_It is the will of God, or the Great
Spirit, as the Indian phrases it._ They were more enlightened than
their neighbors, as historians have stated, because, I suppose, they
were more superstitious. They bowed to fate, the attribute of
superstition everywhere, and made no effort at relief from the causes
of decay.
Their religion, like all the aborigines of the continent, consisted in
the worship of the Great Spirit typified in the sun, to whom was
addressed their prayers and all their devotion. The sacred fire was the
emblem on earth; their Great Sun had brought it from the sun and given
it as holy to them to be forever preserved and propitiated by watching
and prayer. In every village and settlement they erected mounds upon
which the temple of the sun was built, and where was deposited the
sacred fire. Mounds, too, were built for burying-places, and in these
are now to be found in great abundance the flat heads and other bones
of this remarkable people.
They had a tradition that an evil spirit was always tempting them to
violate the laws, and the regulations of their religious belief.
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