...(51)...wanting Ladies living with the white who confer full share of theirfavorson some of the in-dians; & from one of these I fancy it is he got these shoes; but to hide the business imput-ed them to Folly, which served him a double end. If I can see that Chap I shall be veryparticular in my inquiries of him—I know him well. This brings to my mind theWhiteStagor Hind,Sertoriushad in his exile & during his wars with his country asmentioned by Plutarch. Indeed—to be candid,Ifind a very great affinity between theideas & notions of these people & those of the Greeks & Romans &c. &c. And by these, much,far much better, than by the incongruous hypothesis of the learned might be traced theoriginof these people; & I am far from taking the task to be difficult: wouldweonly divest ourselves ofourownprejudices & take the proper plan this greatEnigma,if I may so explain myself, would be not perfectly cleared I allow, but a rationalclew afforded to the unravelling of it. I have read many of thesehypo-thesisbut they are so filled with inconsistencies that I could scarcely believe men couldemploy so much time in them ..... I could say something else instead of the conclusionof this last sentence. A Gentleman, & an Englishman too, but I forget his name, wouldwish toinsinuatethat these people are from a different origin with ourselves i.e.Adam; & to prove his hypothesis he begins by an anatomising hogs! (See the Encyclopae-dia, not by Rees, butFitz-PatrickI believe) This puts me in mind of some of theNewtonianSystemsi.e. there is no such thing in nature aCold—we mustsayanabsenceofHeat! why cannot we as well say there is no such thing asdark-ness, but merely anabsenceoflight, or reverse either, & either will be as reasonable—most strange reasoning is this indeed!Confession. These People have a notion thatconfessionsaves themfrom many accidents & also preserves the lives of the Sick, or rather restores them totheir wonted health &c. I have not learned the origin of this; when, why, or wherefore, but itseems to be very remote, to have sprang with their mythology. I shall it make a point to enquirevery particularly into this; & for this, as well as other things, at different quarters, to find & detecterrors&c. but all, however, that I have written in these pages, tho' there may be some differencein the recital & perhaps afewstragling circumstances, are, I have great reason to thinkfundamentally the same throughout among these people....... When any oneof them is particularly affected with diseases out of the common course of naturehere,or, tho' the disease may be precisely the same as all others, yet from certain circumstan-ces, individually, or a combination of them, they say he is Oh-gee-nay in Cree,or On-gee-nay in Sauteux (the On- pronounced as in french ¬English), by whichit would seem as if they meant he was afflicted or chastised for his own sins, or those of someof his or her, near relatives, i.e. father, mother &c. if children: if grown up & married persons,for their own. Whether they only imagine this, or are informed of it by conjuring,privateinfor-...(52)...information from theirFamiliars, or from the Symptoms of the Sick person &c. &c. I cannot say,but the thus afflicted person must confess his Sins publickly. Now in these confessions as inall their other discourses or conversations (initiating&givingofmedicines,excepted) they use nocircumlocution, no secret or enigmatical word or term, to screen themselves; but all is de-livered in plain terms & before every one that chuses to hear: These confessions are ter-rible things; & they seem far more sincere & complete than those of many catholics.—They have wonderful retentive memories, & no scene, no crime from their earliestyears unto that day do they hide. But Great God! what abominations!—one wouldscarcely imagine the human mind capable of inventing such infamously dia-bolical actions assomedo commit: murder, incest, & other things if possible anhundred fold more debasing the human Soul. Whether they repent of these things neithercan I say, but it would appear as if they were the acts of a contrite & most humblypenitant Soul. I have never had an opportunity of hearing these fromtheirownmouths,butotherindians have told me of them, & tho' before their familiessometimes, have neveromitted one single circumstance from the suggestions of the idea down to the verylastconclusion. When I heard of these things at first, Iwouldnotbeleive them; but hearingthem come so circumstantiallyItrembledfortheLandIsojournedin"lest it shouldvomit me out as the land of Canaan did its inhabitants" "or be swallowed up inits destruction as Sodom & Gomorrah"! It is true they are notallso; no, Iam told there are but few, & in charity I hope it is; otherwise what will be myfate seeing I am in a certain degree partaker with them! Surely the inha-bitants of such a land, atbest, cannot look for more than merepresentenjoy-ment. When I reflect seriously onallthese things as I sometimes do, revolvving them in every different manner in my mind it is beyond the power ofwords to express my feelings. Poor unfortunate blind Creatures! That it isfromBlindnessthey commit these things. I am fully persuaded, because I am equally confi-dent that they do not attach that same degree of criminality to them we,fromthere-vealingoftheScripturesto us, do: some, they consider in the light of trifles; some natural; someweaknesses: but all tend to the gratification of most Bestial appetites, whatever mayhave been the original cause,curiosity, or otherwise. However, I received a piece of infor-mation in one of these, &itwas circumstantially detailed, that has cleared a point tome I could never solve: & Tho I enquired of both Wool & Bob, they were not wiser than my-self. Indeed, without thetrialor experiment, it seems impossible to say certainlywhere the cause lies: now I know it, if ever an opportunity offers, or that it pleases God Iagain revisit my own lands I shall be able to speak to a certainty. As I cannot writeLatin, I shall say no more ofitat present.—A few years back an indian at the next Post abovethisdied: he had been a long time sick, &...(53)...