and suppose that the spirit on its journey comes to two roads, one strewn with flowers and leading to the bright western land beyond the great waters, across which good Chareya doubtless aids it; the other, bristling with thorns and briars, leading to a place full of deadly serpents, where the wicked must wander for ever.[XII-35]The Tolewahs place heaven behind the sun, wherever that is, and picture hell as a dark place where souls shiver for ever before the cold winds, and are harassed by fiends.[XII-36]The Modocs believe in a spirit-land, evidently situated in the air above the earthly home, where souls hover about inciting the living to good or evil. Merit appears to be measured by bodily stature, for contemptible woman becomes so small here that the warrior, whose stature is in proportion to his powers, requires quite a number of females to supply his wants.[XII-37]
The Ukiahs, Sanéls, and others sprinkle food about the favorite haunts of the dead. The mother, for instance, while chanting her mournful ditty over the grave of her dead babe sprinkles the nourishing milk in the air.[XII-38]
Many of the Nevada tribes thought that several heavens await the soul, each with a degree of bliss in proportion to the merits of the dead person; but this belief was not well defined; nor was that of the Snakes, who killedthe favorite horse, and even wife, for the deceased, that he might not be lonely.[XII-39]The Allequas supposed that before the soul could enter the ever-green prairies to live its second life, free from want and sorrow, it had expiated its sins in the form of some animal, weak, or strong, bad or good, often passing from a lower to a higher grade, according to the earthly conduct of the deceased. By eating prairie-dogs and other game, some sought to gather souls, apparently with a view to increase the purity of their own and shorten the preparatory term.[XII-40]The San Diego tribes, on the other hand, who considered large game as the embodied spirits of certain generations, abstained from their flesh, evidently fearing that such fare would hasten their metamorphosis; but old men, whose term of life was nearly run, were not deterred by these fears.
METEMPSYCHOSIS IN CALIFORNIA.
Ideas of metempsychosis also appear in one of the songs of a Southern Californian tribe, which runs: As the moon dies to be reborn, so the soul of man will be renewed. Yet this people professed no belief in a future reward, or punishment. It is doubtless the same people, living near Monterey, of whom Marmier says, they supposed that the dead retired to certain verdant isles in the sea, while awaiting the birth of the infants whose souls they were to form. Others regarded these islands as paradise, and placed hell in a mountain chasm.[XII-41]
Among the Acagchemems we meet with a peculiar pantheistic notion. Death was regarded as an invisible entity constituting the air, which also formed the soul of man, or his breath, whose particular seat was the heart. As man became decrepit, his soul was gradually absorbed in the element which had originated it, until it finally became merged and lost therein. But this was the belief of some only among the tribe. Others supposedthat they would go totolmec, the abode of the great Chinigchinich, situated below the earth, abounding in sensual pleasures, unembittered by sorrow, and where food and other wants were supplied without labor. Still others held that Chinigchinich sent the soul, or the heart, as they expressed it, to different places, according to the station in life and manner of death of the deceased. Thus, chiefs and medicine-men, whom Tacu, the eater of human flesh, honored by devouring, became heavenly bodies, while those who died by drowning, or in captivity, and could not be eaten by Tacu, went elsewhere. Souls of common people were consigned to some undefined, though evidently happy, place, since they were obliged to pass a probationary term on the borders of the sea, on mountains, in valleys, or forests, whence they came to commune with, or among, their widows or relatives, who often burned or razed the house to be saved from such visits.[XII-42]
The Mojaves have more liberal ideas and admit all to share the joys of heaven. With the smoke curling upwards from the pyre, the soul rises and floats eastward to the regions of the rising sun, whither Matevil has gone before, and where a second earth-life awaits it, free from want and sorrow. But if its purity be sullied by crime, or stained with human blood, the soul is transformed into a rat and must remain for four days in a rat-hole to be purified before Matevil can receive it. According to some, Matevil dwells in a certain lofty mountain lying in the Mojave territory.[XII-43]
FUTURE OF MARICOPAS, YUMAS, APACHES, MOQUIS.
