Page 1stThe following few Stories or Tales will give a better notion or Idea of the religion of thesePeople than every other descriptionIam able to pen, & as theirhistoryis read with interest, I ampersuaded these few Pages will be found equally deserving attention. I give them the same as Ireceived them & leave every one to make his own remarks & to draw his own conclusions.My Interpretor, a young half breed, passed the winter of -'19-'20 with the Indians &gives this account. One day shortly before Christmass he was out with anelderly man, a chief of this place, a hunting. Suddenly he stopped as tolisten, apparent-ly with great eagerness & anxiety, upon which after allowing a sufficient time theInt. asked what was the matter? "Listen & you'll hear" "I have listened, says the Intr. but hear no-"thing & it is surprising that you who are deaf should hear & I not"—"Ah! a white man is thy"father & thou are just asskeptical: doubting & ridiculing every thing we say or do 'till"when it is then too late—then ye lament, but in vain ...." After this the Indian became muchdown-cast & very thoughtful for several days; & as if to increase his anxiety or rather to to corroboratethe husbands assertions, his wife said that one day she alsoheard, tho' the other women that werewith her heard nothing, & an altercation ensued. His uneasyness increasing too much he wasforced to have recourse totheironly alternative in such cases, i.e.une Jonglerieas the frenchterm it, that is conjuring. One of their party, another half-breed, abandoned many years sinceby his Father & leading an indian life, was applied to: he is reputed atrueman, i.e. never lies.Out of respect to the other he was induced to consent, but much against his will; "for I am"much afraid that some of thesetimestheywillcarrymeoff." He was prepared, & entered withhisrattler, shortly after which the box & therattlerbegan to move in the usual brisk &violent manner.Manyentered, & one asked "what was wanted that they had been called"upon." The indian from the outside of the frame (for only the conjuror alone &enters) inquired "if there was not some evil spirit near from whom he had much"every thing to dread?" —"No, replied the same voice,all is quiet, you trouble yourself"with vain phantoms" "What then is the meaning, asked again the Indian, of the those sud-"den flashes of light I sometimes see in the night?"—"What! rejoined another voice from within,"hast thou attained unto this age & never yet observed this;" & then laughing, continued, "it is al-"ways the case during thismoon(December) & if you doubt me, for the future observe"attentively & you will find it to be the case".—This satisfied him for the time, he becamecheerful & assumed his wonted ways. But not for a long time—he soon relapsed, & aftersome days applied again to the conjurer. When he had entered his box or frame—anumber again entered & one of them enquired why they were called for? The conjurorsaid-. "What? says he,* "again! Thou art very skeptical—dost thou not believe? nowthou art fond of, thou wantest to be haunted, well thou shalt have thy desire." At these* i.e. the Spirit...(2)...these dreadful words, which were uttered in an angry & reproving manner, every soul was struckwith terror; but as if to give some consolation assured him "that that spirit had but justleft hishome, & coming on very slowly would not be up with them 'tillsuch a time,a little prior to which they were ordered to conjure again, when they would be told what todo. This was no pleasant information to the conjuror who never undertook this jobbut with the greatest reluctance, nay indeed even sometimes horor: However, he neither, poor creature had no alternative. At thetime appointed he entered again, every thing being prepared. After the preliminary de-mands or questions &c. "yes replies one of thespirits, that which thou dreadestisnear, &"is drawing on apace" ... "How shall we do? what shall we do?" exclaimed the indian—At last one of them, who goes by the name of the Bull or Buffaloe (thru the conjuror, for healone could understand him his voice being hoarse & rough, his uttering thick & inarticulate)"asked the indian if he remembered of a dream he made whilst yet a young man?." "Yes""replies the indian—I remember perfectly,—I dreamed I saw one just like yourself,"who told me that when advanced in life I should be much troubled one winter, but"by a certain sacrifice & a sweatingboutI should be releived; but I have not the means"here,—I have no stones"—"you are encamped upon them rejoined thespirit& at the"door of your tent are some" "yes, but says the indian the dogs havewateredthem,"& they are otherwise soiled"—"Fool, put them in the fire, will not the fire heat,"& make them change color, & purify them? Do this, fail not & be not uneasy—"we shall go four of us (spirits) & amuse him upon the road, & endeavour to"drive him back." At this the Interpretor burst out laughing & exclaimed "sacré bande deBetes & do you beleive all that d__d nonsense?" "You doubt too says a voice addres-"sing him (the In.) from the inside; go out of the tent & listen, you'll see ifwe"lie"—he did indeed go out to some distance & after awhile heard as a distanthollow noise, which increased 'till it became considerably more distinct & thenvanished as a great gust of wind, tho' the night