& from this conceived himselfongenay& accordingly prepared for his Confession.Having received the details at 2 & 3d hand I shall endeavour to givepartof them to you as neartheirStile as I can; but really I find myselfveryinadequateto the task: there is a certainPoeticSublimityin their language on suchlikeoccasions as will not easily meet with creditfrom those (the better informed) of the civilized world unacquainted with these people. Evenamongst ourselves there are but few; for few can judge of the beauties of a language & most ofthose few have too hi a notion of their own mighty superiority to stoop toregularconver-sation with them: But to return: after having revealed all, or most part of his Sins tothe company in general he thus addressed his family in particular—"You see my Chil-"dren my distressed state: I cannot move nor stir without assistance, & I feel strengthened"in my lungs (breast, heart) merely as it were by Permission of myDreamed(some parti-"cular one he meant) "to divulge my offenses to the Gods (or God) publicly, before you"you all, to deter you from the same vices (wickednesses). I was once a young man also, the"same as you are now, healthy & vigorous; nothing appeared difficult nor dangerous to me—"I lived as became a man, & prospered accordingly; but I thought that this proceeded from my"own Power only: had I so continued, all had been well! but no, Iunfortunatelyheard"speake of Such indians (meaningthisplace,asmyinformantstellme), how powerful"they were in their medicines, the extraordinary feats they performed. I envied them, &"thought that I required butthatknowledge more to render me perfect (immortal) &"happy:—I undertook a voyage to that place: I found that the bare truth had been"scarcely told me—I burned with anxiety to becoming as knowing as themselves & I"was gratified. Had I rested here, all had yet been well; but in learning their me-"decines I also learned of them those vices, those sins, that bytheirpracticehave"reduced me to this wretched situation. My Sons! take example from your father!"be good, charitable, & peaceable indians as I was at the first set off of my life, & employ the"same means, indulge use the same anxiety toavoid, that I did toprocure, that information"that hath reduced me so far below the level even of a dog. Never forget this, never in-"dulge even the least desire of such acquisitions; for if you once begin you will be"deluded by their flattery to that destruction I have found. But you are young men! &"unless you find grace you also will be deluded & lost as I am"! I have heard a gooddeal said ofthisindian's confession & exhortations to his Sons—they were not lost. Hehimself lived but a short time & seemed much comforted byit.There is a tribe ofAthabascathat go by the name ofBeaverIndians. Fromthe tenets of their religion Iamtoldthat when laying under any malediction, be-wichisms, &c. or conceive themselves so, they make a vow that the first animal the shallkill they will doSo—they do not fail, but immediately proceed in quest of another which by thisdiabolical action they think they will soon find & kill. They do nottouchthe animal afterwards as...(54)...as those Beasts among the Crees & Sauteux do, but leave it lay as a sacrifice: they consider it as aduty imposed upon them; but the others do it from mere beastiality. "Such a one did so, bro't home"part of the meat, & we all of us eat it—O! the Dog!" said an indian not long ago to me.Lest I may not soon have another opportunity of writing on these Subjects toyouI shalladd a few morefragments. An indian here, passing for a great Doctor was applied to(& is still) by many to attend upon them. "Several of these he retrieved from death: One"of his dreamed, I beleive the North, was not pleased & told the Doctor 'never to administer"'his medecines to those he had doomed to death.' The Dr replied it was hard & unchari-"table seeing he could prolong their days a little. ' Well! for every one that thou dost"'deprive me of, I shall take one of thy children'; & the Dr lost 8 or 9. (I cannot"now remember well); but he is now grown more cautious". But this Dr is himself abeast. "Being unable to stand from sickness he told 2 of his wives 'Take ye me one"'under each arm to my sweat-heart.—I feel myself dying & dont chusethusto"'go': & he actually did. Remember, Iamtoldthis; but I have reasons to beleive it.—He is an incestuous beast: otherwise I find him a good indian & what is moststrange, sensible beyond many of his equals.—I have got a caracature here of the Devil carrying off a Taylor. I asked oneof my indians if any of their familiars resembled him & how they were,—the reply was "Yes,"he resides in the North (at the Pole I suppose) & has a vast number of young men: The"indians report of some finding their tracks that are very numerous & exactly resemble the"tracks of the Grey Deer (carriboeuf); but neither him nor his young men are very wick-"ed: North, Ice, Skeleton, & Folly are the most wicked & ill inclined of all thosewe dream of, or enter the conjuring box"!—Of theirFeasts, I cannot say more than any common observer—I have been in-vited, & partaken of many of them, but I never thought of enquiring into their origin, thecauses &c. of them. But from the little I could learn or rather understand from thespeeches made atallof them, & what I have learnt in regard to other things, I thinkmay say without dreading contradiction, that as there are songs, ceremonies &c.appropriate to every one of their Gods or Familiars or Devils, there alsofeastsmade foreach according to the whim, dream, or some other circumstance of the one who makes them.We denominate these Feasts, & from their own Term it would seem they so mean;but I consider this again as a premature interpretation which I have not leisure toexplain: I consider them rather assacrifices—indeed they may perhaps ratherbe esteemed as partaking of both. I have somewhere above said that they areobligedto make an annual sacrifice to some of their Gods as the non-performance passes notoff with impunity—these therefore are obligatory, or compulsory sacrifices; but besides thesethey also have Free-will sacrifices. These Feasts or sacrifices are notuniversallyof...(55)...ofFlesh:—they have them of Flesh, Grease, dried berries, rum, &c. &c. and few of theseFeasts are made withouttheonewhomakesitoffers a certain (very small, only a few mouths-ful) tohimwhom it is in honor of, or intended for, which he most commonly puts intothe fire,inor on, the Ground. Some of them are very grand & ceremonius:—thetitbits of the animal only, as the head, heart, & liver, tongue, & paws when of a Bear: It isonly the Great men that are allowed to eat of these: Others again, besides the above, thebrisket, rump & ribbs; & very seldom a woman is allowed to partake of them, parti-cularly if it isunfestinàtoutmanger, i. e. to eat the whole; tho' there may besufficient for 2 or 3 times the number of Guests, all must be eaten before day; tho' incertain cases the Feaster is obliged, & commonly does, take part back, providing aknife, a bit of tobacco, or something else attend with the dish. In these greatFeasts the feaster makes one or several Speeches beforewebegin to eat, & one againafter all is done, & sometimes sings, beats the drum & speechesduring the wholetime of the feast, never partaking of a morsel himself. At Some of them there isdancing to be performed: I happened to be called to one of these many years ago—it was the principal parts of a bear; & the Paunch had been filled with theliver, heart & fat with blood, minced, & much resembling that dish the Scotchtermhaggish: we were all very hungry & tho' we gormandized (it cannot becalledeating) there yet remained full 2/3ds. The Feaster was uneasy & said he wouldhave been proud had we eaten all, for in that case his Dreamed would have beenpropitious: we were obliged to dance also; but when I could stow no more I gave himmy knife & a bit of Tobacco & walked off leaving him to settle with his God as wellas he could; but indeed I was not very scrupulous then, otherwise I had mostcertainly avoided many of them, tho' it is oftentimes dangerous if there be notmethod or qualification in the refusal. Their feasts of rum are often to someone of the 4 wicked ones, praying them to be propitious & not allow themselves to beinfluenced by the wicked sollicitations of envious indians. Many years ago Ihappened to be out a hunting a few miles from the house & came unexpectedlyupon the lodge of a few indians I had that day given rum to. I heard one ofthem harangue, & drew up cautiously to listen—He entreated the rain, snow &frost to have pity upon their young ones (that they might kill) &c. I commu-nicated this a few years after to a couple of Gentlemen—one of them longerin the country than myself denied it & enquired of his wife who had lived along time with the indians—she corroborated his denial—I perceived thecause, & told him that it was becausetheydo not chuse that we become too wellinformed of all their ceremonies: it was to no effect, & I had almost a mind to creditthe woman too myself, but byinsinuationI find I am perfectly right. Thus it...