]81 
coast the heads of the various “ houses ” and clans maintained a 
careful conti'ol over the secret societies and invariably occupied the 
most important seats at all public ceremonies. There is no indica- 
tion that any ('anadian tribe, except perhaps the Ojibwa, would ever 
have evolved a powerful priesthood exercising supreme authority in 
the religious sphere, comparable with the ]:>riestlioods that have arisen 
at many different levels of civilization, and in many different parts 
of the world, including the North American continent itself. 
Dance nf Ilaida (?) Indians at Ks<|niinalt. li.C. < Rcproti uvt'd , ihrnuyh ilic rourfcxif 
of the Ifoi/ftI (hiidiio Mitxviitii of A retiiroloifi/, front o ixiititiiiff htf Pout Kane.) 
The crude beliefs of the aborigines could not witlistand the 
impact of European civilization without considerable reinter])reta- 
tion. The early missionaries and settlers derided or condemned Iheir 
dreams and visions as foolish illusions, or as traffic with the hosts of 
Satan. Amulets and cliarms that might seem to liave guarded against 
sickness in earlier days failed absolutely to mitigate the terrible 
ravages of the newly introduced plagues, smallpox and measles. The 
medicine-men who summoned their supernatural helpers, beat their 
drums, and shook their rattles, themselves fell victims to the diseases 
