History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians Volume P81-1125 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ... drouth that prevailed in their Nation soon after the establishment of the mission called Hebron. The Rain Maker had long been appealed to through supplications and fees, but all in vain; and it seemed that the stubborndrouth had unitedi .vith more than one distant brother Umba Ikbi in rendering his present worship prodigiously mad, not only with them but also with himself and the world in general, as his ears seemed deaf to all appeals upon the subject of water. Since wells and cisterns were luxuries then unknown to the Indians, they depended upon their rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds, which seldom failed to supply. Amid the prevailing gloom an aged Choctaw widow named Im-ai-yah (to go by) living two miles south of Hebron, came one day, as she oft had done before, to talk with her pale-face friend, Mrs. Cushman, concerning the drouth. She soon stated that she believed there would be plenty of rain in a few days. When asked upon what she based her belief, she replied: "On my way here this morning, I sat down at the roots of a large tree; while sitting there these thoughts came to me. Our Rain Maker cannot make it rain, or he would. If he can make it rain, why should not I be able to make it rain too? Why should not anyone? Then I asked myself; who made this big tree? Somebody made it, and he who made it surely can make it rain too. I know he can; and I will ask him to please make it rain very soon. I then kneeled down at the roots of that big tree and earnestly prayed to him who made the big tree to please make it rain; and while I was praying a little cloud formed directly over the tree, and a little shower fell and many of the drops of water, pass-" ing through the leaves of the tree, fell on me. I know now who can make it rain." "Who?..".