New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Book of Mormon; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
In the Tuccabatches on the Tallapoose river, thirty miles above the
Allabahamah garrison are two brazen tables, and five of copper.
They (the Indians) esteem them so sacred as to keep them constantly
in their holy of holies, without touching them in the least, only
in the time of their compounded first-fruit offering, and annual
expiation of sins; at which season, their magus carries one under
his arm, ahead of the people, dancing round in sacred armor; next
to him their head warrior carries another; and those warriors who
choose it carry the rest after the manner of the high priest;
all the other carry white canes with swan-feathers at the top.
Hearing accidentally of these important monuments of antiquity,
and inquiring pretty much about them, I was certified of the
truth of the report by four of the southern traders, at the most
eminent Indian trading house of all English America. One of the
gentlemen informed me, that at my request he endeavored to get the
liberty of viewing the aforesaid tables, but it could not possibly
be obtained, only in the time of the yearly grand sacrifice, for
fear of polluting their holy things, at which time gentlemen of
curiosity may see them. Old Bracket, an Indian, of perhaps one
hundred years old, lives in that old beloved town, who gave the
following description of them:
The shape of the five copper plates: One is a foot and a half long
and seven inches wide, the other four are shorter and narrower.
The shape of the two brass plates was circular, about a foot and a
half in diameter.
He [Bracket] said that he was told by his forefathers that those
plates were given to them by the man we call God; that there had
been many more of other shapes, some as long as he could stretch
with both his arms, and some had writing upon them which are buried
with particular men; and that they had instructions given with
them, viz., they must only be handled by particular people, and
those feasting [fasting?]; and no unclean woman must be suffered to
come near them or the place, where they are deposited. He said none
but his own town's people had any such plates given them, and that
they were a different people from the Creeks. He only remembered
three more which were buried with three of his family and he was
the only man of the family now left. He said, there were two copper
plates under the king's cabin which laid there from the first
settling of the town.
This account was taken in the Tuccabatchey square, 27th July, 1759,
per Will. Bolsover. [7]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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