280 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



rather high conception was shared by all the Winnebago. Our 

 impression is that many Wuuiebago believed the ofTerhig would 

 be mechanically followed by the blessmg. Take, for Distance, the 

 following example: A middle-aged Wuuiebago while huntuig was 

 suddenly surjjrised by the enemy. He succeeded m makmg his 

 escape into a cave. All hope of final delivery seemed to be gone, for 

 the enemy stationed themselves before the entrance. Now this man 

 had never been blessed ui his youth and knew little about the proper 

 procedure to observe when making offeruigs to the spirits. In this 

 terrible crisis he turned mstlnctively to the spirits. He took some 

 tobacco and put some in the different nooks of the cave, and said: 

 "Spirits, whoever you arc, and wherever you are, it is said that you 

 love tobacco and that in return for it you bless people. Here is some 

 tobacco, and I ask that I may return to my people." There was, as 

 far as we know, no promise made that m return he would make fur- 

 ther offermgs to them or that he would thereafter love them and 

 honor them. He escaped and unquestionably believed that it was 

 due to the intervention of the spirits, but the spirits were, quite 

 clearly, constramed to act because they had received tobacco. 



There can be little doubt that many Wuuiebago felt as this man did. 

 We &id an expression of the same attitude ui a myth. The Wuuie- 

 bago are represented as making offermgs to the buffalo spirits, and 

 the smoke is ascending to the home of these spirits through a hole in 

 the sky. The younger buffalos can not resist the temptation of 

 approaching the openuig to catch a few whiffs of their favorite 

 tobacco. They are thereupon warned by the older buffalos not to 

 go too close, for the tobacco fumes might tempt them too strongly; 

 and should they succumb to the temptation and accept the offer- 

 mgs, they would then have to appear on earth and be killed by man. 

 As might have been expected, there is hi the relation of the spirits 

 to man something similar to the securmg of the food animal by some 

 such ceremony as the wana^kere. The spirits are dazzled, hypnotized 

 by the offermgs, and accept. 



In the second of the examples given above we were dealmg with a 

 food animal — -the buffalo. If there is any plausibility hi the ex]5lana- 

 tion we advanced before that the Wumebago mterprets religion hi 

 terms of life, the relation of the spirits to the food supply ought to 

 show it. Now, it is characteristic of the Wmnebago religion that 

 the great generalized spirit deities, like Earthmaker, Smi, Moon, etc., 

 have little to do with the secm-uig of specific khids of food. As a rule, 

 some generalized spirit-animal presides over the various species of 

 animals, and he gladly permits the animals to appear on earth to be 

 killed by man when the proper offermgs are made. This seems to 

 have been a secondary uiteqiretation, however, developed prolnxbly 

 mider the uifluence of the shamans as a substitute for the purely 

 mechanical attitude mentioned above. To picture the food animals 



