170 
forms. So the “ power ” of the cataract became its “ spirit ”, the 
“ power ” of the buffalo a kind of supernatural man-buffalo. 
Here a confusion of thought arose which seems to pervade all 
Indian religion. The “ power ” of the cataract was only an attrib- 
ute, but the “ spirit ” was a distinct entity, immanent in the 
cataract, of course, yet conceivably capable of a separate existence. 
It carried the same name as the cataract, and the name heightened 
its individuality, giving it the status of a definite supernatural being. 
Similarly the “ power ” of the buffalo became a supernatural king- 
buffalo that lived in a mysterious buffalo-land, and yet was immanent 
in every single buffalo; and tlie power or vitality of the corn, a 
corn goddess who was present in every blade and ear. Some spirits 
were vague and nameless, others as definite as the deities of ancient 
Greece and Rome. But ultimately they were no more than personifi- 
cations of the mysterious forces which the Indians saw working in 
nature around them, and which they were unable to account for 
except as they accounted for themselves. 
Just as these mysterious forces varied in their powers, so the 
spirits varied also. Above a multitude of r/enii locoriim, obscure and 
usually nameless, rose higher beings like tlie plains’ thunder-god who 
perpetually warred against the water-s]>irit, the Eskimo sea-goddess 
Sedna who presided over the supply of seals, and the sun or sky-god, 
recognized under different names by many rlifferent tribes, who looked 
down upon all that happened here on eartli. Every tribe had several 
such deities, generally more or less co-ordinate; only the Bella Coola 
Indians of British Columbia arranged tliem into a regular hierarchy 
culminating in a great sky-god, the All-Father Alkuntam. The sky- 
god always occupied the highest position, but many tribes regarded 
him as too remote, too detached from human affairs, to require much 
attention or worship. So the Ilaida Inrlians, while acknowledging 
the supremacy and occasionally offering a few prayers to the “ Power 
of the Shining Heavens ”, reserved nearly all their sacrifices for the 
ocean s])irits, especially the Killer Whales; and the Alontagnais, who 
believed Atachocam created the world, “ spoke of him as one speaks 
of a thing so far flistant that nothing sure can be known about it.”^ 
Yet in two regions at least the sky-gorl reigned supreme. The Huron 
and other Iroquoian tribes offered vo\\'s and sacrifices not only “ to 
1 "Jesuit Relations,” vol. vi, p. 157 ; cf. iv, p. 2(13. 
