80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



ceremony was introduced into Huronia by some neighboring Algon- 

 quin, the latter having gone to fish some years before and having 

 caught nothing. Surprised and astonished at this unusual event, they 

 did not know what to think. Then the oki [i.e., spirit] of the Seine 

 appeared to them as a tall, well-formed man, who said, "I have lost 

 my wife, and I cannot find one who has not known other men before 

 me; that is the reason why you do not succeed, and you never will 

 succeed until I have been given satisfaction in this respect." The 

 Algonquins then held a council and decided that to appease the Seine 

 they should present him with girls so young he would have no reason 

 to complain and that they should give him two for one. This done, 

 the fishing succeeded. The Huron, their neighbors, having heard 

 about this, took up the custom and repeated it every year ( JR 17 : 199- 

 201).^° 



SPIRITS 



The Huron believed that animate spirits resided in the earth, the 

 rivers, lakes, certain rocks, and the sky (JR. 10 : 159) and had control 

 over journeying, trading, war feasts, disease, and other matters (S 

 171). To appease and obtain the favor of these spirits, tobacco was 

 thrown into the fire and a prayer said. If, for example, the offering 

 was to the Sky, the most important spirit, they would say, aronhiate 

 onne aonstaniwas taitenr^ 'O Sky, here is what I offer thee in sacri- 

 fice; have pity on me, assist me.' Or, if the offering was to implore 

 health, they would say, taenguiaens, 'Heal me' (JR 10: 159).^^ 



The sky was important as it was an oki, a power which controlled 

 the seasons, held in check the winds and the waves of the seas, and 



*o The Jesuit statement that the Ceremony of the Marriage of Two Virgins to the Seine 

 was not an old Huron ceremony is supported by the evidence that the Iroquois have no 

 such ceremony, for if the Iroquois also had had this ceremony, the possibility would exist 

 that it was part of an earlier, general Iroquoian culture stratum. 

 " Similarly, to quote Morgan (1901(1) : 155) : 



The Iroquois believed that tobacco was given them as a means of communication 



with the spiritual world. By burning tobacco they could send up their petitions 



with its ascending incense, to the Great Spirit, and render their acknowledgments 



acceptably for his blessings. Without this instrumentality, the ear of Ha-wen-n&-yu 



could not be gained. In like manner they returned their thanks at each recurring 



festival to the Invisible Aids, for their friendly offices, and protecting care. 



The use of tobacco is ubiquitous in present Iroquois ritual. One of the important parts 



of the Midwinter Ceremonial, for example, is a tobacco invocation. A tobacco burning 



invocation is also part of the ritual pattern of medicine society meetings (Fenton 1953 : 



144; Shimony 1961 a: 275-276), and also is given before the Society dance held during 



Midwinter. Tobacco is also burned as part of the dead feast (Shimony 1961 a: 280). 



Mistakes in the ritual may be rectified (forgiven) by tobacco (Shimony 1961 a : 276, 287). 



Tobacco is also offered to the first plant of the species found when collecting medicinal 



herbs (Fenton 1940 a : 794 ; 1949 b : 235 ; Parker 1913 : 55 n ; Shimony 1961 a : 263-266). 



Tobacco is also used in sorcery : for example, a member of the False Face Society may cause 



False Face sickness by burning tobacco and reciting the proper incantation. Some are 



said to be able to cause lightning to strike at a particular time and place by use of a 



tobacco invocation to the Thunder. An, a man may impel his faithless wife to return by 



smoking tobacco (Skinner 1925 b: 129-130). These examples do not exhaust the rituals 



in which tobacco is offered. 