The Pimas also believe that the soul[XII-44]goes to the east, to the sun-house perhaps, there to live with Sehuiab,the son of the creator, but this Elysium is not perfect, for a devil called Chiawat is admitted there, and he greatly plagues the inmates.[XII-45]The Maricopas are stated in one account to believe in a future state exactly similar to the life on earth, with all its social distinctions and wants, so that in order to enable the soul to assume its proper position among the spirits, all the property of the deceased, as well as a great part of that of his relatives, is offered up at the grave. But according to Bartlett they think the dead will return to their ancient home on the banks of the Colorado, and live on the sand hills. Here the different parts of the body will be transformed into animals, the head, for instance, becoming an owl, the hands, bats, the feet, wolves, and in these forms continue their ancient feuds with the Yumas, who expelled them from that country.[XII-46]The Yumas, however, do not conform to these views, but expect that the good soul will leave worldly strife for a pleasant valley hidden in one of the cañons of the Colorado, and that the wicked will be shut up in a dark cavern to be tantalized by the view of the bliss beyond their reach.[XII-47]
The Apaches believe in metempsychosis and consider the rattlesnake as the form to be assumed by the wicked after death. The owl, the eagle, and perfectly white birds, were regarded as possessing souls of divine origin, and the bear was not less sacred in their estimation, for the very daughter of Montezuma, whom it had carried off from her father's home, was the mother of its race.[XII-48]The Moquis, went so far as to suppose that they would return to the primeval condition of animals, plants, and inanimate objects.[XII-49]The faith of the other Pueblo tribes in New Mexico was more in accordance with their cultured condition, namely, that the soul would be judgedimmediately after death according to its deeds. Food was placed with the dead, and stones were thrown upon the body to drive out the evil spirit. On a certain night, in August it seems, the soul haunted the hills near its former home to receive the tributes of food and drink which affectionate friends hastened to offer. Scoffers connected the disappearance of the choice viands with the rotund form of the priests.[XII-50]
The Navajos expected to return to their place whence they originated, below the earth, where all kinds of fruits and cereals, germinated from the seeds lost above, grow in unrivaled luxuriance. Released from their earthly bonds the spirits proceed to an extensive marsh in which many a soul is bemired through relying too much on its own efforts, and failing to ask the aid of the great spirit; or, perhaps the outfit of live stock and implements offered at the grave has been inadequate to the journey. After wandering about for four days the more fortunate souls come to a ladder conducting to the under world; this they descend and are gladdened by the sight of two great spirits, male and female, who sit combing their hair. After looking on for a few suns imbibing lessons of cleanliness, perhaps, they climb up to the swamp again to be purified, and then return to the abode of the spirits to live in peace and plenty for ever. Some believe that the bad become coyotes, and that women turn into fishes, and then into other forms.[XII-51]
Among the Comanches we find the orthodox American paradise, in its full glory. In the direction of the setting sun lie the happy prairies, where the buffalo lead the hunter in the glorious chase, and where the horse of the pale-face aids those who have excelled in scalping and horse-stealing, to attain supreme felicity. At night they are permitted to revisit the earth, but must returnbefore the break of day.[XII-52]In striking contrast to this idea stands the curious belief said to have been held by the Pericúis of Lower California. Their great spirit Niparaya hated war, and to deter his people from engaging therein, consigned all those slain in battle to Tuparan or Wac, a spirit who rising in rebellion against the peace-loving Niparaya was deprived of all luxuries, and imprisoned in a cave by the sea, guarded by whales. Yet a number openly professed themselves adherents of this personage. The Cochimís, who appear to have had nearly the same belief, declare that it was the bad spirits who sought to secure the soul and hold it captive in the cave. Whatever may be the correct version, their belief in a future state, says Baegert, is evident from the custom of putting sandals on the feet of the dead.[XII-53]
THE REALM OF MUCCHITA.
The souls of the Sonora Indians dwell in the caves and among the rocks of the cliffs, and the echoes heard there are their clamoring voices.[XII-54]Ribas declares that in one part of Sinaloa a future state was ignored, yet he says that they acknowledged a supreme mother and her son, who was the first man.[XII-55]In Nayarit we come upon the Mexican idea of different heavens, determined by the mode of death. Thus, children and those who were carried off by disease went to one place; those who died a violent death, to the air regions, where they became shooting stars. The others went tomucchita, placed somewhere in the district of Rosario, where they lived under the care of men with shaven heads. During the day they were allowed to consort with the living, in the form of flies, to seek food; but at night they returned to the mucchita to assume the human formand pass the time in dancing. At one time they could be released from this abode, but owing to the imprudence of one man, this privilege was lost. This person one day made a trip to the coast to procure salt, leaving his wife to take care of the house. After a short absence he returned, in time only to see her disappear in the mucchita, whither the spirits had beckoned her. His sorrow was boundless, for he loved his wife dearly. At last his tears and sighs touched the heart of the keeper of the souls, who told him to watch for his wife one night when she appeared in the dance, and wound her with an arrow: she would then recognize him and return home; but he warned him not to speak a loud word, or she would disappear forever. The man did as he was told, wounded his wife on the leg, and had the joy to see her return home. Musicians and singers were called in, and a grand feast was held to celebrate the event; but, overcome with excitement, the husband gave vent to a shout of joy. The next moment the warning of the keeper was verified—a ghastly corpse had taken the place of the wife. Since then no other soul has been allowed to rejoin the living.[XII-56]It is curious to note in how many countries the doctrine of a future life has been connected with the legend of some hero who has died, descended into the under-world, and again risen to life. How closely does this American legend resemble the old story of Orpheus and Eurydice; the death and resurrection of the Egyptian Osiris; the Mithraic Mysteries of Persia, in which the initiated, in dumb show, died and rose again from the coffin; the Indian Mahadeva searching for the lifeless Sita, and made glad by his resuscitation; the recovery of Atys by Cybele among the Phrygians; the return of Kore to Demeter for half of every year in the Elusinian Mysteries; the mock murder and new birth of the impersonated Zagreus, in the Bacchic Mysteries; the Metamorphoses in the Celtic and Druidic Mysteriespracticed in Gaul and Britain; all are different forms of but one idea.
