THE PAWNEE INDIANS

THEIR HABITS AND CUSTOMS

The two previous papers in THE MAGAZINE (April and November, 1880) presented, in as concise summary as the subject would admit, a sketch of the history, nearer relationships, and general traits and usages of this tribe. The following pages are now offered as a continuation of the last of these topics, and will conclude the series. Purposely but the merest reference has been admitted to one of the most interesting and valuable questions pertaining to this people, i.e., their language. To every student of aboriginal philology it must remain a matter of sincere regret that the elaborate investigations now in progress under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution do not appear to contemplate any special study of the Pawnee group. At some future day it is hoped that a brief monograph illustrating the grammatical structure of the language, and including a moderate vocabulary, may be prepared for publication.

$7. Mourning.-The moment of death was marked by the rattle in the throat. Hence they had a belief that the seat of life was in that region. Another curious superstition was that a person would not bleed to death. Some of their doctors accordingly held that the flow of blood from a wound should never be staunched.

As soon as a person died, all members of the family broke into the most doleful lamentations. Women especially were extremely demonstrative, venting their grief at the highest pitch of the voice, wringing their hands, beating their breasts, dishevelling their hair and allowing it to hang unkempt over their faces, covering themselves entirely with their robes, together with many other expressions of sorrow.

Burial took place soon after death. The body was wrapped in a blanket or robe; with it were placed a few trinkets, and perhaps an article of value, as a bow or tomahawk; and the women bore it to the grave. The relatives and friends followed, howling and weeping. Sticks, or stones, if they were to be had, were piled upon the grave to prevent the body from being disinterred by wolves. I never knew them to deposit bodies above ground, as is usual with some tribes. A post curiously painted was usually placed at the grave. The devices on these posts were rude in conception and execution, and had a double purport. Part were designed to commemorate anything remarkable in the life or character of the deceased;

while others were expressions of a belief in his continual existence. To this end his spirit, winged, was represented as passing away to another world. Women remained mourning at the grave of a husband or child frequently most of the time for several days. When travelling they sometimes were exposed to great danger from prowling foes by lingering behind at the grave of a relative. Men were more quiet in their grief, expressing it by sitting in silence and covering their heads with robes. At the death of a favorite wife or child, their feelings were manifested in ways which sufficiently indicated their reality and intensity. In such cases they have been known in the depth of winter, with no clothing on the person other than the indispensable breech-clout, to follow the body to the grave and continue sitting there for hours, apparently insensible to the cold, their minds absorbed in overwhelming sorrow. Women continued for years to resort to the grave of a brother, husband, or child, to mourn. Seated beside the grave they would give utterance to their feelings in plaintive wailings—the only occasion when women ever attempted to sing-or in a sort of monologue, talking to God they termed it. Sometimes they also placed food at the grave, or if a man, a bow, for the use of the dead.

Forty years ago there was a usage that a widow should not marry for five moons after her husband's death, but of late years this has fallen into almost entire desuetude.

§8. Religion. This is a very perplexing subject. Most of the Pawnees have only indistinct and confused conceptions in the matter. But few can be found who seem to have bestowed any special thought upon it, and the religious ideas which even these have, are, so far as may be judged by appearances, extremely unsatisfactory to themselves; and hence they are naturally disinclined to converse freely concerning them. I shall endeavor to give an accurate general statement of the body of their religious beliefs. Much of their system, as usually heard, has been manifestly borrowed, perhaps remotely, from the Christian religion. Every element that seemed really traceable to this source I have unsparingly eliminated.

There was one Supreme Being, Ti'-ra-wa. He was conceived of as dwelling above, and was addressed as Father; hence the frequent designation, a-ti'-us ti'-la-kit-uk, my father who is above. He was described as omnipresent (cf. the frequent expression ǎ-ti'-us ta'-kaw-a, my father dwells in (all) places), all-seeing and all-knowing. He controlled all things, all success being regarded as an expression of his favor, and all disappointment or failure as a betokening of his disapprobation. He was changeable like themselves. The weather was cold or disagreeable because he was bad, and pleasant because he was good. The thunder was his voice, the lightning

the flashing or sparkling of his fire. Though stoutly affirming that they loved him a great deal, they evidently feared him. It was very doubtful whether their conception of Ti'-ra-wa could rightfully be called a conception of a spiritual being at all. It was rather an indistinct being with certain human attributes indefinitely magnified.

Of a distinctively bad spirit they had no knowledge. The expression ki-ca-ho'-ruks-u ti'-hu-ri-wa, spirits are about or abound, was quite common; but these beings were conceived of as the shades or ghosts of certain persons returned after death to haunt and annoy people. By this use the term, ki-ca-ho'-ruks-u, came to be nearly synonymous with bad, or evil spirits. Mysterious noises and occurrences, especially such as happen in the night, were attributed to their agency. Sometimes when shooting at an enemy or at game they unaccountably missed, they would say that some of these shades had mischievously deflected the missile from its course.

One being, originally of this class, deserves particular mention, Pa-hokat'-au-a. Forty years ago their account of this being was as follows: Long ago Pa-ho-kat-au-ă, Kneeprint by the Water (a name derived from his having once left the print of his knee in the sand beside a stream where he had hurriedly kneeled to drink), was a great war-chief. During life he greatly distinguished himself in warring against the Dakotas. On his last expedition he was killed and his body not recovered. Being left on the prairie, birds of prey devoured it and in their ordure it was scattered irretrievably over the country. From that point the accounts of him were conflicting. Sometimes his roaming spirit was spoken of as being implacably hostile, because of the abandoning of his body, as constantly inciting the Dakotas and aiding them against his kinsmen. But more usually he was represented as a sort of guardian spirit of his tribe, exerting himself incessantly in their behalf, advising measures, and forwarding designs against their hereditary enemies, foretelling how many they should kill and how many they should themselves lose. His method of communicating intelligence was by dreams. This is the only instance I ever discovered in their system of any thing like apotheosis.

