common parent of mankind; and that their religion, like that of all other heathen nations, is derived by a gradual deterioration from that of Noah. At the same time, it will be seen, that they are far from having sunk to the lowest round on the scale of corruption. With the exception of the Mexicans, their religious rites have a character of mildness which we should elsewhere seek in vain,

Having seen that sacrifice is practised among the Indians, we are naturally led to consider the question, whether they have among them a priesthood; and, on this point, the testimony of travellers is somewhat discordant. Mackenzie mentions that the Chepewyans have high priests *; yet he describes the public sacrifices of the Knisteneaux, as offered by their chiefs, and the private, by every man in his own cabin, assisted by his most intimate friend. Charlevoix says, that among the Indians of whom he writes, in public ceremonies, the chiefs are the priests; in private, the father of each family; or where there is none, the most considerable person in the cabin. An aged missionary, he says, who lived among the Ottawas, stated, that with them an old man performed the office of priest. Loskiel says of. the Lenapé, or Delaware Indians, that " they have neither priests regularly appointed, nor temples. At general and solemn sacrifices, the oldest men perform the offices of priests; but, in private parties, each man bringing a sacrifice is priest himself. Instead of a temple, a large dwellinghouse is fitted up for the purpose." He afterwards speaks of the place of offering, under the name of "the house of sacrifice;" and mentions it as being "in a lonely place +." On the other hand, Bartram, in his account of the southern tribes, says, "There is in every town, or tribe, a high priest, with several inferior, or junior priests, called by the white people jugglers, or conjurers." To the same purpose Adair asserts, that they "have their high priests, and others of a religious order." "Ishtohoollo," he observes, "is the name of all their priestly order, and their pontifical office descends by inheritance to the eldest."

Notwithstanding this diversity, however, the difference is more in appearance than in reality. Various meanings attached to the same words, in consequence of arbitrary associations, may produce a diversity of description. If a

Mackenzie, 8vo. vol. i. p. 153. but I was not present at any of their + Loskiel, p. 39, 40. 42. ad calc. name for temple.

"There are conjurers and high priests, ceremonies."

A house of sacrifice is only another

priest be one whose exclusive duty it is to celebrate the rites of religion, then it must be admitted that a priesthood exists among the Indians; for those who deny that they have priests, allow that in their public sacrifices the chiefs are the only persons authorized to officiate. The only difference, then, lies in this, whether the priesthood be or be not connected with the office of the magistrate.

Among Christians, as among the Jews, the priesthood is distinct from the civil authority; but previous to the sepa ration of the family of Aaron, these two offices were generally united. Melchizedeck was both king of Salem, and priest of the most high God. Jethro was, at the same time, priest and prince of Midian; and Abraham himself, who is called a prince, performed the sacerdotal functions. We find this union of the regal and sacerdotal characters existing among heathen nations. Homer describes the aged Pylian king as performing religious rites *; and Virgil tells of the monarch of Delos, who was both priest and king:

"Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phœbique sacerdos +."

Among the Creeks, and other southern Indians, a monarchical form of government seems to prevail; among the northern Indians, a republican. In both the sacerdotal office may be united with civil authority, and therefore partake of its peculiar character. Among the one it may be hereditary, among the other elective. If this be not sufficient to reconcile the discordant accounts, we are bound, I think, to respect the united testimony of Charlevoix and Loskiel in preference to any other, as they do not appear to have had any system to serve which might give a bias to their statements. And if this be so, it will be seen that the religion of the Indians approaches much nearer to the patriarchal than to that of the Jews. Their public sacerdotal offices are performed by their chiefs, and in their private, the head of every family is its priest.

But there is another office, which Carver, Bartram, and others, have confounded with the priesthood which exists among all the Indian tribes, and concerning which there is no diversity in the statement of travellers. To this class of men the French missionaries gave the name of Jongleurs, whence the English have derived that of jugglers or conjurers. To use the definition of Charlevoix, they are those servants of their gods, whose duty it is to announce their Eneid. lib. iii. 1. 80.

Odyss. lib. iii. I. 418–460.