(56)...it happens in almost every thing else: a thing that does not meet with our approbation, or be alittle beyond the Sphere of our limited information, we immediately deny or condemn; whereas bytakingpropermeasures to enquire or inform ourselves not only those things themselves but othersfar more interesting, & sometimes too of the greatest moment, whether to ourselves or others, are renderedprobable, reasonable, certain. Hence it is also that many upon receiving a piece of informa-tion there rest themselves as upon a Rock of certainty. Now either of these I considerequally blameable as they lead to distrust, doubt, & sometimes to a complete refutation or asser-tion of facts that very oftentimes cast a stain or stigma sometimes upon a whole people.& without any other foundation than as might be said that all PowerfulVeto.—They have feasts for the dead, most commonly berries,—or in countries where it is made,Sugar: generally yearly a bark box of perhaps 2 or 3 Gallons is placedinthe grave, uponit , or well hid in some private nook, if they are afraid, or do not chuse, it be taken—I ought rather to have said these are sacrifices; but independent of these they have Feastsalso, & feasts of Baptism. Feasts inshort for almost every occasion. Besides thesethey havesmokingfeasts: these are to deliberate.—I shall, should it please God I live,make it a point to enquire particularly into the origin of all these.—June 5th. These last 3 days have been busy & turbulent ones for me—it is nowconsiderably past midnight (& of course the 6thJune) but my indians are drinking& I cannot think of going to bed Till they do I shall employ my few remainingleisuremoments ('till next year, please god I live so long) in giving you anaccount of a conjuring bout I with some difficulty got an indian to makelast night (June4th).—In the evening the hut was prepared at some dis-tance from the houses on account of the stink asthe Spiritscannot, or willnot endure any pollution—The hut consisted of 10 poles about 7 feet outof Ground, well stuck in, & somewhat better than 3 feet diameter—thePoles were secured with 2 hoops: they were covered with 2 Parchment skins(of Moose) well bound with many rounds of strong leather line:thetopwascoveredwith a dressed skin & secured also, to prevent its beingcarried off (by the wind)—About 10P.M. (still broad day light withus) we drew up with the conjuror, smoked & chatted some time. afterthis he took his drum (much resembling a tambourine) & with astick gently struck it all the time he made a speech: I was almosttouching him (all seated) but from the noise of the drum & his low voice,for the man has a dreadful complaint on his lungs, I could only gather"Take pity upon me; take pity upon me; hear & come: let me notspeake in vain, nor become abashed—showme charity" &c. &c.—it wasa moderate & decent prayer. After thisthey(for there were several men) began...(57)...began to sing, using the drum & rattler—they sang among others the moose, horse,Bear, & Dog Songs; about a dozen in number, when he prepared by taking off hisclothes, all to his cloute, & asked who should tie him, I replied that I would,but was afraid of hurting him: another conjuror did beginning with hisfingers between the 2 joints nearest the hand nearly as I can describeit—thus giving a double turn to the line between eachfinger, & the line was new Mackerel, small, which I happened to havein my pocket by accident.—I drew up toinspect& observing the fin-gers to swell upon his complaining of the tightness I felt a good deal forhim. After this his blanket was wrapped round him & tied in such amanner, lengthways, crossways & every way, & a good knotItied ateach meeting of the cords; for I assisted inthis, that I could have laidany wager that it was beyond the Power of Spirits themselves, thus tied, toeradicate themselves; & his hands wereunderhis hams—as he could nomore move than fly,of himself, the other conjuror & I put him to thedoor, but behold! it was with difficulty we could just get hishead in, the entry being too narrow by about 10, or 12 ins. screwing& jaming considered. "It will do, it will do" said the conjuror—"coverme now"—his back was covered with a blanket & we all retreatedto our seats, myself about 4 feet distant—The others took the drum& began to sing. I could not help but laughing in myself & pitying theboldness of their vanity,—but I had soon occasion to think other-wise & had I not predetermined that reason should conduct me throughout thewhole of this, I cannot say how far in theotherextremeImight have gone.But to return: the conjuror desired the others to sing, they began a short song,I believe it was that of theStone, & the man entered in an instant! I wasstruck dumb with astonishment; for he appeared to me toslidein by something that was neither invisible nor descernible—I heard some-thing that for the life of me I cannot account for, & that's all: from the timewe covered him (25.' Past 10 P.M) to the time we had done hunting for thetwine that tied his fingers, not quite 5 minutes elapsed, & not 1 1/2 minutesbefore his blanket & the cords were thrown out to us!—Not one of them,apparently (i.e. one knot)untied!—My astonishment & apprehen-sions of his being entirely carried off from us were such, that I was nearlyspringing up to haul him out, for fear of his being for ever lost. The otherscontinued singing a few other songs & I had the utmost anxiety in hearing repeated-ly call out as if in the greatest apprehensions himself "enough! enough! e-...