Product Synopsis

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1922. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... SOULS; GHOSTS; HEREAFTER. The metaphysical tendency is very moderately developed among the Crow. There are no profound theories as to the soul and such reflections as may occasionally be garnered on this and related topics are not infrequently mutually contradictory. The word for soul is irti"xe (my soul, bartiaxe; souls, irtiaxud). It is used in speaking of a person's will power and is clearly connected with the word for 'shadow,' irtixaxe. Gray-bull said that all animals (Mxuambice) have souls, that is why the Crow do not kill dogs. The sacred stones taken along on war expeditions also had souls. Another informant, however, denied that animals were believed to have souls. Sometimes the soul of a dead person will put a tooth or a lock of hair of its own into a person's body and cause him to go insane. The soul is believed to stay by the burial and sometimes an owl-like cry is heard there. In this last statement there is probably a confusion between 'soul' and 'ghost,' for below we shall find that the deceased live in camps of their own, while hooting like an owl is generally described as an attribute of ghosts. The word for ghost is a'partiaxe, which is also sometimes used to render 'devil.' It seems to be etymologically connected with that for soul, but I am unable to explain the first part of the word. Another word recorded for 'ghost' is maxuirete which denotes lack of body. Ghosts are feared and to compare a person to a ghost is to offer a grave insult. In a myth a woman at once leaves her husband when he likens her to a ghost.1 The whirlwind is taken for a ghost and an approaching one will be thus addressed:-- an-dare k'awfk', d!-t'at' da! Where you are going it is bad, you alone go (imperative)! Ghosts are not regarded as uniformly malevolent, ho...