EICUT AND YOÁTOTOWEE.
An equally devoted husband was the Neeshenam whose story is told by Mr Powers in the following legend:—"First of all things existed the moon. The moon created man, some say in the form of a stone, others say in the form of a simple, straight, hairless, limbless mass of flesh, like an enormous earth-worm, from which he gradually developed into his present shape. The first man thus created was called Eicut; his wife, Yoátotowee. In process of time Yoátotowee fell sick, and though Eicut nursed her tenderly, she gradually faded away before his eyes and died. He loved her with a love passing the love of brothers, and now his heart was broken with grief. He dug a grave for her close beside his camp-fire (for the Neeshenams did not burn the dead then), that he might daily and hourly weep above her silent dust. His grief knew no bounds. His life became a burden to him; all the light was gone out of his eyes, and all this world was black and dreary. He wished to die, that he might follow his beloved Yoátotowee. In the greatness of his grief he fell into a trance, there was a rumbling in the ground, and the spirit of the dead Yoátotowee arose out of her grave and came and stood beside him. When he awoke out of his trance and beheld his wife, he would have spoken to her, but she forbade him, for in what moment an Indian speaks to a ghost he dies. She turned away and set out to seek the spirit-land (oóshwooshe koom, literally, 'the dance-house of ghosts.') Eicut followed her, but the ghost turned and said, 'why do you follow me? you are not dead.' They journeyed on through a great country and a darksome—a land that no man has seen and returned to report—until they came to a river that separated them from the spirit-land. Over this river there was a bridge of one small rope, so very narrow that a spider could hardly cross over it. Here the spirit of Yoátotowee must bid farewell to her husband and go over alone into the spirit-land. But the great unspeakablegrief of Eicut at beholding his wife leaving him forever overcame his love of life, and he called aloud after her. In that self-same instant he died—for no Indian can speak to a ghost and live—and together they entered the land of spirits. Thus Eicut passed away from the realm of earth, and in the invisible world became a good and quiet spirit, who constantly watches over and befriends his posterity still living on earth. But he and his wife left behind them two children, a brother and a sister; and to prevent incest the moon created another pair and from these two pairs are descended all the Neeshenams of to-day."[XII-57]
THE SUN HOUSE AND TLALOCAN.
The future abode of the Mexicans had three divisions to which the dead were admitted according to their rank in life and manner of death. Glorious as was the fate of the warrior who died in the cause of his country, on the battle-field, or in the hands of the enemy's priests, still more glorious was the destiny that awaited his soul. The fallen Viking was carried by radiant Valkyries to Valhalla, but the Aztec hero was borne in the arms of Teoyaomique herself, the consort of Huitzilopochtli, to the bright plains of the sun-house, in the eastern part of the heavens, where shady groves, trees loaded with luscious fruit, and flowers steeped in honey, vied with the attractions of vast hunting-parks, to make his time pass happily. Here also awaited him the presents sent by affectionate friends below. Every morning when the sun set out upon his journey, these bright strong warriors seized their weapons[XII-58]and marched before him, shouting and fighting sham battles. This continued until they reached the zenith, where the sun was transferred to the charge of the Celestial Women, after which the warriors dispersed to the chase or the shady grove.The members of the new escort were women who had died in war or child-bed, and lived in the western part of the Sun House. Dressed like the warriors in martial accoutrement,[XII-59]they conducted the sun to his home, some carrying the litter of quetzal feathers in which he reclined, while others went in front shouting and fighting gaily. Arrived at the extreme west they transferred the sun to the dead of Mictlan, and went in quest of their spindles, shuttles, baskets, and other implements necessary for weaving or household work.[XII-60]The only other persons who are mentioned as being admitted to the Sun House, were merchants who died on their journey. After four years of this life the souls of the warriors pass into birds of beautiful plumage, which live on the honey of flowers growing in the celestial gardens or seek their sustenance on earth.[XII-61]
The second place of bliss was Tlalocan, the abode of Tlaloc, a terrestrial paradise, the source of the rivers and all the nourishment of the earth, where joy reigns and sorrow is unknown,[XII-62]where every imaginable product of the field and garden grows in profusion beneath a perpetual summer sky. This paradise appears to have been erected on the ideal reminiscences of the happy Tollan, the cradle of the race, where their fathersreveled in riches and splendor. To this place went those who had been killed by lightning, the drowned, those suffering from itch, gout, tumors, dropsy, leprosy and other incurable diseases. Children also, at least those who were sacrificed to the Tlalocs, played about in its gardens, and once a year they descended among the living in an invisible form to join in their festivals.[XII-63]It is doubtful, however, whether this paradise was perpetual, for according to some authors the diseased stayed here but a short time, and then passed on to Mictlan; while the children, balked of their life by death or sacrifice, were allowed to essay it again.[XII-64]
MICTLAN.