(58)...Enoughof ye I say"; & frequently for the space of some minutes repeating the same,& now & then calling out "do notThouenter." TheStonewas the first one knownto us, by his song; for every one almost that entered sanghissong, to which those(the indians) on the outside would keep chorus. A vast number entered, I verilybeleive upward of an hundred; for upwards of that number of times the frameshook back-&-forwards and very smartly as if to fall; & among the firstwere some truly terrible characters. I have almost entirely converted myselffrom these foolish ideas of Ghost & hobgoblins, but I assure you in truththat I more than once felt very uneasy. The Ice entered—he made a noiseextremely resembling that made by a person shivering with cold, loud, &hoarse &liquid. The Devilhimselfalso entered inpropriapersona, ina very authoritative & commanding manner: I assure you there was nolaughing nor gigling outside, all the time he sang & spoke. The Turtlespoke as an old Jocular man. "I hate the french; for in their travels"when they find me, they kill me & eat me:—I shall answer none of their questions"but this was a joke; for he laughed. "Speake out Turtle, speake out, louder that"we hear the", said those without "—I would too, replied he, but my voice is"so strong I must contract it thus otherwise ye could not endure the sound"of it." "Hop! continued he, I must imitate the drunk", which he didto the great diversion of us all & concluded with snoring, the naturalend of all drunken feasts & then became quiet, on which another voice(which I also perfectly heard & understood as well the Turtle herself) criedout--"see! see! if she does not look like a frog stretched out" & thisraised a proper laugh both in & out. The Dog entered, & spoke perfectlyplain & distinct, & with a more elegant & harmonious voice I ever heardin my life. Bears of 3 or 4 different sorts, the horse, moose, Skeletons,spirits of departed &stilllivingfriendsentered; but none but thelatter & above mentioned were to be understood by any but the conju-ror himself. On the entering of one "that is my (adopted) Son" saidan Indian seated by me & called out his name to which he readilyanswered besides questions: this young man & a girl, both living,spoke very plain (you must observe that it is not their bodies, but theirSouls or Spirits that enter)—Children almost at the instant of birth,Dwarfs, Giants; but this latter did make a noise indeed. We alllaughed very heartily when the horse entered; for it appears he passed toonear the Turtle who called out as the horse was flying about (in the inside)singing & rattling his rattler, "I wish you would take care of yourself ¬tread...(59)..."treadonone" in allusion to his diminutive size in comparison with that ofhorse. It is somewhat surprising that every one that entered, whether he spoke plain,or was interpreted—their First words were your lands are distressed—keepnot on the Gnd River—sickness, sickness; "but from amongstyehereI shallselect only a few aged ones" said one of the latter, but in avoiceno one but theconjuror could understand—as he went out however the Conjuror paid him a mostbawdy compliment—we all laughed & asked what was the matter "pah! no-thing. I am only afraid of him said the Conj.—One of them that enteredapparently the Devil himself for he spoke & actedenveritablemaitrestartled us all a great deal & enquired authoritatively & angrily, "what"want ye of me?—speake? "—Upon several hurried enquiries putto him he said that some things I saw & heard in my house this win-ter, were by Mr Frobisher, who expired so dreadfully in 1819—"he"is a skeleton (Pah-kack); & it is he who builtthishouse—he comes"to see"—!!! Tho' I did certainly both hear & see, several times this winter,& once in particular, about 2.a.m. yet I do not feel much inclined to addfaith to this assertion of Davy's—I must have something more substantial.But I am much inclined to doubt master Davy's assertions & considerthis& several othersof his sayings at former Periods in the same light as those he delivered at many ofGrecian temples; for I have every substantial reason to consider him as the same identical Gen-tleman: however, a short time hence will decide: The Turtle said we shouldhave a good deal of rain; but not averygreatdeal& a very hi wind, & as soon asthe Sun should appear, "at its setting an indian (naming him by a very extraor-dinary & bawdy features in hisperson) should arrive & bring us meat;butthisyouwilleatofcourse,&I shall gowithout"—{"Beware of yourselves—Tomorrownight you shall drink & be drunk: drink & leave the house as soon as you"can;fortherearefromthatwind(by which he designated theSouth)"whoiftheydrinkwithye,yeshallbecomepitiful" alluding to twoblackguard half breed brothers, who proud of the bravery of their deceased father areever & anon insulting & domineering over the other indians: it is worthy of remarkthat an aged man in the course of this last winter was advertised of the Same, &repeatedly pressed not to drink at the house on their accord}. This is nowthe 6th(June) the Sun appears, but the wind is very hi, & we have frequentshowers of rain & snow.—About midnight the Conjuror addressed me &asked if I wished to see any ofthem(the Spirits)—I accepted the offer & thrustmy head underneath, & being upon my back I looked up & near the topobserved a light as of a Star in a Cloudy night about 1 1/2in. long & 1 broad; tho'...(60)...tho' dim, yet perfectly distinct. Tho'theyallappear as lights, some larger & others smaller,this one was denominated the Fisher Star; the name by which they designate the Plough, Ibelievewecall it, or Great Bear, from the supposed resemblance it bears to that animal,the fisher. When I was entering, several of the Indians on the outside called outto the Spirits "Gently! Gently! It is our Chief who wishes to see ye:—do"him no evil" &c.—I had my apprehensions. A little after one P.M. one ofmy men looked in, with several Indians, & saw several small lights aboutas large as the Thumb nail. A few minutes before 2 P.M. being day lightthey gave another shaking to the frame & made their exit.The above is an account of only a small part, for I am too much pressedfor time—I cannot therefore enter into particulars, nor a larger detail; nor giveyou my opinion further than a few words. I am fully convinced, as much soas that I am in existance, that Spirits of some kind did really & virtuallyenter some truly terrific, but others again quite of a different character.—I cannot enter into a detail by comparisons from ancient & more modern history,but I found the consonance, analogy, resemblance, affinity, or whateverit may be termed so great, so conspicuous that I verily beleive I shall neverforget the impressions of that evening; but above all things that sticks mostforcibly in my mind is the unbound Gratitude we owe, & ought to shew,every instant of our existance to that almighty Power that deigned to sacrificehis only Son for us for our Salvation! Oh my God! let me never for-get this!—& teach me to thank thee not only with my lipsbut with every action of my life! x x x x x x x x &c. &c.—Here I must close & in a few minutes Seal up this for your peru-sal, sincerely wishing I may find an opportunity, safe, of conveying itto you—How earnestly I wish Robthad been present & understoodthe language—This would convince the most skeptic.—To Mr Wm Nolan, Wm Henry G. NelsonNote: Read these Pages among yourselves, & lend themnotoutof the house—
