Pierrette Désy Spécialiste en histoire et en ethnologie

1 I wish to thank the research group on polytheism at the E.P.H.E., and in particular Francis Schmidt and Hélène Clastres for their friendly attention. I wish also to thank John Aubrey of the Newberry Library (Chicago), who kindly sent me excerpts from the Geneva edition of Benzoni's The History of the New World translated by Chauveton, and also Othmar Keel who read my paper in French, Aileen Ouvrard and Larry Shouldice who helped with the English version.

2 See also Keen's article on Chauveton (1976 : 107-120).

3 This passage is taken from Fenton & Moore (1974 : liii-liv). These authors also remind us that according to Frank Manuel (The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods, 1951), Bossuet's theory on the corruption of the unity of God contains elements, the 18th century deists would borrow.

4 In An Essay on Human Understanding (1690), Locke argues against the notion of innate ideas, so dear to Lafitau, which was also debated by Ragueneau and Bressani ("formed desires and innate desires") in the Relations (1648-49 and 1653).

5 Montaigne writes : "This is a Nation... that hathe no kinde of traffike, no knowledge of Letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrate, nor of politike superioritie ; no use of service, of riches, or of poverty', no contracts, no successions, no dividences, no occupation but idle ; no respect of kindred, but common, no apparell but naturall, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, come, or mettle. (...) ... Men freshly modelled by the gods" (1965 : 305, see also Hodgen, 1971 : 197).

6 American, Indian or Amerinidan : in this paper, I use those terms synonymously.

7 In the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the evolutionist theory posed serious problems for ethnologists interested in Amerindian religions. The question of monotheism led to many arguments. On this subject, see the last part of the paper.

8 Although he published his Voyages, Mémoires and Dialogues for the first time in 1703, Baron de La Honton had sojourned in Canada much earlier, from 1683 to 1694. In 1705 he published a second edition of his works because the first edition "sinned by its style (and) because one found in it low phrases, vulgar expressions and cold mockeries" (1974a : *4).

9 We may observe that in France at the beginning of the 17th century, the sorcerer was truly perceived as casting spells and communicating with the Devil. In 1619, the Bishop of Saint-Malo affirmed that "sorcerers and diviners deliberately make pacts with Satan," and he exhorted Christians not to fear those who are nothing but "ancient masks, stinking and demented" (in Lebrun, 1983 : 103). F. Lebrun reminds us that the discourse on Satan's pact with the sorcerers was a very coherent one in that period. As R. Mandrou has demonstrated (Magistrats et sorciers en France au 17e siècle, Paris, 1968), from 1640 a change in mentalities occurred among the magistrature and the more enlightened people, This change, however, did not prevent contradictory judgments from being handed down on the subject of sorcery many decades thereafter (in Lebrun, 1983 : 103-104)). Those facts are not unconnected to the chronology of the Relations.

10 Contrary to Catholic New France, the case of the American colonies was very different : while Maryland was Catholic, Virginia was Anglican and New England Puritan. And from 1646 onward, more and more cults would be established in such a way that by 1681, in the old and new colonies, Lutherans, Mennonites, Baptists, Quakers, Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians would live side by side.

11 The Powhatan and Patuxan belong to the Algonquin linguistic group ; in theory, they should address their prayers to Manitou and not to Oki. If our chroniclers are not in error, this reference to an Iroquian God could be explained by a cultural borrowing, inasmuch as at the time of these reports, the Iroquois were neighbours of the Algonquins and reported to exercise a certain influence on the latter.

12 In the 16th century, the Spanish Jesuits had already established missions in Virginia ; the following century would see English Jesuits in Maryland.

13 It is well known that certain Amerindian societies include in their pantheon a Supreme Creator. This is the case, for instance, of Olelbis among the Wintun (California), Awonawinola among the Zuñi (Southwest), and Tirawa among the Pawnee (Plains). Other nations have worked out an elaborate belief in the Great Mystery, called Kitche Manitou (Algonquians) and Wakan Tanka (Siouans) mistakenly called the "Great Spirit," who pervades the Universe. In this respect, it is far from certain that Kitche Manitou is an invention of the missionaries, if one recognizes, for example, the precolumbian existence of societies such as the Midewiwin (the Great Medicine Society) among certain Algonquins, or if one analyzes the different components of Wakan Tanka in the Dakota ritual of the Sun Dance (see note 17). From this perspective, the Great Mystery is a form of supraterrestrial. rationalization. Foreign to the Christian God, it is an invention of Amerindian cosmology. Thus the belief in a supreme Creator can be secondary insofar as the gods do their work through cultural heroes, the benefactors of civilization. In many cases, the Creator acts in a peculiar manner since he delegates most of his tasks to secondary heroes. It is as if he were doing nothing or as if he were prodigiously bored in the eternal Void. But he is changeable : sometimes hieratic, and sometimes active (Désy, 1981 : 10-17).

14 Outaoüas, Outaüacs, Ondataouaouats : these terms refer to the Ottawa (or Odawa), Algonquins originally from Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. The chroniclers spelled their name in dozens of ways, all phonetically similar. Champlain called them the "Cheveux-Relevés."

15 However, we have not space to speak of them here because to do so would lead us geographically too far away.

16 Bressani writes : "It will seem a paradox to hear mention of superstition, - that is, of superfluous religion, where there was none at all ; but it is not a new thing to see that in vices there is a passage ab extremo ad extremum, sine medio" (vol. 39, 1653 : 16).

17 The Amerindian peoples recognize a celestial hierarchy among their supraterrestrial creations. Thus, among the Iroquoians, the highest-placed Being is Sky, the elder brother of the twins Taiscaron and Djuskeha (themselves sons of the daughter of Ataentsic, first woman of the Iroquois, who fell from the vault of the firmament). This hierarchy is also found in the course of ceremonials. The Pawnee, too, identify a series of circles leading to the Creator, Tirawa. The circle of visions first reaches the clouds, then the sun and finally Father-Sky. The Ojibwa recognize a series of powers, the highest of which is Kitche-Manitou. Other peoples have conceived several universes, some of which are chthonian (the Hopi have seven of them, the Navajo five). In an article on the Sun Dance, Walker (1917) showed the complexity of Wakan Tanka (the-Great Mystery). Wakan Tanka possesses four natures (God-Chief, Great Spirit, Creator, Executor) which are in turn formed of four unities. Nevertheless, Wakan Tanka, who unites sixteen spiritual unities, is the equivalent of One. Sioux shamans call him Tobtobkin, that is four-times-four. The mysteries of Wakan Tanka are more accessible to shamans than to ordinary people, of course. It is in this sense that Radin is right to stress that religious knowledge differs from one to another, and that certain particulars are not accessible to all (Radin, 1954 : 20 et passim).