The third destination of the dead, provided for those who died of ordinary diseases or old age, and, accordingly, for the great majority, was Mictlan, 'the place of the dead,' which is described as a vast, pathless place, a land of darkness and desolation, where the dead after their time of probation are sunk in a sleep that knows no waking. In addressing the corpse they spoke of this place of Mictlan as a 'most obscure land, where light cometh not, and whence none can ever return.'[XII-65]There are several points, however, given by Sahagun, as well as other writers, which tend to modify this aspect of Mictlan. The lords and nobles seem even here to have kept up the barriers which separated them from the contaminating touch of inferiors, and doubtless the good and respectable were classed apart from low miscreants and criminals, for there were nine divisions in Mictlan, of which Chicohnahuimictlan or Ninth-Mictlan, was theabode of the Aztec Pluto and his Proserpine. This name seems also to have been applied to the whole region, meaning then the nine Mictlans.[XII-66]The different idol-mantles in which the dead person was attired, determined by his profession and by his manner of death, would imply that different gods had control of these divisions.[XII-67]Whatever distinction there may have been was kept up by the humbler or richer offerings of food, clothing, implements, and slaves, made at the time of the burial, at the end of eighty days, and on the first, second third, and fourth anniversary of the death; all of which went before Mictlantecutli before being turned over to the use of the person for whom they were destined.[XII-68]In one place Sahagun states that four years were passed in traveling before the soul reached Mictlan, and on another page he distinctly implies that this term was passed within that region, when he says that the dead awoke from their sleep as the sun reached the western horizon, and rose to escort it through their land; Torquemada says that four days were occupied in the journey.[XII-69]The only way to reconcile these statements is by supposing that the soul passed from one division to another, until it finally, at the end of the four years, reached Mictlan proper, or Ninth-Mictlan, and attained repose. Their duties during this term consisting in escorting the sun, and working like their happier brethren in the Sun House, besides passing a certain time in sleep. The fact that the people besought the dead to visit them during the festival in their honor, implies that they were within Mictlan, though their liberty there, at that season,at least, was not so very restricted. 'As they helped to escort the sun, we must suppose that they also enjoyed the blessings of sunshine while terrestrial beings slept, and the expression of Tezozomoc, a place where none knows whether it be night or day, a place of eternal rest,' must refer to those only who have passed the time of probation, and lapsed into the final sleep. It may be however, that the sun was lustreless at night, for Camargo states that it slept after its journey.[XII-70]If so, the dim twilight noticed among the northern people, or the moon, the deity of the night, must have replaced the obscured brightness of the sun, if lights indeed were needed, for the escort and the workers could scarcely have used artificial illumination. The route of the sun further indicates that Mictlan was situated in the antipodean regions, or rather in the centre of the earth, to which the term 'dark and pathless regions' also applies. This is the supposition of Clavigero, who bases it on the fact that Tlalxicco, the name of Mictlantecutli's temple, signifies center or bowels of the earth.[XII-71]But Sahagun and others place it in the north, and support this assertion by showing thatMictlampasignified north.[XII-72]The fact that the people turned the face to the north when calling upon the dead,[XII-73]is strongly in favor of this theory; the north is also the dark quarter. These apparently contradictory statements may be reconciled by supposing that Mictlan was situated in the northern part of the subterranean regions, as the home of the heroes was in the eastern part of the heavens.
As the warrior in the Sun House passes after fouryears of perfect enjoyment into a seemingly less happy state, so the Mictlan probationer appears to have abandoned his work for a condition of everlasting repose.[XII-74]This condition is already indicated by the very signification of the name Mictlan, 'place of the dead,' and by the preceding statements; it also implied by the myth of the creation of man, wherein the god-heroes say to Xolotl: Go beg of Mictlantecutli, Lord of Hades, that he may give thee a bone or some ashes of the dead that are with him.[XII-75]
THE JOURNEY OF THE DEAD.
