mouney] customs of the INTERIOR TlilliES. 33 



Lederer's account of tlicii" religion is too general to be definite, and 

 he neglects to state to what particular tribal language the Indian 

 names quoted belong. They believed in a sui)renie creator (?) under 

 various names, to whom only the high priest oft'ered sacrifice. This 

 supreme being, however, was supposed to pay no heed to any earthly 

 matters; so these were committed to the care of lesser spirits, good or 

 Ljad as the case might be, to whom the ordinary medicine-men offered 

 prayers and ceremonial pro})itiatiou. By Lederer's supreme god, to 

 whom only the high priest sacrificed, may perhaps be understood the 

 special palladium or "medicine" of the tribe, in the keeping of a priest 

 of a particular family or order. 



They had a system of four gentes (as before remarked, it is impossi- 

 ble to know how many or to what particular tribes this statement 

 applies), called by the names of four women, Pash, Sepoy, Askarin, 

 and Maraskarin, from whom they derived their origin, and who were 

 believed to be the common ancestors of the human race. They had a 

 strict marriage and kinsliip system, based on this clan division, with 

 descent in the female line. Marriage within the clan was regarded as 

 incest and was jtunished with great severity. Even in death this 

 division Avas followed out and separate quarters of their burial places 

 were assigned to each of the four clans. The dead were wrapped in 

 skins of animals and buried with food and household properties deemed 

 necessary for the use of the ghost in the other world. When a noted 

 warrior died, prisoners of war were sometimes killed at the grave to 

 accompany him to the land of the dead. Their spirit world was in the 

 west, beyond the mountains and the traditional western ocean. 



Their traditional history was delivered in the form of long narratives 

 from the fathers to the children, who were obliged to learn them by 

 heart. Although ignorant of books and letters, they were trained in 

 expression and oratory, and their speakers were frequently men of 

 much judgment and eloquence. Children were ruled by persuasion 

 instead of command, and were never punished. On one occasion, 

 while among the Sara, a little boy shot an arrow at Lederer's horse, 

 and when the traveler spurred the animal out of his reach, the young- 

 savage ti-ied to send his next arrow through the body of the rider. 

 With nuich trouble the explorer was able to pacify him with small 

 trinkets, but the affair roused such a commotion that the old men had 

 to take the white man and his horse under their protection to save 

 them from injury (Lederer, 5). 



Beverley gives several additional facts in regard to the customs and 

 beliefs of the tribes of this section, with more particular reference to 

 the Occaneechi, whose dialect was the common language of trade and 

 religion. Strangers were received with the pipe of peace, Avliich was 

 made larger than the ordinary pipe and adorwed with the wings and 

 feathers of birds, or with other ornaments. T.he chief of the village 

 filled and lighted the pipe and handed it to the visitor, who, if on ^ 

 BULL. Y--22 3 



