. Bulletin. Ethnology. 46 ALTAR [b. a. e. Biedma (1540) in Smith, Coll. Doc. Fla., 50, 1857. Attapaha.—Biedma (1544) in French, Hist. Coll. La., II, 100,1850 Ilatamaa.—De I'lsle, map (1707) in Winsor, Hist. America, ii, 294, 1886. Altar. Using the term in its broadest sense, an altar, on which sacritices were made or offerings laid or around which some other act of worship was performed, was a feature of the performance of every ceremony of the American Indians. Some of these altars are so simple that their nature is not easily apprehended: an ex- cavation in the earth, a pile of rocks, a. sIa
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 46 ALTAR [b. a. e. Biedma (1540) in Smith, Coll. Doc. Fla., 50, 1857. Attapaha.—Biedma (1544) in French, Hist. Coll. La., II, 100,1850 Ilatamaa.—De I'lsle, map (1707) in Winsor, Hist. America, ii, 294, 1886. Altar. Using the term in its broadest sense, an altar, on which sacritices were made or offerings laid or around which some other act of worship was performed, was a feature of the performance of every ceremony of the American Indians. Some of these altars are so simple that their nature is not easily apprehended: an ex- cavation in the earth, a pile of rocks, a. sIa ALTAR. (m. C. STEVENSOn) fire, a buffalo skull serving the jDurpose. Others, presenting a complex assemblage of parts, are detlnitely recognizable as altars and in some cases reseinl)lein form the altars of civilized peojjle, for exam- ple, those of the 1-It)pi and the Sia. The altar, on account of its universal distribu- tion, thus renders important aid to the comparative study of religions. The ef- fect of the altar is to localize the worship and to furnish a place where the wor- shiper can convey to the deity his offer- ing and prayers. Altar-shrines are often placed by springs, rivers, caves, rocks, or trees on mountains and near spots which certain deities are supposed to inhabit, in the belief that the roads of these deities extend from these localities. In pursuance of a like idea the liaida de- posit certain offerings in the sea, and many tribes throw offerings into springs, lakes, and rivers. Some of the tempo- rary altars of the eastern and southern Indians, so far as may be learned from the of early writers, consisted of an oval or circular palisade of carved stakes surrounding an area in the center of which was a tire or a mat on which were laid various symbolic cult apparatus. Lalitau (Mceurs des Sauvages, ii, 327,1724) regards as a fire altar the pipe in the calu- met ceremony of the Illinois described by Marquette. Such altars are more primi-
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