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wanting Ladies living with the white who confer full share of theirfavorson some of the in-dians; & from one of these I fancy it is he got these shoes; but to hide the business imput-ed them to Folly, which served him a double end. If I can see that Chap I shall be veryparticular in my inquiries of him—I know him well. This brings to my mind theWhiteStagor Hind,Sertoriushad in his exile & during his wars with his country asmentioned by Plutarch. Indeed—to be candid,Ifind a very great affinity between theideas & notions of these people & those of the Greeks & Romans &c. &c. And by these, much,far much better, than by the incongruous hypothesis of the learned might be traced theoriginof these people; & I am far from taking the task to be difficult: wouldweonly divest ourselves ofourownprejudices & take the proper plan this greatEnigma,if I may so explain myself, would be not perfectly cleared I allow, but a rationalclew afforded to the unravelling of it. I have read many of thesehypo-thesisbut they are so filled with inconsistencies that I could scarcely believe men couldemploy so much time in them ..... I could say something else instead of the conclusionof this last sentence. A Gentleman, & an Englishman too, but I forget his name, wouldwish toinsinuatethat these people are from a different origin with ourselves i.e.Adam; & to prove his hypothesis he begins by an anatomising hogs! (See the Encyclopae-dia, not by Rees, butFitz-PatrickI believe) This puts me in mind of some of theNewtonianSystemsi.e. there is no such thing in nature aCold—we mustsayanabsenceofHeat! why cannot we as well say there is no such thing asdark-ness, but merely anabsenceoflight, or reverse either, & either will be as reasonable—most strange reasoning is this indeed!Confession. These People have a notion thatconfessionsaves themfrom many accidents & also preserves the lives of the Sick, or rather restores them totheir wonted health &c. I have not learned the origin of this; when, why, or wherefore, but itseems to be very remote, to have sprang with their mythology. I shall it make a point to enquirevery particularly into this; & for this, as well as other things, at different quarters, to find & detecterrors&c. but all, however, that I have written in these pages, tho' there may be some differencein the recital & perhaps afewstragling circumstances, are, I have great reason to thinkfundamentally the same throughout among these people....... When any oneof them is particularly affected with diseases out of the common course of naturehere,or, tho' the disease may be precisely the same as all others, yet from certain circumstan-ces, individually, or a combination of them, they say he is Oh-gee-nay in Cree,or On-gee-nay in Sauteux (the On- pronounced as in french ¬English), by whichit would seem as if they meant he was afflicted or chastised for his own sins, or those of someof his or her, near relatives, i.e. father, mother &c. if children: if grown up & married persons,for their own. Whether they only imagine this, or are informed of it by conjuring,privateinfor-
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information from theirFamiliars, or from the Symptoms of the Sick person &c. &c. I cannot say,but the thus afflicted person must confess his Sins publickly. Now in these confessions as inall their other discourses or conversations (initiating&givingofmedicines,excepted) they use nocircumlocution, no secret or enigmatical word or term, to screen themselves; but all is de-livered in plain terms & before every one that chuses to hear: These confessions are ter-rible things; & they seem far more sincere & complete than those of many catholics.—They have wonderful retentive memories, & no scene, no crime from their earliestyears unto that day do they hide. But Great God! what abominations!—one wouldscarcely imagine the human mind capable of inventing such infamously dia-bolical actions assomedo commit: murder, incest, & other things if possible anhundred fold more debasing the human Soul. Whether they repent of these things neithercan I say, but it would appear as if they were the acts of a contrite & most humblypenitant Soul. I have never had an opportunity of hearing these fromtheirownmouths,butotherindians have told me of them, & tho' before their familiessometimes, have neveromitted one single circumstance from the suggestions of the idea down to the verylastconclusion. When I heard of these things at first, Iwouldnotbeleive them; but hearingthem come so circumstantiallyItrembledfortheLandIsojournedin"lest it shouldvomit me out as the land of Canaan did its inhabitants" "or be swallowed up inits destruction as Sodom & Gomorrah"! It is true they are notallso; no, Iam told there are but few, & in charity I hope it is; otherwise what will be myfate seeing I am in a certain degree partaker with them! Surely the inha-bitants of such a land, atbest, cannot look for more than merepresentenjoy-ment. When I reflect seriously onallthese things as I sometimes do, revolvving them in every different manner in my mind it is beyond the power ofwords to express my feelings. Poor unfortunate blind Creatures! That it isfromBlindnessthey commit these things. I am fully persuaded, because I am equally confi-dent that they do not attach that same degree of criminality to them we,fromthere-vealingoftheScripturesto us, do: some, they consider in the light of trifles; some natural; someweaknesses: but all tend to the gratification of most Bestial appetites, whatever mayhave been the original cause,curiosity, or otherwise. However, I received a piece of infor-mation in one of these, &itwas circumstantially detailed, that has cleared a point tome I could never solve: & Tho I enquired of both Wool & Bob, they were not wiser than my-self. Indeed, without thetrialor experiment, it seems impossible to say certainlywhere the cause lies: now I know it, if ever an opportunity offers, or that it pleases God Iagain revisit my own lands I shall be able to speak to a certainty. As I cannot writeLatin, I shall say no more ofitat present.—A few years back an indian at the next Post abovethisdied: he had been a long time sick, &
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& from this conceived himselfongenay& accordingly prepared for his Confession.Having received the details at 2 & 3d hand I shall endeavour to givepartof them to you as neartheirStile as I can; but really I find myselfveryinadequateto the task: there is a certainPoeticSublimityin their language on suchlikeoccasions as will not easily meet with creditfrom those (the better informed) of the civilized world unacquainted with these people. Evenamongst ourselves there are but few; for few can judge of the beauties of a language & most ofthose few have too hi a notion of their own mighty superiority to stoop toregularconver-sation with them: But to return: after having revealed all, or most part of his Sins tothe company in general he thus addressed his family in particular—"You see my Chil-"dren my distressed state: I cannot move nor stir without assistance, & I feel strengthened"in my lungs (breast, heart) merely as it were by Permission of myDreamed(some parti-"cular one he meant) "to divulge my offenses to the Gods (or God) publicly, before you"you all, to