_jossakeed_, the last being
the highest. To this no white man was ever admitted. All tribes appear
to have been controlled by these secret societies. Alexander von
Humboldt mentions one, called that of the Botuto or Holy Trumpet, among
the Indians of the Orinoko, whose members must vow celibacy and submit
to severe scourgings and fasts. The Collahuayas of Peru were a guild of
itinerant quacks and magicians, who never remained permanently in one
spot.

Withal, there was no class of persons who so widely and deeply
influenced the culture and shaped the destiny of the Indian tribes, as
their priests. In attempting to gain a true conception of the race's
capacities and history, there is no one element of their social life
which demands closer attention than the power of these teachers.
Hitherto, they have been spoken of with a contempt which I hope this
chapter shows is unjustifiable. However much we may deplore the use they
made of their skill, we must estimate it fairly, and grant it its due
weight in measuring the influence of the religious sentiment on the
history of man.

FOOTNOTES:

[265-1] Haeser, _Geschichte der Medicin_, pp. 4, 7: Jena, 1845.

[265-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 440.

[267-1] Carver, _Travels in North America_, p. 73: Boston, 1802;
_Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 135.

[267-2] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espana_, lib. x. cap. 20; _Le Livre
Sacre des Quiches_, p. 177; _Lett. sur les Superstit. du Perou_, pp. 89,
91.

[269-1] _Life of Black Hawk_, p. 13.

[270-1] _Travs. in North America_, p. 74.

[270-2] _Journal Historique_, p. 362.

[271-1] Sometimes facts like this can be explained by the quickness of
perception acquired by constant exposure to danger. The mind takes
cognizance unconsciously of trifling incidents, the sum of which leads it
to a conviction which the individual regards almost as an inspiration.
This is the explanation of _presentiments_. But this does not apply to
cases like that of Swedenborg, who described a conflagration going on at
Stockholm, when he was at Gottenberg, three hundred miles away.
Psychologists who scorn any method of studying the mind but through
physiology, are at a loss in such cases, and take refuge in refusing them
credence. Theologians call them inspirations either of devils or angels,
as they happen to agree or disagree in religious views with the person
experiencing them. True science reserves its opinion until further
observation enli