ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. XLV 



were obtained by Mr. Dorsey in per.soii and at first hand 

 from individual members of the several trilje.s. His tliorou^h 

 linguistic skill enabled liini to take down each Indian's words 

 in the oi-ig'inal, and to translate expi-essions accurately without 

 dependence on the xuitrustworthy medium of the interpreter; 

 and his long experience in dealing with primitive ideas, 

 together with his conscientious care and full S3'mpatliy with 

 the tribesmen, have unquestionably enabled him to reproduce 

 the Indian concepts and expressions .with unsurpassed fidelity. 



Many important conclusions flowing from Mr. Dorsey's 

 researches stand in the backgromid of his essentially descriy)- 

 tive presentation, and remain for fiu'ther elaboration in future 

 publications. Some of the most interesting of these relate to 

 the bases of Indian beliefs. In the pi-imitive mind the object- 

 ive and the subjecti^•e, or the physical cosmo.s and the psychic 

 cosmos, blend; and if sejjarated at all, the dividing line is far 

 from the position assigned to it among ourselves; the natural 

 is small and meager, and the mysterious, or mystic, or super- 

 natural, is large and overspreads most of the domain of 

 experience and thought. Thus animals, plants, and even 

 inorganic objects are supposed to possess mysterious qualities 

 and })owers, particularly when action or association is unusual 

 or unexpected; and winds, thunder, and other manifestations 

 of obscure or remote origin are doubly mysterious and some- 

 times sacred. In this way the supernatural is lirought ^'ery 

 near to the ego. As Mr. Dorsey expresses tlie fact, "It is 

 safer to divide phenomena as they appear to the Indian mind 

 into the human and superhuman, as many, if not most 

 natural phenomena are mysterious to the Indian. Nay, even 

 man himself may become mysteriou.s by fasting, prayer, and 

 vision." 



The primitive character of Indian belief has long been 

 recognized among students, and early in the histor-\' of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology it was classed as the lowest of four 

 theistic stages and designated hecastotheism. Now, hecasto- 

 theism stands at one extreme of the course of the development 

 of belief, while the deification of a single omnipotent poAver is 

 perhaps the highest expression of psvchotheism, which stands 



