82 Cincennatt Society of Natural Fitstory. 
Tetan maiden from the stake, in a Pawnee village, and again he 
rescued a Spanish boy. 
The functions of priest, physician, and conjurer or magician is 
exercised by the great medicine man, or often by'the chief. It is 
his province to control the weather, bring good luck in hunting and 
fishing, and in war, also cure diseases, or effect all that is possible 
to supernatural powers. 
Almost everything of remarkable appearance, or of great rarity, 
is regarded with superstitious reverence—they paid the greatest 
homage to the devil. He was the god to be feared and conciliated, 
as he alone was the god who might do them evil. The Virginians 
made an idol of the devil, which they painted and adorned with 
copper chains and beads, and covered with skins. 
The Creeks worshiped a statue of wood. Similar figures were 
seen among the southern [ndians by DeSoto. Columbus found 
stone idols (cemies) among the Haitiens. 
The paintings and sculptures on rocks have been attributed to 
the medicine men—as those on the Mississippi, among the Rica- 
rees, Dighton Rock in Massachusetts, in New Mexico, Kelly’s 
Island, Lake Erie, and other places. 
The Narragansetts had a temple in which fire was kindled. The 
building was spacious. 
The Virginians had temples, which were large cabins decorated 
with significant carvings and paintings, intended for the purpose of 
maintaining their perpetual fire. 
The Indians of Natchez, Mexico, Louisiana, Florida and the 
northwest coast erected temples of superior construction and of 
architectural qualities. At a temple in California, the idol is 
described by Venegas as holding in her right hand the figures of 
the sun and moon. ‘Two large crows were about the enclosure, 
which the Spaniards killed, and this threw the Indians into great 
alarm. 
Certain places were regarded as sacred: as among the Sioux, 
Pipe Creek, which flows through cliffs of catlinite, where tribes 
at war met without hostility at the quarries. Also the medicinal 
springs at the head of the Washuta, and the springs in Colorado, 
at the head of the Arkansas, where the trees were hung with 
native offerings. 
Nearly every tribe once possessed its idols, but they have been 
destroyed in the religious crusades of the whites. 