was mild, calm, clear & beauti-fully serene—it even startled the dogs. "Mahn! (an indian term or exclamation signifying haste)"said the spirits from within,theyhave turned him off the road, as soon as the noise was"heard, but he will not turn back, or go home: he issentafter you by another indian'who conjured him up from out the Deep (i.e the bottom of some flood) but be not"too uneasy, if these four will not do, there are yet a vast many of us, so that between"us all weshalldrive him back: we will perplex & bewilder him: surround, tor-"ment & tease him on every side: but he is of a monstrous size, ferocious & withal"enraged against you:—The task is mighty difficult.Observe! See how beautifully"serene the night is—if we succeed, the sky will change all of a sudden, & there"will fall a very smart shower of snow attended with a terrible gust of wind. This...(3)..."This will happen between day light & Sun rise,&ishisspirit, all that will remainin his power—he'll then return to his home."—The Intr, tho he laughed at all this,& could not bring himself to credit it, yet swears that he heard the rumbling noise,ontheirroad, & seemingly far off: the indians gave implicit faith to all—& the conjurordid not know what to beleive "there is something says he, formy Dreamed, orDreamers"have assured me of it, butIdont know what to say—however, most assuredly tomor-"row morning we shall have the snow."Thissnowboth comforted & depressed the poorindian very much, seeing the weather was then so beautiful & so destitute ofall the usual signs of bad weather. It did snow—it came as foretold, quite sudden-ly, & as suddenly became fine again. In the ensuing morning the Indian begged of the Inter-preter to chuse one of the longest & straightest Pine (Epinette) trees he could find of the thicknessof his thigh; to peel off all the bark nicely, leaving but a small tuft of the branches at thetip end—this they painted cross-ways with bars of vermillion & charcoal, alternatelythe whole length, leaving however some intervals undaubded—& about 5 or 6 feet from the Ground, fastened a Pair of artificial horns, representing thoseof a Bull, & decorated with ribbon. He also (the Indian I mean) made the sweat-ing hut, & in short done every thing as directed, after which he (the indian) became toresume his wonted cheerfulness & contentment. However, once more he was obligedto have recourse again to the Conjuror, from hearing another rumbling noise; "Thou"Fool answered the spirits: wilt thou never have done tormenting thyself & dis-"quieting us—that rumbling noise proceeds from the ice in a Lake a long way"off—it is only the ice—be therefore peaceable—I shall advertise thee if any"ill is to happen thee."———The Flashes of light, or those sudden glares thatthe indian inquired of the spirits, is, as the told him, lightning, which always happens inthe month of December & they laughed at his having lived so long without observing itbefore. The Conjuror had lost his smoking bag one day that he was out a hunting &as it contained his only steel & not a small part of his winter stock of Tobacco &c. hewas very uneasy, & hunted several times for it: They having told the Interpretor oftenhow kind & charitable & indulgent thosespirits of the upper regionswere, & he,desirous of Proving them, told the Conjuror to send for his bag. He asked "which of"ye will go for my bag that I lost? He that brings it me, I shall make him"smoke" "I will go, said one—they heard a fluttering noise, & soon after they heard thesame fluttering noise & the rattler move, & down fell the bag by the conjuror, covered with snow—"How stupid thou art, said the spirit, naming the Conjuror, thou passedst over it & yet"did not see it." It was a long time since the bag was lost & the distance was several miles.—Another one, could not kill with his Gun, owing to its being crooked, or some other cause—...(4)...—however, he attached the fault to the Gun—The first time, I beleive it was, that thishalf-breed conjured. The People on the outside hearing many voices speak as they entered,at last they stopped at one whose voice & articulation was different from that of the others: "Who"is that one just now entered? said those outside—"It is theSun, replied the Conjuror""ha! well, I am happy of it, said the the indian, is it nothewho says himself able"to repair Fire-arms (Guns), & do anything with them he pleases?—ask him (ad-"dressing the Conjuror) if he will not have compassion on me & put my Gun to rights, that"I also may kill—I am walking every day & frequently shoot at moose, but always miss"--"Hand it me" said a voice from the top of the conjuring frame. The Gun was given tothe Conjuror. "It is loaded, continued the voice, shall I fire it off?"—"You may, but"take care you hurt no body" replied the indian. The Gun was fired, & shortly afterhanded back to the owner—"Here is your Gun—you will kill with it now" said theSpirit.——Both this business of the Gun & smoking bag took place, thefirst time, I beleive, the man Conjured.