BREASTPLATE QUOTES
Algonkian
Ojibwa.
Social Category, Meaning.
VI.B. Indian Pictography.
7. the Higher Jeesukawin, or Sacred Prophetic Art.
G. SACRED JEESUKAWIN. (Plate 55) [Jaasakiid birch bark chart]
Catherine Wabose (informant), OGEE-WY-AHN-OQUT-O-KWA, or the "prophetess of
Chegoimegon"
I went on, and saw a man standing, with a large circular body, and rays from his head, like horns.
(No. 6.) He said, 'Fear not; my name is Monido-Wininees, or the Little Man-spirit. I give this
name to your first son. It is my life. Go to the place you are called to visit.' I followed the path till
I could see that it led up to an opening in the sky, when I heard a voice, and standing still, saw
the figure of a man standing near the path, whose head was surrounded with a brilliant halo, and
his breast was covered with squares. (No. 11.) He said to me, 'Look at me; my name is O-Shauwau-e-geeghick, or the Bright Blue Sky. I am the veil that covers the opening into the sky. Stand
and listen to me. Do not be afraid. I am going to endow you with gifts of life, and put you in
array that you may withstand and endure.' Immediately I saw myself encircled with bright points,
which rested [page 393] against me like needles, but gave me no pain, and they fell at my feet.
(No. 9.) This was repeated several times, and at each time they fell to the ground. He said, 'Wait,
and do not fear, till I have said and done all I am about to do.' I then felt different instruments,
first like awls, and then like nails, stuck into my flesh, but neither did they give me pain, but, like
the needles, fell at my feet as often as they appeared. He then said, ' That is good,' meaning my
trial by these points; 'you will see length of days. Advance a little farther,' said he. I did so, and
stood at the commencement of the opening. 'You have arrived,' said he, 'at the limit you cannot
pass. I give you my name; you can give it to another. Now, return! Look around you. There is a
conveyance for you. (No. 13.) Do not be afraid to get on its back, and when you get to your
lodge, you must take that which sustains the human body.' I turned, and saw a kind of fish
swimming in the air, and getting upon it as directed, was carried back with celerity, my hair
floating behind me in the air. And as soon as I got back, my vision ceased (Schoolcraft 1860,
v.1:392-393).
Iroquoian
Onondaga.
Use, Social Category, Meaning.
V. Tribal Organization, History, and Government. E.
1. Tribal Influence and General Character.
ONONDAGAS.(1)
The Onondagas early attracted notice for their expertness in the chase, and their bravery and
enterprise in war. They were also celebrated for the wisdom of their counsellors, and the
eloquence of their speakers. The name of Garangula will long continue to be known for the
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eloquence of his words, if not for the keen irony of his satire, when addressed to an unsuccessful
invader of his country. (La Hontan.) No person in their early history, however, appears to have
so fully concentrated the popular applause of the tribe as Atotarho.(1) He was not only a hunter
and warrior of great renown, but had a reputation for the arts of sorcery and necromancy, which
made him the dread of his enemies. When the question arose of placing a permanent presiding
officer over the deliberations of the general confederacy, the situation was offered to him. The
Mohawks, who appear from the first to have been the advanced or foremost tribe in a military
point of view, sent a delegation of their chiefs to announce the choice. They found him, after a
search in the forest, sitting in an open space in low grounds deliberately smoking his pipe. His
body was surrounded and defended, such was his power of sorcery, by a throng of serpents, who
darted out their tongues towards the intrusive delegates. These delegates stood before him with
unmoved composure, with their bows and arrows, and spears. Their heads were crowned with
the flowing white plumes of the heron, and their necks and breasts ornamented with warlike
insignia. This scene, as drawn by an Indian artist, is depicted in Plate 70, p. 420, Vol. I.
Atotarho accepted the trust; and his name, like that of Caesar, became, in after times, the title of
this officer, although it had no other point of analogy with the history of that proud line, for the
Iroquois government was ever strongly federative and representative. Agreeably to the annalist
Cusick, there were thirteen successors to this title before the era of Columbus -- a circumstance
which may be named without attaching any value to the chronology of this writer (Notes on the
Iroquois, p. 91.) (Schoolcraft 1860, v.5:163).
Footnote:
1. This name is given in the Seneca dialect in Morgan's League of the Iroquois.
Muskohegan
Creek.
Use, Ritual, Social Category.
5. Notices of Some Metallic Plates Exhibited In Annual Dances Among the Muscogees.
The earliest notice of these plates appears to be in the work of Adair,(6) who had passed many
years as a trader among the Appalachian tribes. We are informed that on the 27th of July, 1759,
a Mr. Balsover, a British trader in the Creek country, was told of the existence of these ancient
relics by a very aged Muscogee chief. They consisted of seven pieces of copper and two of
brass. They were regarded with [page 89] superstitious awe, guarded with great care, and
exhibited but once a year. This was at the green-corn dance, which is celebrated as a sort of
thanksgiving. This feast is called the busk, an Indian term peculiar to that tribe.
Le Clerk Milfort, who published his work at Paris, 1802,(1) describes them as rare and cherished
relics, to which the Indians attached a high value. Mr. Pickett(2) affirms that there are eleven
pieces. Two of these are articles of brass, eighteen inches in diameter, about the thickness of a
dollar, and stamped with the Roman letters AE with two dots. They are too large to justify the
conjecture that they were cymbals, the only musical instrument to which they can be assimilated;
and they were probably taken by the Indians from some of the early European marauders who
landed on the Florida coasts. The other nine plates of copper(3) may suggest some ancient form
of breastplate used in similar forays; for the early adventurers stood in a hostile attitude to the
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tribes, held no terms with them, and only aimed to capture them to work the mines. The Bahama
Isles were in a short time entirely cleared of the native inhabitants by the plundering expeditions
to enslave Indians for this purpose. From the description and personal notices of Walter Lowrie,
Esq., President of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, who examined these relics in the
Choctaw country in 1852, compared with the figures in Pickett's History of Alabama, the
following figures of these antique objects, as they now exist in the country west of the Arkansas,
are drawn.
Muscogee tradition affirms that there were more of these plates possessed by them at former
periods, of different kinds, some of which had letters or figures, but that the number was
diminished by the custom of placing one or more of them with the body of a deceased chief of
the pure or reigning blood. The plates remaining are placed in the hands of particular men. They
are guarded with care, and kept from being touched by women (Schoolcraft 1860, v.3:88-89).
Footnotes:
page 88
6. American Indians
page 89
1. History of Alabama, Vol. I, p.85
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
Siouan
Sisseton.
Social Category.
Oral Traditions Respecting the History of the Ojibwa Nation.
The Sioux had, by this time, gathered their warriors and put on their war-ornaments, and
appeared from the ravine in a dense body of painted warriors, whooping and yelling. At their
head ran backwards and forwards a prominent figure, who held in his hand the war-flag of
feathers, and on his breast shone a large white medal. He wore a blue garnished coat, and being
a prominent mark, at the first fire of the ambushed Ojibwas he fell dead (Schoolcraft 1860, v.
2:154).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
1860 Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian
Tribes of the United States. 6 vols. J.B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia.
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