Cincinnati, College of St. Francis Xavier, July 28, 1854. Reverend and Dear Father:
In my last letter, dated the 16th of this month, when sending you the translation of the address of Crazy Bear, the great Assiniboin chief, I promised you a sketch of the religious and superstitious opinions of that nation. I will now fulfill my promise.
I here propose acquainting you with the religious worship and moral code of the Assiniboins : it may be considered as the type of the superstitious creed of the greater portion of the barbarous tribes which roam over the forests and prairies of the upper Missouri.
Shrouded in idolatrous darkness, these people have no clear idea of their origin or end. Upon the momentous questions, "Whence came I?" and "What is my future destiny? " there are various conjectures, even among those nations who have received even a feeble light concerning the eternal verities of the gospel. All the Indians admit the existence of the Great Spirit, viz., of a Supreme Being who governs all the important affairs of life, and who manifests his action in the most ordinary events. They have no correct notion of the immutability of God. They think they can obtain his favors in the accomplishment of their projects, whatever be their nature, by presents, corporeal macerations,
penances, fasts, etc. Thus every spring, at the first peal of thunder, which they call the voice o f the Great Spirit, speaking from the clouds, the Assiniboins offer it sacrifices; some burn tobacco, and present to the Great Spirit the most exquisite pieces of buffalo meat, by casting them into the fire; while others make deep incisions in the fleshy parts of their bodies, and even cut off the first joints of their fingers,
to offer them in sacrifice. Thunder, next to the sun, is their Great Wah-kon. They hear it, and after a storm they sometimes perceive the effects of the lightning on the trees. on their horses and on man; hence it is an object of dread, and they endeavor to appease it.