deter you from the same vices (wickednesses). I was once a young man also, the"same as you are now, healthy & vigorous; nothing appeared difficult nor dangerous to me—"I lived as became a man, & prospered accordingly; but I thought that this proceeded from my"own Power only: had I so continued, all had been well! but no, Iunfortunatelyheard"speake of Such indians (meaningthisplace,asmyinformantstellme), how powerful"they were in their medicines, the extraordinary feats they performed. I envied them, &"thought that I required butthatknowledge more to render me perfect (immortal) &"happy:—I undertook a voyage to that place: I found that the bare truth had been"scarcely told me—I burned with anxiety to becoming as knowing as themselves & I"was gratified. Had I rested here, all had yet been well; but in learning their me-"decines I also learned of them those vices, those sins, that bytheirpracticehave"reduced me to this wretched situation. My Sons! take example from your father!"be good, charitable, & peaceable indians as I was at the first set off of my life, & employ the"same means, indulge use the same anxiety toavoid, that I did toprocure, that information"that hath reduced me so far below the level even of a dog. Never forget this, never in-"dulge even the least desire of such acquisitions; for if you once begin you will be"deluded by their flattery to that destruction I have found. But you are young men! &"unless you find grace you also will be deluded & lost as I am"! I have heard a gooddeal said ofthisindian's confession & exhortations to his Sons—they were not lost. Hehimself lived but a short time & seemed much comforted byit.There is a tribe ofAthabascathat go by the name ofBeaverIndians. Fromthe tenets of their religion Iamtoldthat when laying under any malediction, be-wichisms, &c. or conceive themselves so, they make a vow that the first animal the shallkill they will doSo—they do not fail, but immediately proceed in quest of another which by thisdiabolical action they think they will soon find & kill. They do nottouchthe animal afterwards as
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as those Beasts among the Crees & Sauteux do, but leave it lay as a sacrifice: they consider it as aduty imposed upon them; but the others do it from mere beastiality. "Such a one did so, bro't home"part of the meat, & we all of us eat it—O! the Dog!" said an indian not long ago to me.Lest I may not soon have another opportunity of writing on these Subjects toyouI shalladd a few morefragments. An indian here, passing for a great Doctor was applied to(& is still) by many to attend upon them. "Several of these he retrieved from death: One"of his dreamed, I beleive the North, was not pleased & told the Doctor 'never to administer"'his medecines to those he had doomed to death.' The Dr replied it was hard & unchari-"table seeing he could prolong their days a little. ' Well! for every one that thou dost"'deprive me of, I shall take one of thy children'; & the Dr lost 8 or 9. (I cannot"now remember well); but he is now grown more cautious". But this Dr is himself abeast. "Being unable to stand from sickness he told 2 of his wives 'Take ye me one"'under each arm to my sweat-heart.—I feel myself dying & dont chusethusto"'go': & he actually did. Remember, Iamtoldthis; but I have reasons to beleive it.—He is an incestuous beast: otherwise I find him a good indian & what is moststrange, sensible beyond many of his equals.—I have got a caracature here of the Devil carrying off a Taylor. I asked oneof my indians if any of their familiars resembled him & how they were,—the reply was "Yes,"he resides in the North (at the Pole I suppose) & has a vast number of young men: The"indians report of some finding their tracks that are very numerous & exactly resemble the"tracks of the Grey Deer (carriboeuf); but neither him nor his young men are very wick-"ed: North, Ice, Skeleton, & Folly are the most wicked & ill inclined of all thosewe dream of, or enter the conjuring box"!—Of theirFeasts, I cannot say more than any common observer—I have been in-vited, & partaken of many of them, but I never thought of enquiring into their origin, thecauses &c. of them. But from the little I could learn or rather understand from thespeeches made atallof them, & what I have learnt in regard to other things, I thinkmay say without dreading contradiction, that as there are songs, ceremonies &c.appropriate to every one of their Gods or Familiars or Devils, there alsofeastsmade foreach according to the whim, dream, or some other circumstance of the one who makes them.We denominate these Feasts, & from their own Term it would seem they so mean;but I consider this again as a premature interpretation which I have not leisure toexplain: I consider them rather assacrifices—indeed they may perhaps ratherbe esteemed as partaking of both. I have somewhere above said that they areobligedto make an annual sacrifice to some of their Gods as the non-performance passes notoff with impunity—these therefore are obligatory, or compulsory sacrifices; but besides thesethey also have Free-will sacrifices. These Feasts or sacrifices are notuniversallyof
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ofFlesh:—they have them of Flesh, Grease, dried berries, rum, &c. &c. and few of theseFeasts are made withouttheonewhomakesitoffers a certain (very small, only a few mouths-ful) tohimwhom it is in honor of, or intended for, which he most commonly puts intothe fire,inor on, the Ground. Some of them are very grand & ceremonius:—thetitbits of the animal only, as the head, heart, & liver, tongue, & paws when of a Bear: It isonly the Great men that are allowed to eat of these: Others again, besides the above, thebrisket, rump & ribbs; & very seldom a woman is allowed to partake of them, parti-cularly if it isunfestinàtoutmanger, i. e. to eat the whole; tho' there may besufficient for 2 or 3 times the number of Guests, all must be eaten before day; tho' incertain cases the Feaster is obliged, & commonly does, take part back, providing aknife, a bit of tobacco, or something else attend with the dish. In these greatFeasts the feaster makes one or several Speeches beforewebegin to eat, & one againafter all is done, & sometimes sings, beats the drum & speechesduring the wholetime of the feast, never partaking of a morsel himself. At Some of them there isdancing to be performed: I happened to be called to one of these many years ago—it was the principal parts of a bear; & the Paunch had been filled with theliver, heart & fat with blood, minced, & much resembling that dish the Scotchtermhaggish: we were all very hungry & tho' we gormandized (it cannot becalledeating) there yet remained full 2/3ds. The Feaster was uneasy & said he wouldhave been proud had we eaten all, for in that case his Dreamed would have beenpropitious: we were obliged to dance also; but when I could stow no more I gave himmy knife & a bit of Tobacco & walked off leaving him to settle with his God as wellas he could; but indeed I was not very scrupulous then, otherwise I had mostcertainly avoided many of them, tho' it is oftentimes dangerous if there be notmethod or qualification in the refusal. Their feasts of rum are often to someone of the 4 wicked ones, praying them to be propitious & not allow themselves to beinfluenced by the wicked sollicitations of envious indians. Many years ago Ihappened to be out a hunting a few miles from the house & came unexpectedlyupon the lodge of a few indians I had that day given rum to. I heard one ofthem harangue, & drew up cautiously to listen—He entreated the rain, snow &frost to have pity upon their young ones (that they might kill) &c. I commu-nicated this a few years after to a couple of Gentlemen—one of them longerin the country than myself denied it & enquired of his wife who had lived along time with the indians—she corroborated his denial—I perceived thecause, & told him that it was becausetheydo not chuse that we become too wellinformed of all their ceremonies: it was to no effect, & I had almost a mind to creditthe woman too myself, but byinsinuationI find I am perfectly right. Thus it
