ourse, an animistic
ghost-evolved deity. Anthropological writers, by an oversight, have
dwelt on Oki, but have not mentioned Ahone.(2) Manifestly it is not
possible to insist that these Virginian high deities were borrowed,
without saying whence and when they were borrowed by a barbaric race
which was, at the same time, rejecting Christian teaching.

(1) Prim. Cult., ii. 341.

(2) History of Travaile into Virginia, by William Strachey, 1612.

Mr. Tylor writes, with his habitual perspicacity: "It is the widespread
belief in the Great Spirit, whatever his precise nature and origin, that
has long and deservedly drawn the attention of European thinkers to the
native religions of the North American tribes". Now while, in recent
times, Christian ideas may undeniably have crystallised round "the Great
Spirit," it has come to be thought "that THE WHOLE DOCTRINE of the Great
Spirit was borrowed by the savages from missionaries and colonists. But
this view will not bear examination," says Mr. Tylor.(1)

(1) Prim. Cult, ii. pp. 339, 340 (1873). For some reason, Mr. Tylor
modifies this passage in 1891.

Mr. Tylor proceeds to prove this by examples from Greenland, and the
Algonkins. He instances the Massachusett God, Kiehtan, who created the
other gods, and receives the just into heaven. This was recorded in
1622, but the belief, says Winslow, our authority, goes back into the
unknown past. "They never saw Kiehtan, but THEY HOLD IT A GREAT CHARGE
AND DUTY THAT ONE AGE TEACH ANOTHER." How could a deity thus rooted in a
traditional past be borrowed from recent English settlers?

In these cases the hypothesis of borrowing breaks down, and still more
does it break down over the Algonkin deity Atahocan.

Father Le Jeune, S.J., went first among the Algonkins, a missionary
pioneer, in 1633, and suffered unspeakable things in his courageous
endeavour to win souls in a most recalcitrant flock. He writes (1633):
"As this savage has given me occasion to speak of their god, I will
remark that it is a great error to think that the savages have no
knowledge of any deity. I was surprised to hear this in France. I do not
know their secrets, but, from the little which I am about to tell, it
will be seen that they have such knowledge.

"They say that one exists whom they call Atahocan, who made the whole.
Speaking of God in a wigwam one day, they asked me 'what is God?' I told
them that it was He who made all things, Heaven and Earth.