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SWANTONj CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL LIFE 197
he was represented on earth by fire. The following from Israel
Folsom may be added
They believed in the existence of a Great Spirit, and that lie possessed
super-natural power, and was omniscient, but they did not deem that He
expected or required any form of worship of them. ... All they felt was a
dread of His attributes and character, made manifest to them l)y the
phenomena of the heuvens.""
The name of God among the Louisiana Choctaw, Aba, " above,"
is evidently identical with, or abbreviated from, a purely aboriginal
designation, almost identical with one term used by the Chickasaw,
Creeks, Chitimacha, and Atakapa.
The supreme being did not exist to the exclusion of all other
spirits, whether or not his position with relation to them was as
distinct as Wright claims. Cushman speaks of spirits good and
evil, and has the following to say about them, though how much is
un adulteratedly Indian can only be guessed:
The philosophy of the ancient Indian ever taught him to concentrate his
mind upon the spirit land ; and that the influences which surrounded him in
Nature, above, beneath, around, are sent direct by the spirits that dwell in
an invisible world above; that there are two kinds of spirits,—the good and
the bad, who are continually at war with each other over him, the good
directing all things for his prosperity and happiness, the bad directing all
things against his prosperity and happiness ; that within himself he can do
nothing, as he is utterly helpless in the mighty contest that is waged over him
by the good and bad spirits. Therefore he exerts his greatest energies of
mind and body to the propitiation of the bad spirits rather than the good,
since the former may be induced to extend the sceptre of mercy to him,
while the latter will ever strive for his good, and his good alone. Therefore,
when he is fortunate he attributes it to some good spirit; when unfortunate,
to some bad spirit. So, when he said it is " good medicine," he meant that the
good spirit had the ascendency ; and when he said it is " bad medicine " he
meant that the bad spirit had the ascendency.
Therefore, all things in nature, as a natural consequence, indicated to him
the presence of the spirits, both good and bad,—as each made known their
immediate nearness through both animate and inanimate nature. The sighing
of the winds ; the flight of the birds ; the howl of the lone wolf ; the midnight
hoot of the owl, and all other sounds heard throughout his illimitable forests
both by day and by night, had to him most potent significations ; by which
he so governed all his actions that he never went upon any enterprise before
consulting the signs and omens; then [he] acted in conformity thereto. If
the medicine is good, he undertakes his journey; if bad, he remains at home,
and no argument can induce him to change his opinion, which I learned from
personal experience.**
The Chickasaw and Creeks also believed in good and evil spirits,
but it is not clear whether the latter were solely spirits of the dead
or whether evil spirits of independent origin were numbered among
them.
«8 Cushman, Hist. Inds., p. 362. «» Ibid., pp. 159-160.