had the least idea of
futurity."--(_Hearne's Journey to the Northern Ocean.)_ And Colden, in
his History of the Five Nations, says, "It is certain they have no kind
of public worship, and I am told they have no radical word to express
God, but use a compound word signifying the Preserver, Sustainer, or
Master of the Universe; neither could I ever learn what sentiments 'they
have of future existence."--(_Colden's History of the Five Nations,_ p.
15.) I have found no other writer who has advanced a like opinion to the
two quoted above, and little importance has been attached to their
opinions with respect to Indians. Charlevoix, the most accurate observer
of Indian manners who has yet committed his thoughts to paper, says,
"Nothing is more certain, than that the savages of this continent have
an idea of a First Being, but, at the same time, nothing is more
obscure." They agree in general in making Him the First Spirit, the Lord
and Creator of the world. "Every thing," says be, "appears to be the
object of a religious worship."--(_A Voyage to North America, by Father
Charlevoix_, vol. ii. 107.) Heckewelder affirms, that "Habitual devotion
to the Great First Cause, and a strong, feeling of gratitude for the
benefits which He confers, is one of the prominent traits which
characterise the mind of the untutored Indian."--(_Heck. Hist. Ace._ p.
84.) Loskiel says, (_History of the Mission of the United Brethren_, p.
33) "The prevailing opinion of all these nations is, that there is one
God, or, as they call Him, one Great and Good Spirit, who has created
the heavens and the earth, and made man and every other creature."
Mackenzie affirms that they believe in a future state of rewards and
punishments. I have observed that they had not any particular form of
religious worship, but, as they believe in a good and evil spirit, and a
state of future rewards and punishments, they cannot be devoid of
religious impressions.--(_Mackenzie's General History of the Fur Trade_,
vol. i p. 145, 156.) The religion of the Mandans, say Lewis and Clarke,
(vol. i. p. 138,) consists in the belief of one Great Spirit. As their
belief in a Supreme Being is firm and sincere, so their gratitude to Him
is fervent and unvarying. They are tormented by no false philosophy, led
astray by no recondite opinions of controversialists, whether _He is all
in all_, or shares a "divided throne." Simple and unenlightened sons of
nature, they hold the belief which has n