———There are but few Individuals (i.e. men) among theSauteux or Cris, or Crees who have not their medicine bags—& initiated into some cere-mony or other, but it is notallof them who can Conjur. Among some tribes, mostof them, can; & among others again, there are but very few. Nor is it every one of themthat tellsall truth, some scarcily nothing but lies, others againnot onefalse-hood, & this depends upon theirDreamed, sometimes, but I think may be equallyimputed to their own selves, i.e. Presumption, ignorance, folly, or any other of ourpassions or weaknesses. But to become Conjurors, they have rights & ceremoniesto Perform & go through, which, tho' apparently simple & absurd, yet I have no doubt butfully answer their ends. Any person among them wishing todiveinto futurity,must be Young & unpolluted. At any age between 18 & 25. Tho' as near as I canlearn between 17 & 20 years old—they must have had no intercourse withthe other Sex—they must be chaste & unpolluted. In the spring of the year theychuse a proper place at a sufficient distance from the camp not be discoverednor disturbed. They make themselves a bed of Grass, or hay as we term it, &have besides enough to make them a covering. When all this is done—& they do it entirelyalone, they strip stark naked & put all their thingsa good way off& then return,ly on this bed & then cover themselves with the rest of the Grass. Here they remain &endeavour tosleep, which from their nature is no very difficult task. But, du-ring whatever time they may remain, they must neither eat nor drink. If they want toDream of the Spirits above, their bed must be made at some distance from the Ground—if of Spirits inhabiting our Earth, or those residing in the waters, on the Ground....(5)...on the Ground. Here they ly for a longer or shorter time, according to their success, or theorders of the Dreamed. Some remain but 3 or 4 days, some 10, & I have be told one re-mained 30 days without eating or drinking; such was the delight he received from hisDreams!—When I laughed at this, the man was vexed, & the others not a little hurt.—The first thing they do after their return to their freinds is to take a good drinkof water, smoke the Pipe: & after that eat, but as composedly as if they hadbut just risen from a hearty meal. TheirDreamedsometimes order them to make aFeast; & not uncommonly tell them where to go, where they will find the animal whoseflesh is to be served up (i.e. always boiled) &c. They sometimes lie in one Posture,& sometimes in another, i.e. their head to some one of the Cardinal Points. Some havethe most pleasant dreams imaginable; others indifferent. When they are to live toa good old age(!!!) they are told..."You will see many winters! your head will grow"quite white"; or "tho you shall never see your head white, yet you shall live"till you are obliged to make use of a stick, & long after"—"You shall die old,"very old, respected & regretted."—If they are to die young... "Thou shalt see the years ofa"young man"; & so on of the other ages, as well as the manner of life they shall have; & thelanguage is not very dissimilar to that of our version of the Bible. But that stile seems tome to be the language of Nature whichIalways find the more charming the more re-tired thespeakeris from the Pompous, bombastic walks ofhighlife, which tho' they furnishus with more ideas,Ido not think adds so much to the beauty of the language.As I have said before, the purpose of these Dreams is to dive into futurity. Everything in nature appears unto them, but in the Shape of a human-being—They dreamthey meet a man who asks them (after some preliminary conversation of course) "Dost"thou know me? (who or what I am?)"—"No" "Follow me then" replies this strangers,the indian follows—the other leads him to his abode & again makes the inquiry—the answer is perhaps as before. Then the Stranger assumes his proper form, which isperhaps that of a Tree, a Stone, a fish &c. &c. & after rechanging several timesin this manner, 'till such times as the Ind. becomes perfectly to know him, then this stran-ger gives him to smoke, learns himhisSong &c. thus addressing him: "Now do"you remember my song? .... Whenever you will wish to call upon me, Sing"this Song, & I shall not be far—I will come, & do for you what you require."—They know many oftheseSpiritsas soon as they see them (in their dreams) by the des-cription the other indians have given of them—some however they know from theirNature. When TheSnowaddresses them—he they know, because he is perfectly white. TheIcealso. The Sun & Moon from their beautifull brilliancy & the elegance of theirabode. The Houses of the two last being uncommonly neat & handsome, such as those of...(6)...the white (i e. civilized). One Principal amongst all these, & every thing in Nature appearsat least to some, of them, is the Supreme Being, whom they term Wee-suck-Ä jÄÄk(the last a's being pronounced as in, all, hawk, &c.; the first as ale, bail, &c.) i.e. by his Pro-per name, his common name, Gey-Shay-mani-to(this is among the Crees nation),which signifies "the Greatly charitable Spirit." He is uncommonly good & kind, addresses them,& talk to them as to children whom he most tenderly loves & is extremely anxious for. Thus farevery thing is very well, & is perhaps a betterideathan many of the vulgar Christians can give; buton the other hand again thier Mythology, or Stories relating to him, are many of them ab-surd & indecent in the highest degree: reducing him to the level of his creatures, & notunfrequently their making him dupe; but become so by such vile, such abominable deception asI doubt to be equalled by the most absurd & romantic of the arabian Tales; for thereare many of these Tales the author durst not publish for the obscenity & inde-cency. There are some obscene passages also in these tales (of the indians) butnot more than might be expected from a people yet in a perfect state ofnature, as to their mental Powers, to our eternal shame & scandal. This onethey love, they love him a great deal, & are by no means are afraid of him, because he alwaysaddresses them "my Little Children &c." & all the rest of his character is of apiece with this.