I will now revert to the terrible four days' journey,[XII-76]which those who were unfortunate enough to die a peaceful death had to perform before they could attain their negative happiness. Fully impressed with the idea of its hardships, the friends of the deceased held it to be a religious duty to provide him with a full outfit of food, clothing, implements, and even slaves, to enable him to pass safely through the ordeal. Idols were also deposited by his side, and if the dead man were a lord, his chaplain was sent to attend to their service. This maintenance of worship during the journey is also implied by the sprinkling of water upon the ashes with the words: Let the dead wash himself.[XII-77]The officiating priests, laid, besides, passports with the body, which were to serve for various points along the road. The first papers passed him by two mountains, which, like the symplegades, threatened to meet and crush him in their embrace. The second was a pass for the road guarded by a big snake; the other papers took him by the green crocodile, Xochitonal, across eight deserts, and over eight hills. Then came the freezingitzehecaya,'wind of knives,' which hurls stones and knives upon the traveler, who now more than ever finds the offerings of his friends of service. How the poor soul escaped this ordeal is not stated. Lastly he came to the broad river Chiconahuapan 'nine waters,' which could be crossed only upon the back of a dog of reddish color, which was killed for this purposes by thrusting an arrow down its throat, and was burnt with the corpse. According to Gomara, the dog served for a guide to Mictlan, but other authors state that it preceded its master, and when he arrived at the river, he found it on the opposite bank, waiting with a number of others for their owners. As soon as the dog recognized its master, it swam over, and bore him safely across the rushing current. A cotton string tied round its neck when placed upon the pyre may have served to distinguish it from other dogs, or as a passport.[XII-78]The traveler was now taken before Mictlantecutli, to whom he presented the passports together with gifts consisting of candlewood, perfume-canes, soft threads of plain and colored cotton, a piece of cloth, a mantle and other articles of clothing, and was thereupon assigned to his sphere. Women underwent the same ordeal.[XII-79]Camargo mentions a paradise above the nine heavens, occupied by the goddess of love, where dwarfs, fools, and hunchbacks danced and sang for her amusement, but whether these beings were of human or divine origin is not stated.[XII-80]At times the old chroniclers consider Mictlan as a place of punishment,[XII-81]but the priestsin their homilies never appear to have urged repentance for the purpose of escaping future punishment, but merely to avoid earthly inflictions, visited upon them or their children.[XII-82]The philanthropist whose whole life had been one continuous act of benevolence, the wise prince who had lived but for his country's good, the saintly hermit, the pious priest who had passed his days in perpetual fasts, penance, and self-torture, all were consigned to Mictlan, together with the drunkard, the murderer, the thief, and none were exempt from the terrible journey, or from the long probation which ends in eternal sleep. They may have accounted to themselves for the manifest unfairness of this system by means of their belief in predestination, which taught that the sign under which a man was born determined to a great extent, if not entirely, his character, career, and consequently his future.[XII-83]Mictlan cannot, therefore, be regarded as a hell; it is but a place of negative punishment, a Nirvâna, in which the soul is at last blown out and lost.[XII-84]
THE FUTURE OF THE TLASCALTECS.
The Tlascaltecs supposed that the souls of people of rank entered after death into the bodies of the higher animals, or even into clouds and gems, while commonsouls passed into lower animal forms.[XII-85]With the Mexicans they believed that little children who died were given another trial of earth-life.[XII-86]In Goatzacoalco the bones of the dead were so placed that the soul might have no difficulty in finding them.[XII-87]In the Aztec creation-myth we have seen that out of bone man was formed, and Brinton considers this, together with instances of the careful preservation of remains to be noticed in different parts of America, evidence of a widespread belief that the soul resided in the bones. This receives further confirmation in the Quiché legend which relates that the bones of certain heroes were ground to powder to prevent their removal.[XII-88]Yet the idea does not accord with the Mexican custom of placing a stone between the lips of the dead to serve as heart, and, doubtless, to hold the soul as the Quichés supposed. Either instance, however, implies a belief in several souls, although no reference is made to such plurality. The Tlascaltecs had guardian spirits which were embodied in the idols calledtepictoton, and Camargo mentions angels who inhabited the air and influenced thunder, winds, and other phenomena, and who were doubtless the children of Tlalocan.[XII-89]A devil they could scarcely have had, for evil mingled too liberally in the nature of most of the Mexican gods to admit of its personification by one alone. The nearest approach to our Satan was to be found in a phantom called Tlacatecolotl, the 'owlish one'[XII-90]who roamed about doing mischief; to see an owl was accordingly held to be an evil sign, and much dreaded. Will o' the wisps were regarded as transformed wizards and witches, or animals.[XII-91]The Tlascaltecs supposed that the sparks which sped awayfrom the craters of volcanoes were the souls of tyrants sent forth by the gods to torment the people.[XII-92]
FUTURE OF THE OTOMIS, MIZTECS, AND MAYAS.
