46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 85 



of that (lance carried representations of war clubs, which there is 

 every reason to believe were anciently adorned with scalps, and some 

 of these were painted red. But I suspect that this dance was an 

 attempt to represent war as a protective institution and to thank the 

 being or beings who preside over human destiny for having so well 

 defended them against assaults of the — as usual — perfidious foe. 

 Possibly some element of propitiation also entered into this dance. 

 The universe with which the Creeks sought reconciliation was not, 

 however, a material one. What they had in mind was rather the 

 mind or minds believed to be operant there. While we know of some 

 supernatural beings connected primarily with the busk and numerous 

 spirits associated with natural objects were anciently believed in, 

 it seems fairly certain that the peculiar patron of the ceremony was 

 a solar, or rather celestial, being generally called Hisagita-immisi, 

 " the breath controller," and also Ibofanga, " the one above," and 

 that the busk fire was in some way an earthly representation of the 

 great solar fire overhead. While it is probable that Hisagita-immisi was 

 not in ancient times the monotheistic deity he has now become, there 

 is every reason to think he was already, before White contact, the 

 supreme being of the Creeks. 



