BOLL. 30] 



SACRIFICE 



403 



articles were laid upon sacred rocks or 

 upon shrines. The offering of first-fruits 

 among the Natchez was made by each 

 father of a family, and on certain occa- 

 sions when a live stag was sacrificed by 

 the Iroquois it was the oldest man of the 

 hut or village that gave the death-blow. 

 At the moose feast of the Montagnais the 

 sacrifice was made by him who had killed 

 the animal. Among the Muskhogean 

 tribes a special sacrifice was offered by 

 the war leader and his religious assistant 

 before starting out upon an expedition, 

 and in general it may be said that the 

 leaders of war or hunting parties took 

 the lead also in sacrifices and all other 

 observances having in view the success 

 of the enterprise. But just as the Mus- 

 khogean war leader had a religious assis- 

 tant to share his duties, so warriors on 

 the N. Pacific coast were always accom- 

 panied by at least one shaman. In pre- 

 scribing what offerings should be made in 

 case of sickness, the shaman was an ab- 

 solute guide, though the offerings were 

 actually furnished by the family of the 

 sick man and were often a mere payment 

 to the shaman himself. Society and 

 tribal rites and ceremonies were oftener 

 than not themselves considered as sacri- 

 fices, and thus furnish us with examples 

 of sacrifices partici pated in by large bodies 

 of people. Not as frequently as in the 

 Old World, and yet occasionally (wit- 

 ness, for instance, the White Dog cere- 

 mony of the Iroquois and the human 

 sacrifice of the Skidi Pawnee), there is a 

 special national sacrifice consummated by 

 chosen individuals to whom the title of 

 ' ' priest ' ' may very properly be applied. 



A complete answer to the second ques- 

 tion would necessitate a catalogue of all 

 the superhuman beings conceived of by 

 every Indian tribe, as well as those ma- 

 terial beings and objects which were sup- 

 posed to possess supernatural power in 

 the slightest degree. Nevertheless it may 

 be of interest to mention some of those 

 of which there is direct information. 

 The most prominent are: the sky, the 

 earth, the sun, the moon, the four car- 

 dinal points, the winds, the thunder, the 

 mountains, rocks of all sizes and shapes, 

 particularly those of peculiar appearance 

 or such as resemble things animate, cer- 

 tain animals and trees, springs, places 

 where paint was obtained, eddies and rap- 

 ids in rivers, and a numlaer of monsters 

 supposed to dwell beneath the surface of 

 lakes, rivers, and the ocean. In the case 

 of the natural objects mentioned, it is to 

 be understood that it w^as not the object 

 itself in any case which was thus ap- 

 proached, but the animating soul of each. 

 In addition, offerings were made to per- 

 sonal manitos and medicine bundles by 

 the possessors of the same, by shamans 



to their guardian spirits, and even by the 

 laity to shamans, though in this last case 

 the shaman was perhaps considered only 

 as an intermediary. In several cases, 

 even by christianized Indians, sacrifices 

 were offered to missionaries, to the crosses 

 which they carried or set up, and to the 

 mission churches. 



The article by far the most widely used 

 in sacrifice was native tobacco. Nex'tcame 

 articles of food, and then articles of cloth- 

 ingand adornment, particularly the latter. 

 Hunting and fishing implements are 

 mentioned less frequently, evidently be- 

 cause it would be more agreeable to the 

 deity to receive food outright than the 

 means for obtaining it. Dogs, particu- 

 larly white ones, were sacrificed by the 

 Iroquois, Cree, Ottawa, Illinois, and re- 

 lated tribes, and in at least one feast by the 

 Arikara and the Skidi Pawnee. In the 

 buffalo country its place seems to have 

 been taken in a measure by the buffalo, 

 the skin of a white animal being again 

 preferred. In one early narrative a buf- 

 falo-skin is mentioned among sacrifices 

 offered by the Illinois, while the skull of 

 a buffalo was hung at the top of an Arap- 

 aho medicine-lodge erected by youths just 

 previous to their first war expedition. 

 The greatest importance, however, seems 

 to have been attached to it by the Man- 

 dan, who preferred the skin of a young 

 white cow buffalo, or, failing that, the skin 

 of a white bull or an old cow. The offal 

 of a buffalo was sacrificed by the Arikara. 

 Offerings of bears, or rather the skins and 

 skulls of these animals, are referred to 

 among the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes 

 of the N. E. forest country, being men- 

 tioned as far w. as the Illinois. A kind 

 of bear sacrifice also existed along the 

 N. Pacific coast and the neighboring 

 mountain region. Deer, elk, and moose 

 were sacrificed by the Iroquois and Algon- 

 quian tribes of the N. and E. Deer-hoofs 

 were held in great esteem by the N. W. 

 tribes, and were used to make fringes for 

 the dancing skirt or apron of a shaman; 

 it is natural, therefore, to find them men- 

 tioned in a list of articles sacrificed by the 

 Coeur d'Alenes. In the same list wolf- 

 tails also occur. On the n. Pacific coast 

 we find cuts of whale, pieces of fresh or 

 dried fish, and grease of all kinds. A 

 Montagnais sacrifice consisted of eels, 

 while the Mista«sin sacrificed fish-bones. 

 Among birds the first place is taken by 

 the eagle, which appears to have been 

 employed everywhere, the part offered 

 being the down, wings, or tail. Feathers 

 of other birds, especially those of a red 

 color, like the flicker-feathers of the n. 

 Pacific coast, are also mentioned. In thia 

 connection reference should be made to 

 the feathered prayer-sticks (q. v.) of the 

 Pueblos, Navaho, and Apache. It is pos- 



