THE PRIMITIVE IDEA OP GOD. 



253 



is one god, known by -the name Cudragny. * He 

 speaks often to men, and gives them warning of 

 the changes of the weather ; but when offended, he 

 throws dust in their eyes, or makes them blind. When 

 men die, their souls rise to the stars, and, descending 

 with these to the west, are received into the happy 

 plains where there are beautiful forests and delicious 



Fig. 36. CHIPPEWA CHIEFS, FKOM PHOTOGEAPHS. 

 Showing the characteristic Turanian type of the American Aborigines. 



fruits ." This creed was that held in one modification 

 or another by all the American tribes, and expressed 

 the fundamental ideas of their religion. The Great 

 Spirit might be the Great Manitou, or Oghee-ma of 



* The word is allied to Mandan OJcee, Sioux Oghee, Iroquois 

 Oke, Esquimaux AgJiatt, Algonquin Oghee-ma. It seems to 

 mean the chief or highest one. It resembles the name of 

 the ancient Hindoo god Agni, and is perhaps allied to the Og 

 and Agag of the pre- historic peoples of Palestine. 