The Otomís believed that the soul died with the body,[XII-93]while the Tarascos, according to Herrera, admitted a future judgment, with its accompaniments of heaven and hell, but to judge from their burial customs, with immolation of attendants, term of mourning, and so forth, it would appear that they had the same belief as the Aztecs.[XII-94]
The Miztecs placed the gates of paradise within the cavern of Chalcatongo, and the grandees of the kingdom were therefore eager to be buried within its precincts, in order to be near the abode of bliss. The Zapotecs placed the heavenly portals within the cave of Mictlan. Their heaven must accordingly have been situated within the earth, although the custom of placing the dead with their feet towards the east indicates that it lay toward the sunny morning land. The common people at least seem, like the Aztecs, to have been required to pass a probationary term before entering the holy place, and during this period they were permitted to visit their friends on earth once a year, and partake of the repast spread for them. The Zapotecs gave as a reason for interring the dead, that those who were burned failed to reach heaven.[XII-95]
The Mayas believed in a place of everlasting delight, where the good should recline in voluptuous repose beneath the shade of theyaxché,[XII-96]indulging in daintyfood and delicious drinks. Those who died by hanging were especially sure of admittance to this paradise, for their goddess Ixtab carried them thither herself, and many enthusiasts committed suicide with this expectation. The wicked, on the other hand, descended into Mitnal,[XII-97]a sphere below this, where hunger and other torments awaited them. Cacao money was laid with the body to pay its way, and frequent offerings of food were made, but the funeral was not proceeded with until the fifth day, when the soul had entered its sphere. A trace of metempsychosis may be noticed in the superstitious belief that sorcerers transformed people into animals.[XII-98]
Whether the Quichés believed in a future reward and punishment is uncertain, for on the one hand we are told that Xibalba, which implies a place of terror, was their hell, where ruled two princes bearing the suggestive names of One Death and Seven Deaths; while, on the other hand, the sacrifice of slaves and other objects, implies a negative punishment. A gentle, unwarlike tribe of Guatemala is said to have had a belief similar to that of the Pericuis, namely that a future life was accorded to those only who died a natural death, and, therefore, they left the bodies of the slain to beasts and vultures.[XII-99]The Pipiles appear to have looked forward to the same future abodes as the Mexicans, and to the same dreadful journey after death. During the four days and four nights that the soul was on the road, the mourners wailed deeply, probably with fear for its safety, but on the fifth day, when the priest announced that it had reached the goal, the lamentation ceased. During this time also, the mother whose infant had departedwithheld the milk from all other children, lest the thirsty little wanderer should be angry, and smite the usurper.[XII-100]The probationary routine of the spirits appears to have called them to the earth at intervals, for a legend of the isles of Lake Ilopango recounts that at certain times of the year spectre barks glide in silence over the tranquil waters of the lake, anointing every island from the least to the greatest, offering upon each to some bloody divinity of past times a human victim, an infant chosen by lot.[XII-101]
FUTURE OF THE NICARAGUANS.
The same view of futurity was taken by the Nicaraguans, who thought that the souls[XII-102]of slain warriors went to the sunrise regions, the abode of Tamagostat and Cipattonal, who welcomed them with the title of 'our children.' But all the good, that is those who had obeyed and reverenced the gods, were admitted here, whether warriors or not, and strong must have been their faith in the bliss that awaited them, for the virgins, says Andagoya, who were cast as offerings into the seething lava streams of the volcano met their fate without fear.[XII-103]The wicked were doomed to annihilation in the abode of Miquetanteot.[XII-104]Infants who died before they were weaned returned to the house of their parents to be cared for, evidently in spirit form.[XII-105]The Mosquitos believe in one heaven only, and this is open to all; for it they prepare at the very beginning of life by tying a little bag of seeds round the neck of the infant, wherewith to pay the ferriage across the great river beyond which paradise lies.[XII-106]In and about Veragua deathmeans annihilation, and no food is left for the dead. In some places the dying are carried out to the woods and abandoned to wild beasts.[XII-107]In Costa Rica and Darien slaves and even wives are sacrificed that their souls may serve their lords in heaven.[XII-108]
Writing on the customs of Dabaiba, Peter Martyr says: 'They are such simple men, that they know not how to call the soule, nor vnderstand the power thereof: whereupon, they often talk among themselues with admiration what that inuisible and not intelligible essence might bee, whereby the members of men and brute beastes should be moued: I know not what secret thing they say, should liue after the corporall life. That (I know not what) they beleeue that after this peregrination, if it liued without spott, and reserued that masse committed vnto it without iniury done to any, it shoulde goe to a certayne æternall felicity: contrary, if it shall suffer the same to be corrupted with any filthy lust, violent rapine, or raging furie, they say, it shall finde a thousande tortures in rough and vnpleasant places vnder the Center: and speaking these things, lifting vpp their the handes they shewe the heauens, and after that casting right hand down, they poynt to the wombe of the earth'! Their belief in a future punishment he further illustrates by relating that 'the thicke spott seene in the globe of the Moone, at the full, is a mann, and they beleeue hee was cast out to the moyst, and colde Circle of the Moone, that hee might perpetually bee tormented betweene those two passions, in suffering colde, and moysture, for incest committed with his sister.'[XII-109]
The following myths, for which I am indebted to the kindness and industrious investigation of Mr Powers, having come to hand too late for insertion in theirproper places I avail myself of the opportunity to give them here:—There dwells, say the Neeshenams, upon the hills and in the forests, a ghost named Bóhem Cülleh, which is at once man and woman. It is a bad spirit, but nevertheless a useful one to those who seek its aid, and these are mostly bad people. Sometimes in the night its wierd eldritch cry is heard in the forest, and then some woman about to be overtaken in dishonest childbirth goes out into the woods alone, with her shame and her pangs upon her, and having brought forth, presently returns, crying and lamenting that the wicked ghost met and overcame her and that she has conceived of the spirit. Or perhaps it is a man who has wrought an evil thing who makes this bad spirit responsible for his wickedness. Either a man or a woman wandering alone in the forest is exposed to the enticements of the ghost Bóhem Cülleh, to commit fornication with it.