A frequent phase of semi-religious belief was a form of supernaturalism. The heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and morning star, specifically, and the smaller in an indefinite way, were conceived of as endowed with superhuman potencies, and to some extent were objects of reverence if not of actual worship. Sickness, misfortune, and personal mishaps of various kinds were often spoken of as attributable to their incurred ill-will. So also animals, as the buffalo, bear, wolf, beaver, etc., were vested with supernatural powers. What these special attributes of the buffalo were was difficult to determine.

The idea of its superstitious exaltation may have originated in the buffalo being to them so necessary as a means of subsistence. The bear (the cinnamon variety) was venerated as possessing superior intelligence (a belief prevalent among many tribes), certain magical powers and great tenacity of life. A current idea was that to kill a bear it should be wounded not in a vital part, but in one of its extremities. One of the magical powers ascribed to it was that it could spit different colored earths at its assailants. Finally, trees and some plants were believed to be tenanted by existences which could to a limited extent exert influences over human affairs.

In worship Ti-ra-wa alone was always recognized. Other beings were recognized or not, as suited the dispositon of the worshipper. The simplest form was prayer. Any one might thus address Ti-ra-wa, and oftentimes. there was much sincerity in their devotional acts. Sacrifice might also be made privately, by setting apart a portion of food at each meal, or by offering an object in various ways, as burning it, depositing it in a certain spot, etc. Smoking in some sense was a religious act, the first whiff always being offered to Ti'-ra-wa. The more obtrusive feature of their religion was their public devotions. These assumed various forms according to the occasion or motive that prompted them, as a dance, a sacrifice, a feast, or, as was more usual, all these combined. The more important dances were the bear-dance, buffalo-dance, dog-dance, sun-dance, war-dance, and pipe-dance. The first was celebrated by night, dancing and feasting alternately till dawn. It has of late years lost much of its original significance, as nothing other than some of the costumes and postures now remain that are specially suggestive of the bear. The second was of the nature of a thanksgiving for a successful hunt, and sometimes continued for several days, till the capacity and endurance of the participants was completely exhausted. The dog-dance was had at night. After the preliminaries of smoking, dancing, speechmaking, and praying, perhaps about midnight, the boiled dog was eaten. The kettle containing this had been boiling over the fire all the while, and when the flesh had become so disintegrated as to fall to pieces all crowded about the fire and helped themselves, picking the bits of meat from the seething mass with their fingers and swallowing them. After the meat was all eaten, the head of an old man, apparently attending for this purpose, was for a moment thrust into the broth. On withdrawing him each one present set about dipping a wisp of fine switches into the broth and beating his breast and shoulders. This continued for some time, after which dancing, speech-making, etc., were resumed till morning.

The sun-dance, pipe-dance, and war-dance were very elaborate in detail, no ceremony being omitted that would add to their impressiveness.

By strange contradiction fasting for one, two, or even three days was sometimes practised in their celebration. The pipe-dance has already been mentioned, and the explanation now given by the Pawnees of its origin and significance is in exact accord with the statement there made. It not unfrequently closed with a begging dance, the band that had the dance dancing, as they expressed it, before one of the other bands. The band thus entertained acknowledged the compliment by presenting ponies. Each donor galloped up in front of the beggars caparisoned at his best, made a speech in laudation of himself and his exploits, every sentence of which was duly applauded, dismounted and left his steed in their hands. ponies given on these occasions, however, were usually by no means the best of the herd.

Many features of these dances, especially if celebrated in the open air, were extremely picturesque. The fine display of agile, athletic physique, the gaudy and unique costumes, the intricate movements, the absorbing earnestness, and the mystical purport of much of the services made them very striking. An artist might lay all students of aboriginal history under lasting obligation by portraying from life some of these scenes.

In all dances, feasts, and sacrifices, old men acted as priests. Any old men, particularly those who had been distinguished in their early days, when invited to attend became thereby officiating priests. By such services they made requital for their entertainment.

One form of sacrifice formerly practised in the tribe, or rather in one band, for the other bands emphatically disclaimed any share in the barbarous rite, stood apart in unhappy prominence. This was the offering of human sacrifices (captives); not burning them as an expression of embittered revenge, but sacrificing them as a religious ordinance. What the origin of this terrible practice was the Pawnees could never explain, and I am inclined to regard it as a fortuitous element in their system. The rite was confined to the Ski'-di band, and was no doubt of long standing; yet the Arikaras, who are nearly related to the Ski-di, and have always maintained intercourse with them, never have admitted the practice; and to all appearance the denial of the other bands was supported by fact. The sacrifice was made to the morning star, o-pir'-i-kut, which, with the Ski-di especially, was an object of superstitious veneration. It was offered about corn-planting time, and the design of the bloody ordeal was to conciliate that being and secure a good crop. Hence, it has been supposed that the morning star was regarded by them as presiding over agriculture, but this was a mistake. They sacrificed to that star simply because they feared it, imagining that it exerted malign influence if not well disposed. It has also