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it happens in almost every thing else: a thing that does not meet with our approbation, or be alittle beyond the Sphere of our limited information, we immediately deny or condemn; whereas bytakingpropermeasures to enquire or inform ourselves not only those things themselves but othersfar more interesting, & sometimes too of the greatest moment, whether to ourselves or others, are renderedprobable, reasonable, certain. Hence it is also that many upon receiving a piece of informa-tion there rest themselves as upon a Rock of certainty. Now either of these I considerequally blameable as they lead to distrust, doubt, & sometimes to a complete refutation or asser-tion of facts that very oftentimes cast a stain or stigma sometimes upon a whole people.& without any other foundation than as might be said that all PowerfulVeto.—They have feasts for the dead, most commonly berries,—or in countries where it is made,Sugar: generally yearly a bark box of perhaps 2 or 3 Gallons is placedinthe grave, uponit , or well hid in some private nook, if they are afraid, or do not chuse, it be taken—I ought rather to have said these are sacrifices; but independent of these they have Feastsalso, & feasts of Baptism. Feasts inshort for almost every occasion. Besides thesethey havesmokingfeasts: these are to deliberate.—I shall, should it please God I live,make it a point to enquire particularly into the origin of all these.—June 5th. These last 3 days have been busy & turbulent ones for me—it is nowconsiderably past midnight (& of course the 6thJune) but my indians are drinking& I cannot think of going to bed Till they do I shall employ my few remainingleisuremoments ('till next year, please god I live so long) in giving you anaccount of a conjuring bout I with some difficulty got an indian to makelast night (June4th).—In the evening the hut was prepared at some dis-tance from the houses on account of the stink asthe Spiritscannot, or willnot endure any pollution—The hut consisted of 10 poles about 7 feet outof Ground, well stuck in, & somewhat better than 3 feet diameter—thePoles were secured with 2 hoops: they were covered with 2 Parchment skins(of Moose) well bound with many rounds of strong leather line:thetopwascoveredwith a dressed skin & secured also, to prevent its beingcarried off (by the wind)—About 10P.M. (still broad day light withus) we drew up with the conjuror, smoked & chatted some time. afterthis he took his drum (much resembling a tambourine) & with astick gently struck it all the time he made a speech: I was almosttouching him (all seated) but from the noise of the drum & his low voice,for the man has a dreadful complaint on his lungs, I could only gather"Take pity upon me; take pity upon me; hear & come: let me notspeake in vain, nor become abashed—showme charity" &c. &c.—it wasa moderate & decent prayer. After thisthey(for there were several men) began
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began to sing, using the drum & rattler—they sang among others the moose, horse,Bear, & Dog Songs; about a dozen in number, when he prepared by taking off hisclothes, all to his cloute, & asked who should tie him, I replied that I would,but was afraid of hurting him: another conjuror did beginning with hisfingers between the 2 joints nearest the hand nearly as I can describeit—thus giving a double turn to the line between eachfinger, & the line was new Mackerel, small, which I happened to havein my pocket by accident.—I drew up toinspect& observing the fin-gers to swell upon his complaining of the tightness I felt a good deal forhim. After this his blanket was wrapped round him & tied in such amanner, lengthways, crossways & every way, & a good knotItied ateach meeting of the cords; for I assisted inthis, that I could have laidany wager that it was beyond the Power of Spirits themselves, thus tied, toeradicate themselves; & his hands wereunderhis hams—as he could nomore move than fly,of himself, the other conjuror & I put him to thedoor, but behold! it was with difficulty we could just get hishead in, the entry being too narrow by about 10, or 12 ins. screwing& jaming considered. "It will do, it will do" said the conjuror—"coverme now"—his back was covered with a blanket & we all retreatedto our seats, myself about 4 feet distant—The others took the drum& began to sing. I could not help but laughing in myself & pitying theboldness of their vanity,—but I had soon occasion to think other-wise & had I not predetermined that reason should conduct me throughout thewhole of this, I cannot say how far in theotherextremeImight have gone.But to return: the conjuror desired the others to sing, they began a short song,I believe it was that of theStone, & the man entered in an instant! I wasstruck dumb with astonishment; for he appeared to me toslidein by something that was neither invisible nor descernible—I heard some-thing that for the life of me I cannot account for, & that's all: from the timewe covered him (25.' Past 10 P.M) to the time we had done hunting for thetwine that tied his fingers, not quite 5 minutes elapsed, & not 1 1/2 minutesbefore his blanket & the cords were thrown out to us!—Not one of them,apparently (i.e. one knot)untied!—My astonishment & apprehen-sions of his being entirely carried off from us were such, that I was nearlyspringing up to haul him out, for fear of his being for ever lost. The otherscontinued singing a few other songs & I had the utmost anxiety in hearing repeated-ly call out as if in the greatest apprehensions himself "enough! enough! e-