THE COYOTE'S ELOPEMENT.
'The Coyote's Elopement' forms the subject of another Neeshenam tale. It is as follows—The coyote and the bat were one day gathering the soft-shelled nuts of the sugar pine, when there came along two women-deer (the only way they have of expressing 'female deer'), who were the wives of pigeons. The coyote, upon this, took a handful of pitch and besmeared the bat's eyes so that it could not see. The poor bat was totally blinded, but it called upon the wind to blow, and its eyes were opened a little, as we see them to-day. Meantime the rascally coyote eloped with the two women-deer. But it was not long before they came to a bridge so extremely narrow that they could not pass over it. Just then there came along a quail, and he took the two women-deer and led them across, leaving the bigamous coyote in the lurch. No sooner had they crossed than the sister of the pigeons took the quail away to his mother's camp, and thus the women-deer were set at liberty, and recovered by their husbands, the pigeons.
"In this story," says Mr Powers, "as in many others, we have something analogous to the were-wolves and swan-maidens of the medieval legends. It also illustratesthe Indian belief in the common origin of all animals. Their favorite theory is, that the man originated from the coyote, and the woman from the deer. Wherefore this story probably gives us a glimpse of the first courtship recorded of the human race, when the animals had so developed, strictly in accordance with the Darwinian programme, that man was about to appear upon the scene. The failure of the coyote's elopement delayed that auspicious event a little while."
Another Neeshenam legend relates that there was once a medicine-man who possessed the wonderful faculty of turning himself into a bear for a brief season. When one of his patients was extremely ill, and, according to custom, he sucked him to extract the injurious matter, he would presently be seized with a spasm. Falling upon all fours, he would find his hands and feet sprawled along the ground in plantigrade fashion, his nails would grow long and sharp, a short tail would sprout forth, hair would spring up all over his body, in short he would become a raging, roaring bear. When the spasm had passed away, he would return to the human form.
According to yet another Neeshenam tradition, there lived long, long ago a very terrible old man, whose chief delight it was to kill and devour Indians. He had stone mortars in which he pounded the flesh to make it tender for eating. Far down on the Sacramento plains, thirty or forty miles away, he and his wife lived together, and around their wigwam the blood of Indians lay a foot deep. The Indians all made war on them and tried to kill them, but they could do nothing against them. Then at last the Old Coyote took pity on the Indians whom he had created, and he determined to kill this old man. He was accustomed to go into the great round dance-house when the Indians were assembled within it, and slay the chief. So the Old Coyote dug a deep hole just outside the door, and hid himself in it, armed with a big knife. The knife was just on a level with the ground, and when the old man came along, going into the dance-house, he saw it, and gave a kick at it, butdid not notice the Coyote, who immediately jumped out of his hole, ran into the dance-house, and killed the old man.
This story, Mr Powers thinks probably refers to some long extinct race of cannibals who were superior in power to the present race. "To them," he says, "may be assigned the stone mortars found in so many parts of California, which the Indians now living here confessedly did not make. Others account for these stone mortars by saying they were made by the chief of the spirits, Haylin Kakeeny, and his subordinates."
SHASTA LEGENDS.
The following queer legends are, on the indisputable authority of Mr Powers, of Shasta origin: The world was created by Old Groundmole,ídidoc, a huge animal that heaved creation into existence on its back, by rooting underneath somewhere. When the flood came it destroyed all animals except a squirrel, as large as a bear, which exists to this day on a mountain called by the Shastas, Wakwaynuma, near Happy Camp.
