All these stratagems were intended to shroud with impenetrable secrecy the mysteries of the brotherhood. With the same motive, the priests formed societies of different grades of illumination, only to be entered by those willing to undergo trying ordeals, whose secrets were not to be revealed under the severest penalties. The Algonkins had three such grades, the _waubeno_, the _meda_, and the _jossakeed_, the last being the highest. To this no white man was ever admitted. All tribes appear to have been controlled by these secret societies. Alexander von Humboldt mentions one, called that of the Botuto or Holy Trumpet, among the Indians of the Orinoko, whose members must vow celibacy and submit to severe scourgings and fasts. The Collahuayas of Peru were a guild of itinerant quacks and magicians, who never remained permanently in one spot. Withal, there was no class of persons who so widely and deeply influenced the culture and shaped the destiny of the Indian tribes, as their priests. In attempting to gain a true conception of the race's capacities and history, there is no one element of their social life which demands closer attention than the power of these teachers. Hitherto, they have been spoken of with a contempt which I hope this chapter shows is unjustifiable. However much we may deplore the use they made of their skill, we must estimate it fairly, and grant it its due weight in measuring the influence of the religious sentiment on the history of man. FOOTNOTES: [265-1] Haeser, _Geschichte der Medicin_, pp. 4, 7: Jena, 1845. [265-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 440. [267-1] Carver, _Travels in North America_, p. 73: Boston, 1802; _Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 135. [267-2] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva España_, lib. x. cap. 20; _Le Livre Sacré des Quichés_, p. 177; _Lett. sur les Superstit. du Pérou_, pp. 89, 91. [269-1] _Life of Black Hawk_, p. 13. [270-1] _Travs. in North America_, p. 74. [270-2] _Journal Historique_, p. 362. [271-1] Sometimes facts like this can be explained by the quickness of perception acquired by constant exposure to danger. The mind takes cognizance unconsciously of trifling incidents, the sum of which leads it to a conviction which the individual regards almost as an inspiration. This is the explanation of _presentiments_. But this does not apply to cases like that of Swedenborg, who described a conflagration going on at Stockholm, when he was at Gottenberg, three hundred miles away. Psychologists who scorn any method of studying the mind but through physiology, are at a loss in such cases, and take refuge in refusing them credence. Theologians call them inspirations either of devils or angels, as they happen to agree or disagree in religious views with the person experiencing them. True science reserves its opinion until further observation enlightens it. [272-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. p. 287; v. p. 652.