wishes, and to be their interpreters to men; or, in the language of Volney, those "whose trade it is to expound dreams, and to negotiate between the manitto and the votary.' "The jongleurs of Canada," says Charlevoix, "boast that by means of the good spirits whom they consult, they learn what is passing in the most remote countries, and what is to come to pass at the most distant period of time; that they discover the origin and nature of the most secret disorders, and obtain the hidden method of curing them; that they discern the course to be pursued in the most intricate affairs; that they learn to explain the obscurest dreams, to give success to the most difficult negotiations, and to render the gods propitious to warriors and hunters." "I have heard," he adds," from persons of the most undoubted judgment and veracity, that when these impostors shut themselves up in their sweating stoves, which is one of their most common preparations for the performance of their sleight of hand, they differ in no respect from the descriptions given by the poets of the priestesses of Apollo, when seated on the Delphic tripod. They have been seen to fall into convulsions, to assume tones of voice, and to perform actions which were seemingly superior to human strength, and which inspired with an unconquerable terror even the most prejudiced spectators." Their predictions were sometimes so surprisingly verified, that Charlevoix seems firmly to have believed that they had a real intercourse with the father of lies. This account of the jongleurs of Canada is confirmed by Mr. Heckewelder, in his late work on the Indian tribes. They are a set," he observes," of professional impostors, who, availing themselves of the superstitious prejudices of the people, acquire the name and reputation of men of superior knowledge, and possessed of supernatural powers. As the Indians, in general, believe in witchcraft, and ascribe to the arts of sorcerers many of the disorders with which they are afflicted in the regular course of nature, this class of men has arisen among them, who pretend to be skilled in a certain occult science; by means of which they are able, not only to cure natural diseases, but to counteract or destroy the enchantments of wizzards or witches, and expel evil spirits. There are jugglers of another kind, in general old men and women who get their living by pretending to supernatural knowledge-to bring down rain when wanted, and to impart good luck to bad hunters. In the summer of 1799, a most uncommon drought happened in the Muskingum country.

An old man was applied to by the women to bring down rain, and, after various ceremonies, declared that they should have rain enough. The sky had been clear for nearly five weeks, and was equally clear when the Indian made this declaration. But, about four in the afternoon, the horizon became overcast; and, without any thunder or wind, it began to rain, and continued to do so till the ground became thoroughly soaked. Experience had doubtless taught him to observe that certain signs in the sky, or in the water, were the forerunners of rain; yet the credulous multitude did not fail to ascribe it to his supernatural power." "It is incredible to what a degree the superstitious belief in witchcraft operates on the mind of the Indian. The moment his imagination is struck with the idea that he is bewitched, he is no longer himself. Of this extraordinary power of their conjurers, of the causes which produce it, and the manner in which it is acquired, they have not a very definite idea. The sorcerer, they think, makes use of some deadening substance, which he conveys to the person he means to strike,' in a manner which they can neither understand nor describe. The person thus stricken' is immediately seized with an unaccountable terror. His spirits sink, his appetite fails, he is disturbed in his sleep, he pines and wastes away, or a fit of sickness seizes him, and he dies at last, a miserable victim to the workings of his own imagination."

A remarkable instance of this belief in the power of these sorcerers, and of the wonderful effects of imagination, is related by Hearne, as having occurred during his residence among the northern or Chepewyan Indians. Matonabbee, one of their chiefs, had requested him to kill one of his enemies, who was at several hundred miles distant. "To please this great man," says he, " and not expecting that any harm could possibly arise from it, I drew a rough sketch of two human figures on a piece of paper, in the attitude of wrestling; in the hand of one of them I drew the figure of a bayonet, pointing to the breast of the other. This,' said I to Matonabbee, pointing to the figure which was holding the bayonet, is I, and the other is your enemy. Opposite to those figures I drew a pine-tree, over which I placed a large human eye, and out of the tree projected a human hand. This paper I gave to Matonabbee, with instructions to make it as public as possible. The following year, when he came to trade, he informed me that the man was dead. Matonabbee assured me that the man was in perfect health when he heard of my design against him, but

almost immediately afterward became quite gloomy, and, refusing all kinds of sustenance, in a very few days died."

Bartram, in his account of the manners and habits of the tribes which inhabit Florida and the south of the United States, relates, as their general belief, that "their seer has communion with powerful invisible spirits, who have a share in the government of human affairs, as well as of the elements. His influence is so great, as frequently to turn back an army when within a day's journey of their enemy, after a march of several hundred miles. "Indeed," he adds, "the predictions of these men have surprised many people. They foretel rain or drought, pretend to bring rain at pleasure, cure diseases, exercise witchcraft, invoke or expel evil spirits, and even assume the power of directing thunder and lightning." The power, then, of these impostors, is supposed to consist in the miraculous cure of diseases; the procuring of rain, and other temporal blessings, in the same supernatural manner; the miraculous infliction of punishment upon the subjects of their displeasure; and the foretelling of future events. It will immediately be seen, that these are, in fact, the characteristics of the prophetic office; those, I mean, which are external, which produce, therefore, a lasting impression upon the senses of men, and from the force of ocular tradition, would naturally be pretended to, even after the power of God was withdrawn.

That true prophets had such power, is evident from the whole tenour of Sacred History. On their power of predicting future events, it is not necessary to dwell; but it will be seen, that there is a striking analogy between the pretensions of the Indian impostors, and the miracles wrought by the prophets. We have seen, that the former assume the power of curing or inflicting diseases by supernatural means. We find the prophets curing or inflicting the most inveterate diseases by a word, by a touch, by washing, and other means naturally the most inadequate.* We have seen the Indian impostors pretend to foretel drought or rain. So Elijah the Tishbite said to Ahab, " As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my wordt." And again, the same prophet, when there was no appearance of change in the heavens, said to the king,

Thus Naaman was cured of his leprosy by Elisha, and the same disease inflicted by the prophet on his servant Gehazi. 2 Kings, v.

† 1 Kings, xvii. 1.

VOL. III.-No. 5.

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