THE ALGONKIN AND THE THUNDERBIRD 



By Alanson Skinner 



AMONG other traditions held by 

 the descendants of the Delaware 

 Indians, who used to dwell on 

 our island of Manhattan and in neighbor- 

 ing New Jersey but who are now exiled 

 to Oklahoma, is one regarding the so- 

 called "Thunderbird." Long ago when 

 the ancestors of 

 the Delawares 

 still lived on the 

 shores of " the 

 Great Water 



where Daylight 

 Appears," some 

 of their mighty 

 nimrods succeed- 

 ed in making cap- 

 tive the great 

 horned serpent 

 that lives in the 

 depths of the sea, 

 and while they 

 held it prisoner 

 they scraped 



some of the scales 

 from its back. 

 Now the Thun- 



Cree tipi, Saskatchewan, showing 

 in human form 



derers are the great enemies of the horned 

 serpent and are constantly on the watch 

 to destroy him. Thus it happens that 

 when a medicine man puts in an ex- 

 posed place one of these scales taken 

 from the horned serpent, the Thunderers 

 hasten to the spot darting their lightning 

 at it and bringing 

 the rain — which 

 is just what the 

 Indians desire. 



The recorder of 

 this tradition has 

 left us in doubt 

 as to the form of 

 the Thunderers, 

 whether like men 

 or beasts, but the 

 belief which he 

 records concern- 

 ing the Thunder- 

 ers and their ha- 

 tred of the horned 

 snake or snakes is 

 very widespread 

 among the Wood- 

 land Indians. In 



a Thunderer 



Drawing of human Thunderer from carving 

 on block of wood in a Menomini war bundle 



Drawing of a Thunderbird etched on a pots- 

 herd. From Shinnecock Hills, Long Island 



71 



