183 
interest eini)raeefi Christianity. The old relio'ion had to change under 
the chang:ed conditions if it was to survive at all. In most places, 
of course, it has not survived, even although it has so determined 
the interpretation of the newer faith that some of its elements still 
hold their ground wherever the Indians preserve a semblance of their 
former life. Yet here and there before it yielded it did make a reso- 
lute attempt to set its house in order and to adjust itself to the altered 
environment. 
The princi]ial adjustment was in the direction of pure mono- 
theism. Every tribe liad possessed a sky-god who ranked among 
the higher supernatural beings, even if he did not always occupy the 
foremost place. In reaction to Christian teaching the Indians 
exalted him into a “ Clreat Spirit ” of i-ighteousness, the master of 
the universe and the direct author of all that happens here below. 
It is true that the Hurons and the plains’ tribes had almost reached 
this conception in pre-European daysd but they had failed to 
emphasize the moral nature of their sky-god and had allowed the 
doctrine to remain entangled in a mass of polytheistic beliefs and 
a still cruder nature-worship. The clash with Christianity purified 
their notions, and the impulse toward monotheism extended to other 
tribes.- Yet the “ Great Spirit ” still remained a peculiarly Indian 
god who favoured his redskin children, althougli he had allowed them 
to pass under the rule of the white man; and many natives dreamed 
of a day when he would banish the usurpers to their homes across 
the sea, and restore the country to its rightful possessors.^ 
Out of these dreams and garbled versions of Christian teaching 
arose some curious religious revivals instigated by Indians who 
claimed to have received direct revelations from the sky. Best 
known of these is the “ New Religion ” propagated by a Seneca 
sachem named Handsome Lake in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century. His followei’s, numerous even to-day among the Iroquois, 
assert that three spiritual beings sent by the Great Spirit restored 
him to life as he lay insensible on his couch, showerl him the tor- 
ments that the evil-minded endure in the future life, and sent him 
1 It is not impossil)le that the imiierfcet irionotheism of tliose Iiirliaiis itself a very early re.aetion 
to vague Christian ideas carried from tribe to tribe across the continent Isefnre any white explorers 
readied the far interior. 
2 For a recent example among the Eskimo, Sec Rasnni.s.scn, Knud: " .\cro.ss Arctic .\merica,” 
ch. xxviii (New York, 14)27), 
3 The Indian.s of northern British Columbia, jiart iciilarly the Tsiinsliian, still talk occasionally of 
“ driving the white man back to Boston,” i.e., to the United States. 
861 ) 59—13 
