53. The Paganism of the Civilised Iroquois of OntarioAuthor(s): David BoyleSource: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 30(1900), pp. 46-47Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842688 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 04:12

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.34 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:12:36 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

No. 53.1 Anthr7Z,oioqieol Reviews and Miseellanca. [1900.

animals. ... Scarcely an industry relating to the treatment of animals was based on individual action. Men were fowling, fishing, and hunting together. Much of the apparatus could not be managed by any individual."

VI. The progress of knowledge in Zootechny, including, the growth of langnage. "It is astonishing to find what a large vocabulary exists," in each case, "for the different forms of animal life, and different parts of the animal's body." . . . "Half the words of any primitive language are derived from man's association with beast-kind." Moreover, " the inventive faculty, wlhich after all is the differentiating elemelnt betwveen man and the brute, has been stimulated in the devising of property, means of capture, anid tools fol lharndling aniimal substances,."

VIII. Religion: because, " in lower forms of religion and mythology, zo8theistic conceptionns are prominent. Every creature is somebody. The aniimal world lies very near to human actions. Detailed consideration of this heading is postponed, but Professor Mason illustrates his thesis by a table showilng the comparative numaber of clans or gentes, and of " animal totems," among a number of native Americani tribes.

The paper is full of suggestive hints foi the collectioni of material, and for the classification alnd arrangement of malny kinds of ethnological specimens which accumulate at present in store-rooms and basements of museums.

The Plates which accompany it illustrate;--T, Leisters, combination struntures for grasping, piercinig, and retrievling, from Alaska, U.S. Nat. Mus., 23,518, 29,864, 49,051; II. (a) Harpooni head for retrievinig showing toggle and barb types in one, U.S.N.M., 89,379; (b) Fislhgig; shank, body and flakes of bolne, U.S.N.M., 30,379; (c) Fislihook from the Naskapi Ilndians of Labrador, U.,S.N.-I., 89,977 ; (d1) Throwing sticks and stunning darts from Xinger River, South America (after voll dell Steinen); (e) Bird-dart (for piercing and entangling), alnd throwing-board, of the Greeiilalld Eskimlro, U.S.N. M1., 168,974; (f) Modern atlatl, or throwing-stick, frolm Lake Patzcuaro, Mlexico, [TS.N.ATh., 153,020; (g) Hide-scraper with blade of glass alnd grip of wood, from the Tehuelche Indians of Patagonia, U.S.N.M., 178,403. III. Barbed harpoon (wvlheln the animial is struck the barb is detached, and the shaft is mlade to float vertically by the martingale anid bladder), U.S.N.1AL., 11,362. IV. Toggle harpooni and line from Cumberland Gulf, U.S.N.MI., 19,519 (detailed dr%awings of the essential parts). J. L. iM.

Ontario: Religion. Boyle. g The Paganismit of the Civilised Iroquois of Ontario. Communlicated by David 53 Boyle, Curator of the Museum of Toronto, to the Anthropological Section of

the British Associationi for- the Advancement of Science. Bradford, September 10th, 1900. [To be printed in full in this Journal, vol. xxx.]

Notwithstaniding the contact of the Iroquois or Six Nation Indian,s with wlhite people for more tlhan three lhundred years, a very considerable number of the former have retained marny of their old-time beliefs with the form-ns and ceremiioniies apper- tainiiig thereto.

Of four thousanld Caniengas (Mohawks), Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras lnow residing in thle Grand Reserve, within sixty mDiles of Toronto, Ontario, fully onie-fourth continuLie to observe the alncient feasts or dances connected -with the growvth annd ingathering of corn and fruLits, anid for desired changes in weathler as well as for the cure of disease.

Some modification in the ceremonies was made about a centu.ry ago by an Onondaga named Ska-ne-o-dy-o, wlho announced hiimself as a prophet who bad paid a visit to the abode of the Great Spirit. The changes introduced by him, however,

( 46

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.34 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:12:36 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1900.] Ai.thrspoiogiit Reviews and Miscellanae. [Nos. 54-55.

have not by any means removed the pagan character of the native beliefs, although he certainly did attempt to imitate some Christiaii observances. Still the addresses of the medicine men retaiu most of the old-time forms, although their significance in many cases is lost, and even the meaning of numerous words is no longer known.

The leading idea in the present form of worship is that of a Great Spirit; but this has been acquired from missionary sources, and although the Indians have adopted the idea of a heaven, they do not believe in any hell

The quoted examples of petitions addressed to Raween Niyoh, the Creator-, illubtrate the lack of assimilatiou of the old and new forms.

One of the most characteristic ceremonies connected with the Iroquois paganism is that of the sacrifice or burning of the White Dog at the New Year Feast duiring the February moon, wheni the spirit of the dog, accompanied by offerings of tobacco, conveys to Niyoh informationi respecting the condition of his "own people" on the Grand River Reserve. North America: Tau-Shield. Dalton.

Note on a Copper Shield from the N. W. Coast of America. Commnllicated by =

0. M. Dalton. 5 This shield, made of beaten copper, was origin- r -. - e

ally obtained by the Hudson's Bay Company's I Ag,ents at Port Simpson from a member of the Stickeen Tribe: the crest painted on the front is that of the grizzly bear. The copper was stated by *...

the chief Negh-Hnrn-gee-asc to have been foand on an islaind in Alaska by Sitka Inidians. The shield : r has been in possession of several tribes, and is of considerable antiquity. Imitations of such shields, often called tau-.hields from the raised T-figure on the lower part, were made by the Hudson's Bay Company for sale to the Indians, but these spurious I' examples are much lighter than that here figured, which has recently been acquired by the British Museum.

The bronze ground of the totemic design was temporarily covered with whiting in order to secure a sufficient degree of contrast for the photograph.

Canada. Ethnographic Survey Committee. lRport of the Canadian Ethnzogriiphic Survey Comimittee. Presenited to the 5,

British Association for the Advancemcnt of Science at Bradford, September J lOtb, 1900. To be published in full in the forthcoming Proceedings of the Association.

The work of the past year has furnished conspicnous evidence of the great importance of securing ethnological data with as little delay as possible. While this is eminently true with respect to the white population, which is experielncing new and marked changes almost every year, in consequence of the introduction of foreign elements, often in large numbers, it is more particularly true with respect to the native Indian population. In many localities the original blood has become so diluted by intermarriage with whites that it is often a matter of great difficulty to find an Indian of pure blood. Proximity to settlements of wlhite people hias resulted in a more or less pi'ofoind impress upon the social life and tribal customs, which are fast

( 47)

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.34 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 04:12:36 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions