DOKSEY] SAPONA CULTS. 519 



tiou of the Indian's narrative, it is plain that the account contains 

 a tew aboriginal beliefs. For this reason, and because it is the only- 

 known account of the Sapona religion, it is now given in full: 



"In the eveuiug we exainiued our friend Bearskin concerning the religion of his 

 country, and he explained it to us, without any of that reserve to which his nation 

 is subject. He told us he believed there was one supreme God, who had several 

 subaltern deities under him. And that this Master-God made the world a long time 

 ago. That He told the sun, the moon and stars their business in the beginning, 

 ■which they, with good looking after, have faithfully perform'd ever since. That the 

 same Power that made all things at first has taken care to keep them in the same 

 method and motion ever since. He believed God had form'd many worlds before He 

 form'd this, but that those worlds either grew old or ruinous, or were destroy'd for 

 the dishonesty of the inhabitants. That God is very just and very good — ever well 

 pleas'd with those men who possess those God-like qualities. That He takes good 

 peojile under His safe i)rotection, makes them very rich, fills their bellies plentifully, 

 preserves them fromsickness and from being surpriz'd or overcome by their enemies. 

 But all such as tell lies and cheat » ♦ • He never fails to punish with sickness, 

 poverty and hunger, and after all that, suft'ers them to be knockt on the head and 

 scalpt by those that fight against them. He believed that after death both good and 

 bad people are conducted by a strong guard into a great road, in which dep.arted 

 souls travel together for some time till, at a certain distance this road forks into 

 two paths', the one extremely levil, the other stony and mountainous. Here the 

 good are parted from the bad by a flash of lightning, the first being hurry'd away 

 to the right, the other to the left. The right hand road leads to a charming warm 

 country, where the spring is everlasting, and every mouth is May; and as the year 

 is always in its youth, so are the people, and particularly the women are bright as 

 the stars, and never scold. That in this happy climate there are deer, turkeys, elk, 

 and buH'aloes innumerable, perpetually fat and gentle, while the trees are loaded 

 with delicious fruit quite throughout the four seasons. That the soil brings forth 

 corn spontaneously, without the curse of labour, and so very wholesome, that none 

 who have the happiness to eat of it are ever sick, grow old or dy. Near the entrance 

 into this blessed land sits a venerable old man on a mat richly woven, who examins 

 strictly all that are brought before him, and if they have behav'd well, the guards 

 are order'd to open the crjstal gate and let them enter the land of delights. The 

 left hand path is very rugged and uneven, leading to a dark and barren country, 

 where it is always winter. The ground is the whole year round cover'd with snow, 

 and nothing is seen upon the trees but icicles. All the people are hungry, yet have 

 not a morsel to eat except a bitter kind of potato, that gives them the dry-gripes, 

 and fills their whole body with loathsome ulcers, that stiulc and are insupportably 

 painful. Here all the women are old .md ugly, having claws like a panther, with 

 which they fly upon the men that slight their passion. For it seems these haggard 

 old furies are intolerably fond, and expect a vast amount of cherishing. They talk 

 much, and exceedingly shrill, giving excjuisitepain to the drum of the ear, which in 

 that place of torment is so tender, that eiery sharp note wounds it to the quick. At 

 the end of this path sits a dreadful old woman on a monstrous toadstool, whose head 

 is cover'd with rattlesnakes instead of tresses, with glaring white eyes, that strike a 

 terror unspeakable into all that behold her. This hag pronounces sentence of woe 

 upon all the miserable wretches that hold up their hands at her tribunal. After this 

 they are deliver'd over to huge turkey-buzzards like harpys, that fly away with them 

 to the place above mentioned. Here, afterthey have been tormented a certain num- 

 ber of years, according to their several degrees of guilt, they are again driven back 

 into this world, to try if they will mend their manners, and merit a place next time 

 in the regions of bliss. " 



> See the Omaba belief, in ^ 68. 



