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I was reading DeWitt Peters' Kit Carson’s Life and Adventures the other day and found an interesting passage. Wouldn't it be great if our own politicians could be tested by their gods in such fashion? Let those that prove themselves worthy of trust be invested with power. Whaddya think?
“One of their ancient customs, well authenticated, was to honor the virtuous women of their tribe with sacred titles, investing them, in their blind belief, with power to call down the favor of the Great Spirit. But every woman who aspired to this honor was required upon a certain day in the year, to run the gauntlet of braves. This was sometimes a terrible scene. All the warriors of the tribe, arrayed in their fiercest war costume and armed at every point with lance, bow and arrow, knife, tomahawk, etc., were drawn up under the command of the principal chief, in single line. At the head of this line was placed a kind of chaplet, or crown, the possession of which for any woman was supposed to confer the power of necromancy or magic, rendering her able to heal diseases and foretell events. The line having been formed, all of the young maidens of the tribe were drawn up in a body at the further extremity, and any of them who aspired to the possession of the chaplet, was at liberty, having first uncovered her back and breast as far as her waist, to march before the line of warriors, within ten paces of their front, and, if she lived to reach it, take possession of the crown. On the other hand, it was the duty of any warrior, who knew of aught by word or deed against the virtue of the advancing maiden, to kill her upon the spot. If one arrow was shot at her, the whole band instantly poured a flight of arrows into her bare and defenceless bosom until life was extinct. Again, it was the belief of the untutored savage that whatever warrior failed to make his knowledge apparent, if he possessed any, by sending his arrow to the aspirant, would always be an object of revenge by the Great Spirit, both here and hereafter; and, that he would always live in the hereafter, in the sight of the Happy Hunting Grounds, but never be allowed to enter them. This latter belief made it a rare thing for young girls to brave the attempt; but, sometimes, the candidates were numerous, and the horrible butchery of the young girls which took place formed a terrible expose' of their lewdness” (Peters 177-78).
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