A long time ago there was a fire-stone in the distant east, white and glistening, like the purest quartz; and the coyote journeyed east, brought this fire-stone and gave it to the Indians, and that was the origin of fire.
Originally the sun had nine brothers, all, like himself, flaming hot with fire, so that the world was like to perish; but the coyote slew nine of the brothers, and thus saved mankind from burning up. The moon also had nine brothers, all like to himself, made of the coldest ice, so that in the night people went near to freeze to death. But the coyote went away out on the eastern edge of the world with a mighty big knife of flint stone, heated stones to keep his hands warm, then laid hold of the nine moons, one after another, and slew them likewise, and thus men got warm again.
When it rains, there is some Indian sick in heaven, weeping. Long, long ago there was a good young Indian on earth, and when he died all the Indians cried so muchthat a flood came on the earth and rose up to heaven, and drowned all people except one couple.
The Chénposels relate that there was once a man who loved two women, and wished to marry them. Now, these two women were magpies,atchatch, and they loved him not, but laughed his wooing to scorn. Then he fell into a rage and cursed these two women that were magpies and went far away to the north, and there he set the world on fire, made for himself a tule boat in which he escaped to sea, and was never heard of more. But the fire which he had kindled burned with a mighty burning. It ate its way south with terrible swiftness, licking up all things that are on earth—men, trees, rocks, animals, water, and even the ground itself. But the Old Coyote saw the burning and smoke from his place far in the south, and he ran with all his might to put it out. He took two little boys in a sack on his back, and ran north like the wind. So fast did he run that he gave out just as he got to the fire, and dropped the two little boys. But he took Indian sugar (honey dew) in his mouth, chewed it up, spat it on the fire and put it out. Now the fire was out, but the Coyote was very thirsty, but there was no water, so he took Indian sugar again, chewed it up, dug a hole in the bottom of the creek, covered up the sugar in it, and it turned to water, and the earth thus had water again. But the two little boys cried because they were lonely for there was nobody on earth. Then the Coyote made a sweat-house, and split up a great number of little sticks, which he laid in the sweat-house over night; in the morning they were all turned into men and women, so the two little boys had company, and the earth was repeopled.[XII-110]
SUN-MYTH OF THE PALLAWONAPS.
I conclude with a sun-myth of the Pallawonaps, who lived on Kern River in Southern California:—Pokòhmade all things. Long ago the sun was a man. The sun is bad and wishes to kill all things, but the moon is good. The sun's rays are arrows, and he gives a bundle to every creature, more to the lion, fewer to the coyote, etc.; but to none does he give an arrow that will slay a man. The coyote wished to go to the sun, and he asked Pokòh the road. Pokòh pointed out to him a good road, and the coyote traveled on it all day, but the sun turned round, so he traveled in a circle, and came back at night to the place whence he had started in the morning. A second time he asked Pokòh, and a second time he came back in a circle. Then Pokòh told him to go straight to the eastern edge of the earth, and wait there until the sun came up. So the coyote went and sat down on the hole where the sun came up, with his back turned to the east, and kept pointing with his arrow in every direction, pretending he was going to shoot. The sun came up under him, and told him to get out of the way. But the coyote sat there until it became so warm that he was obliged to coil up his tail under him. Then he began to get thirsty, and asked the sun for water. The sun gave him an acorn-cup full, but this did not satisfy the coyote's great thirst. Next his shoulders began to get warm, so he spat on his paws and rubbed his back with them. Then he said to the sun, Why do you come up here, meddling with me? But the sun said, I am not meddling with you; I am traveling where I have a right to travel. The coyote told him to go round some other way, that that was his road, but the sun insisted on going straight up. Then the coyote wanted to go up with him, so the good-natured sun took him along. Presently they came to a path with steps like a ladder, and as the sun went up he counted the steps; when they got up above the world, the coyote found it getting hot and wanted to jump down, but the distance was too great. By noon the sun was very hot and bright, and he told the coyote to shut his eyes. He did so, but he opened them quickly again, and so kept opening and shutting them all the afternoon, to see how fast the sun was sliding down. When the suncame down to the earth in the west, the coyote jumped off on to a tree, and so clambered down to the ground.[XII-111]
Such are the Myths of the Farthest West, such the endeavors of these men unenlightened, according to our ideas of enlightenment, to define the indefinable, such the result of their 'yearning after the gods.' Most of their myths and beliefs are extravagant, childish, meaningless, to our understanding of them, but doubtless our myths would be the same to them. From the beginning of time men have grappled with shadows, have accounted for material certainties by immaterial uncertainties. Let us be content to gather and preserve these perishable phantoms now; they will be very curious relics in the day of the triumph of substance.
THE NATIVE RACESOF THEPACIFIC STATES.
LANGUAGES.