242 INDIAN PHILOSOPHY. 
heaven but another material world, superior, 
it is true, yet resembling this—a kind o 
elysian vale, or paradise—a ‘happy hunting- 
ground,’ abounding in game and all their com- 
forts of life, which may be procured without 
labor. This elysium they generally seem to 
locate ‘upon the sky,’ which they fancy a 
material solid vault. It appears impossible 
for them, in their pristine barbarism, to con- 
ceive of a spiritual existence, or of a world 
differing materially from that which they see 
around them 
Father Hennepin (writing about 1680) re- 
lates, that the northern Indians inquired about 
the manner of living in heaven, and remarks: 
“When I made answer that they live there 
without eating or drinking, ‘We will not go 
thither,’ said they, ‘ because we must not eat;’ 
and when I have added that there would be 
no occasion for food there, they clapt their 
hands to their mouths, as a sign of admira- 
tion, and said, ‘ Thou art a great har !—is there 
anything can live without eating ?” 
Similar opinions, among many different 
tribes, 1 have heard declared in direct terms; 
yet, did we want further testimony, some of 
their burial customs and funeral rites would 
seem to indicate their ideas of the future state. 
The Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Kausas, 
and kindred tribes, besides many others, or 
perhaps most others of the frontier, have been 
accustomed to inter the most valuable pro- 
perty of the deceased aiid many necessaries 
with them. “Their whole property was bu- 
