454 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



by means of an elaborate system of shamanistic conjurings and 

 appeals, were placated, controlled, and utilized in the interests nomi- 

 nally of the people, actually of the shamanistic establishment. 



The story of the development of tliis strange system of invo- 

 cation of the gods through zoomorphic forms furnishes one of the 

 most interesting and important chapters in the culture history of 

 the American race, operating at all times as a strong force in the 

 direction of material, intellectual, and artistic advancement, and 

 this notwithstanding the fact that the whole divine structure was 

 a work of the imagination pure and simple. The beginnings of 

 the function of the works which we call idols is to be sought in the 

 vagTie imaginings of primitive man when he first essayed to localize 

 and interpret the mysterious powers of nature to which he found 

 himself subject. 



As the result of his speculations he reached the generalization 

 that all things in nature were imbued with life and power in some 

 degree like his own; and special things, as stones, trees, animals, 

 the heavenly bodies, were regarded as having exceptional potency 

 for good or evil; some were adopted by him as protective agencies, 

 as charms and talismans — incipient divinities — while others were 

 feared and avoided as agencies of evil. 



In time, with the growth of myth, the imagination reached be- 

 yond mere natural forms, conjuring up new beings, largely zoo- 

 morphic in type, having special supernatural attributes and powers. 

 Certain reptilian forms, on account of their death-dealing powers 

 and mysterious ways were prime favorites, and in time images of 

 these, with strange variations, took the place of the real creatures 

 and were invested with attributes and powers in a superior degree. 

 With the further growth of myth the conceptions became com- 

 posites of unrelated originals, and the images were elaborated to 

 the extent of the mechanical and artistic capabilities of the people. 

 Carved in wood or stone and modeled in stucco or in clay, these 

 became the centers about which sanctuaries were built and cere- 

 monies were conducted — all designed to cultivate the favor of the 

 divinities whose forms they represented for good to themselves and 

 evil to their enemies. These activities, growing in importance, led 

 to the organization of bodies of religious servitors, of a shaman- 

 istic priesthood whose function it was to care for the sanctuaries, 

 conserve the sacredness of the idols, and formulate and conduct the 

 elaborate rituals. But the activities of the priestly establishments 

 thus developed, based primarily on the idea of appeal to the gods 

 in the interests of the community for the commonweal, came, by 

 a natural and inevitable extension of unquestioned power, to have 

 other and ulterior purposes in view. 



