272 INDIANS. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



RELIGION. 



No Christian, Moslem, or Bhudhist is more devoted to his 

 religion, no High Churchman a greater stickler for form, 

 than the Cheyenne Indian. His religion is mingled and 

 interwoven with every phase of his life ; and no project of 

 any kind, governmental, social or individual, is ever 

 undertaken without first obtaining the sense or disposition 

 of the deities on the subject. 



In common with the best of the plains Indians, the 

 Cheyenne believes in two gods, equals in wisdom and 

 power. 



One is the ' good god,' aiding the Indian, to the best 

 of his ability, in all his undertakings, whether good or 

 bad, and (without reference to abstract right or morality, 

 of which the Indian has no conception) always and under 

 all circumstances his friend and assistant. From him 

 comes all the pleasurable things of life : warmth, food, 

 joy, success alike in the chase, love, and war. 



The other is the ' bad god,' always his enemy, and 

 injuring him at all times and places, when not restrained 

 by the power of the good god. From the bad god 

 comes all pain, suffering, and disaster. He brings the 

 cold, he drives away the game, and through his power 

 the Indian is tortured with wounds or writhes in death. 



Constant conflict, of which the Indian is the subject, 

 is going on between the two gods, with constantly 

 varying results. Having no inward sense of right or 

 wrong, and no idea of any moral accountability, either 

 present or future, the Indian attributes to the direct 



