194 



PALLADIUM PALM 



[B. A. K. 



preserved in the ancient city of Troy, 

 and supposed to liold protecting watch 

 over the destinies of its people. The use 

 of the term has been broadened to include 

 any similar sacred object of national or 

 tribal veneration. Several of our Indian 

 tribes had such palladiums, which were 

 venerated with ceremonial forms and re- 

 garded with zealous care and upon whose 

 continued safe poi^session the existence 

 and prosperity of the tribe were believed 

 to depend. As a rule the true origin of 

 the object of tribal veneration was lost 

 in obscurity, but was accounted for by 

 a sacred myth which rej^resented it as 

 having been given to the people by their 

 mystic culture-hero at the beginning of 

 the world. A priest was appointed to 

 watch over it, a special depository was 

 provided for it, prayer and sacrifice were 

 made to it, and it was rarely or never 

 exposed to public view except on the 

 occasion of certain great tribal gatherings 

 when it was made the central figure of 

 the ceremony. Like the Hebrew ark of 

 the covenant, it was sometimes carried 

 in the battle front to insure victory over 

 the enemy. 



Notable instances are the sacred box of 

 the Cherokee (Mooney in 19th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 1900), the metal tablets of the 

 Creeks (Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., i, ii, 

 1884, 1888), the taime of the Kiowa 

 (Mooney in 17th Rep. B. A. E., 1898), 

 the medicine arrows of the Cheyenne 

 (Dorsey in Am. Anthrop., v, 644, 1903; 

 Mooney in Mem. Am. Anthrop. Ass'n, i, 

 no. 6, 1907), the "ark" of the Mandan 

 (Maximilian, Trav., 1843; Matthews, 

 Hidatsa, 1877 ), and the seicha or flat pipe 

 of the Arapaho (Mooney in 14th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 1896; Scott in Am. Anthrop., ix, 

 no. 3, 1907). 



The Cherokee sacred box is still re- 

 membered in the traditions of their old 

 men, who say that it contained the most 

 sacred belongings of the tribe, and that 

 the prosperity of their people departed 

 after its capture by the Dela wares. Their 

 account of its exterior agrees with that 

 given by Adair from the statement of a 

 white man who saw it with them in 1756. 

 It was a rectangular box, about 3 ft 

 long, covered with a dressed deerskin and 

 resting upon blocks to keep it from the 

 earth. It was watched by a sentinel with 

 bow and arrows, who drew an arrow to 

 the head and warned the stranger away 

 when he attempted a closer inspection. 



The sacred metal plates of the Creeks 

 were kept by priests of the Wind clan in 

 Tukabatchi town in a depository on one 

 side of the public square. They were 

 said to be 7 in all, 5 of copper and 2 of 

 brass, with engraved characters resem- 

 bling letters. At times they were said to 

 give out a miraculous ringing sound with- 



out being touched. Once a year, at the 

 annual Green Corn dance, they were 

 exhibited to the people from a distance, 

 after which they were washed in the 

 stream, rubbed and cleaned, and put 

 away again for another year. As usual 

 with such things, the Tukabatchi people 

 claimed to have received them from a 

 supernatural being at the beginning of 

 their existence as a people, but it is more 

 likely that they were a relic of some early 

 Spanish expedition, perhaps a trophy 

 from the great battle of Mavila in 1540. 

 They are noted by Adair as early as 1775 

 and are still preserved in the Creek 

 Nation, Okla. 



The taime of the Kiowa is a small stone 

 image bearing resemblance to the head 

 and bust of a man, decorated with down 

 feathers and with images of the sun and 

 the crescent moon painted upon its breast. 

 It is kept in a parfleche box of peculiar 

 shape and decoration, and, like the Creek 

 plates, was exposed only once a year, at 

 the annual Sun dance. It is still sacredly 

 preserved, but as the dance has not been 

 performed since 1887 the box has not 

 been opened since, not even the custodian 

 being permitted to undo the wrappings. 



The medicine arrows of the Cheyenne 

 are 4 in number, of different colors, and 

 were kept together in charge of a special 

 priest from the earliest traditional period, 

 before the tribe had removed from the 

 head of the Mississippi r. They have no 

 connection with the Sun dance, antedat- 

 ing that ceremony in the tribe, but are 

 exposed only- on occasion of a solemn 

 purification rite when a Cheyenne has 

 been killed by one of his own tribe. 

 They are still preserved among the South- 

 ern Cheyenne, by whom the rite of blood 

 atonement was performed as late as 1904. 



The "flat pipe" of the Arapaho is kept 

 by a priest of the Wyoming branch of the 

 tribe, together with an ear of corn and 

 a stone turtle, all of which, according 

 to their tradition, they have had from 

 the beginning of the world. Around 

 these centers the tribal genesis tradition, 

 which is recited when the package is 

 opened, as may be done on special occa- 

 sions, without regard to other ceremonial 

 periods. The box in which the sacred ob- 

 jects were kept was neverallowed to touch 

 the ground, and when on the march the 

 priest in charge, even though mounted, 

 was not allowed to rest it upon his horse, 

 Imt must carry it upon his own back. 

 See Fetish. (j. m. ) 



Palm. Only two representatives of the 

 palm family occur in the United States. 

 One of these has a limited distribution in 

 s. California, and is employed somewhat 

 in basketry; but among the Piman tribes 

 of Sonora and Sinaloa, especially, palm 

 leaves were extensively used for making 



