and has been handed down to us their children. It teaches us to be
thankful, to be united, and to love one another! We never quarrel
about religion."

Thus spoke the great Seneca orator, Red Jacket, in his superb
reply to Missionary Cram more than a century ago, and I have often
heard the same thought expressed by my countrymen.

I have attempted to paint the religious life of the typical
American Indian as it was before he knew the white man. I
have long wished to do this, because I cannot find that it has ever
been seriously, adequately, and sincerely done. The religion of
the Indian is the last thing about him that the man of another race
will ever understand.

First, the Indian does not speak of these deep matters so long
as he believes in them, and when he has ceased to believe he speaks
inaccurately and slightingly.

Second, even if he can be induced to speak, the racial and
religious prejudice of the other stands in the way of his
sympathetic comprehension.

Third, practically all existing studies on this subject
have been made during the transition period, when the original
beliefs and philosophy of the native American were already
undergoing rapid disintegration.

There are to be found here and there superficial accounts of
strange customs and ceremonies, of which the symbolism or inner