CHAPTER III. 
Indian Traditions , Superstitions , and Pictographs. 
’ At the Delaware settlement, called Beaversville, we were visited by Jesse Chisholm, a Cher¬ 
okee. He is well known throughout the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw countries, and, as a 
trader, has been much among the wild tribes of the prairies. He speaks English and Spanish, 
and is so well versed in Indian languages, that at a late council of Comanches, Kaiowas, Hueeos, 
Kichais, Cadoes, and Witchitas, with the various semi-civilized tribes inhabiting the regions 
referred to, he was chosen interpreter for all. His opportunities, therefore, for acquiring inform¬ 
ation upon the subject under consideration are evident. He states that all the above-mentioned 
tribes have a firm conviction of the existence of one Great Spirit. The wilder the Indian, the 
less he has seen of white men, the more implicit is his trust in the invisible Deity. From this 
unity of faith and similarity in the modes of worship, Chisholm infers that the different tribes 
have all the same origin. 
The civilized Indians are beginning to put less confidence in the “ Creek fire,” though it is 
still kept burning. The Cherokees also are becoming remiss in the performance of their ances¬ 
tral rites. However, they maintain their ancient custom of having one family of the tribe set 
apart for the priesthood. Upon the birth of a son, he is subjected to a fast, which continues 
seven days. On the third day he is consecrated to his office ; on the ninth other ceremonies are 
performed. The boy is after wards,trained to his profession, and becomes a priest or “ medicine 
man,” to win celebrity and power in proportion to his talents and ambition. When any 
undertaking of magnitude is contemplated, the priest is consulted for an augury. Not long 
since Chisholm attended one of these ceremonies. The people, apprehending an attack from 
their enemies, had consulted the priest. He arose with dignity and addressed the assembly. 
He told them that the Great Spirit equally loved all people; but that those who prayed to him, 
and believed most implicitly in his power, he condescended to favor with knowledge denied to 
others. Having concluded an eloquent and imposing invocation, he produced a small black 
stone, or piece of metal, and said that, in very ancient times, the Great Spirit had been pleased 
to give it to his chosen people to indicate his will. Then taking a curiously wrought bowl, 
alleged to be of great antiquity, he filled it with water, and placed the black substance within, 
causing it to move from one side to the other, and from bottom to top, by a word. Alluding, 
then, to danger and foes, the enchanted mineral fled from the point of his knife ; but as he began 
to speak of peace and security, it turned toward and clung to it, till lifted entirely from the 
water. The priest finally interpreted the omen, by informing the people that peace was in the 
ascendant, no enemy being near. 
Cherokees, from time immemorial, have been accustomed to baptise their infants with water 
when three days old. They believe that, without this rite, the child cannot live. They have a 
custom of sacrifices and burnt-offerings. The victim is generally a deer ; sometimes the whole 
animal, at others the heart and selected portions of the entrails are burned. 
They believe in future rewards, but not in future punishments ; in the Good Spirit, and in a 
happy spirit-land; but know nothing of the Evil One and his domains, excepting what they have 
learned from white men. Misdeeds, they think, are punished in this world; hence sickness, 
poverty, war, and death. 
His intercourse with Comanches has impressed him with a high opinion of their intellect. 
Their language is copious, but difficult to learn ; there being often many words to represent the 
