moosey] CATLIN ON KANAKCK 697 



were counted among bis disciples. Catlin, who painted lus portrait 

 (of which figure GO is a reproduction), heard him preach, and expressed 

 surprise and admiration ;it the ease and grace of his manner and his 

 evident eloquent command of language. The traveler continues: 



I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion of the mere rem- 

 nant of a poisoned race so strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his people 



fr the deadly bane that has been brought amongst them by enlightened Christians. 



How far the efforts of this zealous man have succeeded in Christianizing, I can not. 

 tell, but it is quite certain that his exemplary ami constant endeavors have com- 

 pletely abolished the practice of drinking whisky in his tribe, which alone is a very 

 praiseworthy achievement, and the first and indispensable step toward all other 

 improvements. I was some time amongst those people, and was exceedingly pleased 

 ami surprised also to witness their sobriety and their peaceable conduct, not having 

 seen an instance of drunkenness, or seen or heard of any use made of spirituous 

 liquors whilst I was amongst the tribe. ( Catlin, 3. \ 



A tier mentioning, although apparently not crediting the assertion of 

 the traders, that the prophet had borrowed his doctrines from a white 

 man, Catlin goes on to describe a peculiar prayer-stick which Kauakuk 

 had given to his followers, and which reminds us at once of the similar 

 device of the Delaware prophet of 17<!4, and is in line with the whole 

 system of birchbark pictographs among the northern tribes. These 

 sticks were of maple, graven with hieroglyphic prayers and other 

 religious symbols. They were carved by the prophet himself, who dis- 

 tributed them to every family in the tribe, deriving quite a revenue 

 from their sale, and in this way increasing his influence both as a priest 

 aud as a man of property. Apparently every man, woman, and child 

 in the tribe was at this time in the habit of reciting the prayers from 

 these sticks on rising in the morning and before retiring for the night. 

 This was done by placing the right index linger first under the upper 

 character while repeating a short prayer which it suggested, then under 

 the next, and the next, and so on to the bottom, the whole prayer, 

 which was sung as a sort of chant, occupying about ten minutes. 



Without undertaking to pass judgment on the purity of the prophet's 

 motives, Catlin strongly asserts that his influence and example were 

 good and had effectually turned his people from vice and dissipation to 

 temperance and industry, notwithstanding the debasing tendency of 

 association with a frontier white population. 



The veteran missionary, Allis, also notes the use of this prayer stick 

 as he observed it in 1834 among the Kickapoo, then living near Fort 

 Leavenworth, in Kansas. The prophet's followers were accustomed to 

 meet for worship on Sunday, when Kiinakiik delivered an exhortation 

 in their own language, after which they formed in line and marched 

 around several times in single file, reciting the chant from their prayer- 

 sticks and shaking hands with the bystanders as they passed. As they 

 departed they continued to chant until they arrived at the "father's 

 house" or heaven, indicated by the figure of a horn at the top of the 

 prayer-stick. The worshipers metalsoon Fridays and made confession 



