7. Relir/ious Usarjes. — The Indians are alleged by Domenech to have had a few customs not wholly unlike some which obtained among the Jews. They have some feasts at which they are obliged to cat all that has been prepared for the banquet. They observe a feast of first-fruits, and have some forbidden meats, re- garding some animals as impure. They observe the custom of sacrificing the first animal killed on the open- ing of great hunts, the animal being entirely eaten. They carry amulets under the name of medicine-bags, and accord a subordinate species of worship to idols of stone, wood, or baked clay. The amulets, lucky stones, and charms existed everywlicre, and were a chief ob- ject of barter. In Yucatan and Peru pilgrimages to sa- cred shrines were so common as that, in some instances, " roads paved with cut stones" were constructed to facil- itate the attendance on certain temples, and houses of entertainment constructed along the way.
The priesthood of the countrj' has been considered by those long familiar with the subject to have done more than any other agency to keep these tribes from becom- ing civilized. They are often spoken of as medicine- men, and are variously st.yled by the Algonquius and Dakotas " those knowing divine things," " dreamers of the gods ;" in Mexico, " masters or guardians of the di- vine things ;" in Cherokee their title means " possessed of the divine fire ;" in Iroquois, " keepers of the faith ;" in Quichua, "the learned;" in Maya, "the listeners." As medicine-men, they tried to frighten the daemon that possessed the patient; sucked and blew upon the diseased organ, sprinkled it with water, rubbed the parts with their hands, and made an image representa- tive of the spirit of sickness, and knocked it to jrleces. They were much skilled in tricks of legerdemain, set- ting fire to articles of clothing and instantly extinguish- ing the flames by magic. They summoned spirits to answer questions about the future, and possessed clair- voyant powers; and they were reputed to be even able to raise the dead. They consecrated amulets, inter- preted dreams, cast horoscopes, rehearsed legends, per- formed sacrifices, and, in short, constituted the chief centre of the intellectual force of the people. They ara thus a kind of priests, doctors, and charlatans, who per- form penance, and submit to mutilation, fasting, and self-mortitication. They obser\-e with minute attention the shape and color of the clouds, their volume and di- rection, and their position relatively to the sun and ho- rizon. Carnivorous birds are considered precursors of war; their flight indicates the time and place at which future battles will be fought ; they go to and fro carry- ing messages for the spirit of battle. The priest is par- ticularly important in the ceremony which is necessan,' to secure rain. The medicine lodge is used for nearly all ceremonies.
8. Present Location and Numbers. — The large propor- tion of the Indians of the United States are now gath- ered within the Indian Territorj-, on " Eeservations" as- signed them by the United-States government. There are others, however, in Oregon, Alaska, New Mexico, etc. Within the Indian Territorj' they do not " live by fishing, hunting, and trapping, but cultivate the sod, are settled, and have attained a considerable degree and sho%vn a susceptibility of gemdne ci\'ilization."
From the Second Annual Report of the Board of In- dian Commissioners (United-States government), 1870, we collect the following statistics. There are of the various tribes within the Indian Territorj', Choctaws, 16,000; Cherokees, 17,000; Muscogees or Creeks. 1.3,000; Seminoles, 2500 ; Chickasaws, 6000 ; Osages, 4000 ; Pe- orias, 170; Ottawas, 175; Sacs and Foxes, 700; Qua- paws, 236. Of the Apaches of Arizona and New Mex- ico there are 14,349, and of a group of tribes in Oregon 837. No statistics of the Oneidas in Wisconsin are giv- en. For the work of the missionary societies amongst these Indians, see Missions.
9. Literature. — Brinton, Myths of Neio World (N. Y. 1868) ; Waitz, Anthmpnlor/ic der Natur-Volker (Leipzig, 1862-66) ; Catlin. .V. . I lu'.Indkms (Lond. 1841) ; Mliller, Gesch. der Amcri/.-dnis,/,, n i' r-religionen (Basel, 1855); Squier, The Seiyent Si/mbvl of America (N.York, 1851); Hawking, Sketch of the Creek Count?-?/ (Georgia Hist. Soc. 1848); Schooicrah, Red Races of America (N. Y, 1847) ; Kotes on the Iroquois (Albanj', 1848) ; Hist, and Statist. Information prepared for the Indian Bureau of the U. S. Government (Philad. 1851) ; Domenech, Seven Years' Residence in the great Deserts of North America (London, 1860, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Brainard, A Joumcd among the Indians (Philadcl.); Prescott's Conquest of Mexico ; Copwaj', Traditional Hist, of the Ojihway Nation (Lond. 1850) ; M'Coj% Hist, of the Bapt. Indian Missions : Ivlrs. Eastman, Legends of the Sioux; Histoi-y of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes from 1529 to 1824 (N. Y. 1856) ; Trans. A m. Ethn. Soc. (1848) ; Relations de la Nouvelle France (Quebec, 1858) ; Mr. Duponceaux's Re- port to Amer. Bhilos. Soc. (1819, 8vo). (J. T. G.)
A
INDICTIO FESTOR. MOBILIUM 561
INDIFFERENTISM
Indictio Festdrum Mobilium. Sec Indictio
Pa 8C HAL IS.
Indiction (Latin indictio, a declaring) is a term wliich designates '• a chronological system, including a circle of tifteen years : (1) the Cesarean, used long in France and Germany, beginning on Sept. 24 ; (2) the ( 'oi/Kfiii/fiiiopolitati, used in the East from the time of An- astasiiis. an>\ beginning Sept, 1 ; and (3) the Papal, reck- oned Iniiu ,hai. 1, 313. The Council of Antioch, 341, first gixc's a. docuinentary date, the 14th indiction. The com- putation prevailed in Syria in the tilth century, and is mentioned by Ambrose as existing at Kome. It is, how- ever, asserted that in the West, the East, and Egypt, with the exception of Africa, the indictions, until the 16th century, were reckoned from Sept, 1,312, and that they comniencod in Egypt in the time of Constantine." — Wak'ott, Stimil . I rc/nt'olof/i/, p. 327 ; see also Gibbon, Decline, and Full of the Roman Enqnre, ii, 141. See Cv-