171 
the Earth, to Rivers, to Lakes, to dangerous Rocks, but above all, 
to the Sky . . . They have recourse to the sky in almost all 
their necessities, and respect the great bodies in it above all creatures, 
and remark in it in j^articular, something divine.”^ Similarly, Father 
de Smet writes of the plains’ tribes: “All these Indians believe in 
the existence of a Great Spirit, the Creator of all things . . . They 
think this great medicine pervades all air, earth and sky; that it is 
omnipresent, omnipotent, but subject to be changed and enlisted on 
their side in any undertaking if the proper ceremonies and sacrifices 
are made. It is the author of both good anrl evil according to its 
pleasure, or in accordance with their attention to their mode of 
worship . . . Power is its attribute, and its residence is sup- 
posed by some to be in the siim”- 
Although the great body of th.e Indians lingered in a polytheistic 
stage, yet in several parts of Canada, particularly on the plains, the 
more speculative had arrived at a true monotheism. Their All- 
Father was not the omniscient and benevolent Being of the Christian 
religion who created and governs this universe to fulfil some unknown 
puipose. Neither was it an intellectual principle, like the 
or voiN of Greek philoso]diers. Rather it was tlie personification of 
the mysterious powers or forces operating in man’s environment, 
forces that were conceived as emanations from some higher force. 
The Algonkians called both this higher force and its individual mani- 
festations inanito, the Iroquoians orenda, and some Siouan tribes 
umlcanda. Comparative religion, however, already recognizes the 
conce]:)tion under the term viann, the name that was ajiplied to it 
by the natives of Melanesia and Polynesia, who likewise made it the 
foundation of their religion. 
The supernatural spirits of the Indians, like the mysterious forces 
wliich they personified, might be either helpful or harmful, but they 
were not ethical forces in any sense. Indian thinkers hardly attacked 
the problem of evil in the world. Tlie tribes on the plains considered 
that their All-Father was tlie ultimate source of both good and evil, 
and attempted by rituals and prayer to gain only the blessings. The 
western Carriers of British Columbia now make Sa a sky-god of 
righteousness who punishes violations of the moral code, but this is 
1 Ibid., vol. X, p. 159. 
2 Do Snift: Op. cit., vol. iii, p. 1064 f; c/. p. 939, 