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Enoughof ye I say"; & frequently for the space of some minutes repeating the same,& now & then calling out "do notThouenter." TheStonewas the first one knownto us, by his song; for every one almost that entered sanghissong, to which those(the indians) on the outside would keep chorus. A vast number entered, I verilybeleive upward of an hundred; for upwards of that number of times the frameshook back-&-forwards and very smartly as if to fall; & among the firstwere some truly terrible characters. I have almost entirely converted myselffrom these foolish ideas of Ghost & hobgoblins, but I assure you in truththat I more than once felt very uneasy. The Ice entered—he made a noiseextremely resembling that made by a person shivering with cold, loud, &hoarse &liquid. The Devilhimselfalso entered inpropriapersona, ina very authoritative & commanding manner: I assure you there was nolaughing nor gigling outside, all the time he sang & spoke. The Turtlespoke as an old Jocular man. "I hate the french; for in their travels"when they find me, they kill me & eat me:—I shall answer none of their questions"but this was a joke; for he laughed. "Speake out Turtle, speake out, louder that"we hear the", said those without "—I would too, replied he, but my voice is"so strong I must contract it thus otherwise ye could not endure the sound"of it." "Hop! continued he, I must imitate the drunk", which he didto the great diversion of us all & concluded with snoring, the naturalend of all drunken feasts & then became quiet, on which another voice(which I also perfectly heard & understood as well the Turtle herself) criedout--"see! see! if she does not look like a frog stretched out" & thisraised a proper laugh both in & out. The Dog entered, & spoke perfectlyplain & distinct, & with a more elegant & harmonious voice I ever heardin my life. Bears of 3 or 4 different sorts, the horse, moose, Skeletons,spirits of departed &stilllivingfriendsentered; but none but thelatter & above mentioned were to be understood by any but the conju-ror himself. On the entering of one "that is my (adopted) Son" saidan Indian seated by me & called out his name to which he readilyanswered besides questions: this young man & a girl, both living,spoke very plain (you must observe that it is not their bodies, but theirSouls or Spirits that enter)—Children almost at the instant of birth,Dwarfs, Giants; but this latter did make a noise indeed. We alllaughed very heartily when the horse entered; for it appears he passed toonear the Turtle who called out as the horse was flying about (in the inside)singing & rattling his rattler, "I wish you would take care of yourself ¬tread
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"treadonone" in allusion to his diminutive size in comparison with that ofhorse. It is somewhat surprising that every one that entered, whether he spoke plain,or was interpreted—their First words were your lands are distressed—keepnot on the Gnd River—sickness, sickness; "but from amongstyehereI shallselect only a few aged ones" said one of the latter, but in avoiceno one but theconjuror could understand—as he went out however the Conjuror paid him a mostbawdy compliment—we all laughed & asked what was the matter "pah! no-thing. I am only afraid of him said the Conj.—One of them that enteredapparently the Devil himself for he spoke & actedenveritablemaitrestartled us all a great deal & enquired authoritatively & angrily, "what"want ye of me?—speake? "—Upon several hurried enquiries putto him he said that some things I saw & heard in my house this win-ter, were by Mr Frobisher, who expired so dreadfully in 1819—"he"is a skeleton (Pah-kack); & it is he who builtthishouse—he comes"to see"—!!! Tho' I did certainly both hear & see, several times this winter,& once in particular, about 2.a.m. yet I do not feel much inclined to addfaith to this assertion of Davy's—I must have something more substantial.But I am much inclined to doubt master Davy's assertions & considerthis& several othersof his sayings at former Periods in the same light as those he delivered at many ofGrecian temples; for I have every substantial reason to consider him as the same identical Gen-tleman: however, a short time hence will decide: The Turtle said we shouldhave a good deal of rain; but not averygreatdeal& a very hi wind, & as soon asthe Sun should appear, "at its setting an indian (naming him by a very extraor-dinary & bawdy features in hisperson) should arrive & bring us meat;butthisyouwilleatofcourse,&I shall gowithout"—{"Beware of yourselves—Tomorrownight you shall drink & be drunk: drink & leave the house as soon as you"can;fortherearefromthatwind(by which he designated theSouth)"whoiftheydrinkwithye,yeshallbecomepitiful" alluding to twoblackguard half breed brothers, who proud of the bravery of their deceased father areever & anon insulting & domineering over the other indians: it is worthy of remarkthat an aged man in the course of this last winter was advertised of the Same, &repeatedly pressed not to drink at the house on their accord}. This is nowthe 6th(June) the Sun appears, but the wind is very hi, & we have frequentshowers of rain & snow.—About midnight the Conjuror addressed me &asked if I wished to see any ofthem(the Spirits)—I accepted the offer & thrustmy head underneath, & being upon my back I looked up & near the topobserved a light as of a Star in a Cloudy night about 1 1/2in. long & 1 broad; tho'
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tho' dim, yet perfectly distinct. Tho'theyallappear as lights, some larger & others smaller,this one was denominated the Fisher Star; the name by which they designate the Plough, Ibelievewecall it, or Great Bear, from the supposed resemblance it bears to that animal,the fisher. When I was entering, several of the Indians on the outside called outto the Spirits "Gently! Gently! It is our Chief who wishes to see ye:—do"him no evil" &c.—I had my apprehensions. A little after one P.M. one ofmy men looked in, with several Indians, & saw several small lights aboutas large as the Thumb nail. A few minutes before 2 P.M. being day lightthey gave another shaking to the frame & made their exit.The above is an account of only a small part, for I am too much pressedfor time—I cannot therefore enter into particulars, nor a larger detail; nor giveyou my opinion further than a few words. I am fully convinced, as much soas that I am in existance, that Spirits of some kind did really & virtuallyenter some truly terrific, but others again quite of a different character.—I cannot enter into a detail by comparisons from ancient & more modern history,but I found the consonance, analogy, resemblance, affinity, or whateverit may be termed so great, so conspicuous that I verily beleive I shall neverforget the impressions of that evening; but above all things that sticks mostforcibly in my mind is the unbound Gratitude we owe, & ought to shew,every instant of our existance to that almighty Power that deigned to sacrificehis only Son for us for our Salvation! Oh my God! let me never for-get this!—& teach me to thank thee not only with my lipsbut with every action of my life! x x x x x x x x &c. &c.—Here I must close & in a few minutes Seal up this for your peru-sal, sincerely wishing I may find an opportunity, safe, of conveying itto you—How earnestly I wish Robthad been present & understoodthe language—This would convince the most skeptic.—To Mr Wm Nolan, Wm Henry G. NelsonNote: Read these Pages among yourselves, & lend themnotoutof the house—