336 Mr. Ranking on the Origin 



of a divinity. He then went to the door and gave three dread- 

 ful shrieks to call his demon, and sat down composedly to 

 answer questions, which he did, but ambiguously. He then 

 stabbed himself with a knife, and brought it up at his mouth, 

 ran himself through with a sword, and other tricks of jugglers, 

 who impose on the ignorant and credulous. Most of the 

 Siberians have shamans, and hold them in great esteem. They 

 say they are informed of past and future eventSj and correspond 

 with the shaytan or devil *. In Baraba we visited a famous 

 woman. She brought her shaytan, which was a piece of wood 

 with something like a human head, adorned with silk and 

 woollen rags, a small drum hung with rags and rings, and 

 began a dismal tune, keeping time with the stick on the drum, 

 &c. She was very handsome, and answered questions with 

 as much art as any oracle. — (^Bell of Antermony, 8vo. 

 p. 152, 192.) 



The Kamtshadale shamans consult and command the ele- 

 ments, and are prophets and physicians. — (Krachennenikof's 

 Hist. p. 74.) — It appears that these were not the ancient settlers 

 in Florida, &c. They bear strong evidence of being Siberians. 



The Rev. Mr. Beatty in 1766 received the following tradition 

 from some old men of the Delaware tribe : That they knew 

 not for certainty how ihay first came to this continent^ but that 

 a king of their nation, far to the west, left his kingdom to his 

 two sons, who made war, and one of them emigrated with a 

 number of people, and after forty years wandering, they settled 

 at the Delaware river 370 years ago, which they knew by 

 their wampum beads. The king of their country whence they 

 came some years ago, (when the French possessed Pitts- 

 burgh or Fort Duquesne) sent some people to discover them, 

 who, after seeking six years, met a Delaware whose language 

 they understood, tarried one year, and returned. The Dela- 

 ware women follow exactly the custom of the Jews, and 

 observe the first fruit or green corn feast. (Mr. Williams asks 

 if this does not refer to Joshua and the Israelites, or to Madoc ; 

 and adds, that the Tartars are descendants of the ten tribes, 



• Is not this the Manitou of the American tribes ? 