—Thenext oneis Old Nick—Him some term "Key-"-jick-oh-kay" (The J being pronounced soft, as Git, or Gil, in french, forIknow of no English word where properly speaking the J is of any use & has thesound seemed intended by it) or "Key-jick-oh-kaiw". I cannot at presentgive the proper signification of this name, for I am not sufficiently acquainted withthe language, but it appears to me as to mean "he who made the Day or Skies,"or resides in the Sky" &c.—This one they represent wicked, & terrible; inexorableto the highest degree; always plotting evil, & endeavouring to circumvent the restof the creation; is always jawing & bawling; but when the other appears he or-ders him in a peremptory manner "hold thy Tongue; Get the hence, thou"deceiver; thou ill-liver". But these words are uttered in such an authoratative& commanding tone that the Indians themselves are quite astonished, to see one who isso uncommonly kind & indulgent to them in every respect; so tender & affectionate,even in the choice of his words, assume so suddenly & with so much authority somuch Power over one whose name alone they never utter but with the greatestDread & horor. Their Horor of the Devil is so great, that no one ever utters it butwhen unavoidable; & if thro' inadvertancy or ignorance one of their childrenshould mention it he is severely reprimanded by all who hear.—There is also the Sea Serpent, a monstrous animal & has much Power; The Mer-...(7)...The Mermaid (or Sea-Man), The Water Lynx, or rather Tyger—a dreadful charac-ter this last, who keeps all the Inhabitants of the deep in the Greatest Subjection—thereare however one or two who contend with him; & sometimes he is reduced to the necissity ofcompounding with them. The Great Turtle, and many others. They have their abodesin the Deep, but perfectly dry & comfortable. Each one of these, & indeed all of themhave their Stories or Mythology; some I forget entirely, & others remember too incor-rectly to mention at present.——[These When any one Conjures, if he is a renounedMedicineMan,theyall appear, & Speake to him, mostly in his own language, somefew excepted as thePike(a Jack fish) who Speaks french; The Sun & Moon, both speakEnglish; the Bull or Buffaloe in an unknown, or at least strange language; but all per-fectly intelligible to the Conjuror.—I am quite astray—leaving the proper thread ofmy story to follow one of its branches—I ought to have said that]The Sun whenhe appears to an indian, he is seen in the Heavens, as an Indian (i.e. a Man)"walk-ing on the Wind." His dress is of a variety of Colors & handsome. I had a dream,the latter part of which I shall relate to you as it is perfectly des-criptive of the manner or form in which the Sun appears. I related it the next day tosome of my half-breeds, when one of them replied; "What a pity! had you now forbornefor a few days mentioningthis, he would have appeared again to you; & then you would havehad a fine opportunity of learning (from the fountain-head, as we might say) how it is theindians come to perform those things the white will never credit:" & he continued thatit was precisely the form he assumed when he appears to the indians. In mydream I thought we were travelling a road from which some of our Party had theutmost to dread from the ambush of an indian who could transport himself towhat place he pleased. As we were walking I happened to look above & wasmuch struck with the appearance of a man walking in the Heavens. Hisdress was that of a neatSouthernIndian, composed mostly of red & yellow, but also of afew other colors: The Garters of his leggings were also Neat & handsome & had a tuft ofSwans-down that had been Powdered with vermillion, attached to the not, on theback part of the leg: To His shoes were attached 2 long Swan quills inclosingthe foot thus [diagram] with a tuft of down at each end & in the middle on bothsides, all Powdered with vermillion—with these quills & down, & the downon his Garters buoyed him up in the air. I addressed in broken Cree—he answeredin the same broken accent; upon my second address I though he did not understand moreof that language than I did myself: the Sauteux seemed to me his proper tongue & I wasglad of having an opportunity of speaking that language; so I the third time addressed himin it asked him from whence he came, whither he was going &c. &c.—He was very hi...(8)...hi, insomuch that the others thought it preprosterous in my addressing him—that he could nothear from that distance. Upon this he came down & talked with us—Saying he was anambas-sador&c. Such is the habillement, & manner in which the Sun shews himself.— The Thun-der also appears to them, in the Shape & form of a Most beautiful bird (The Pea-Cock).—Roots & herbs also (this also ought to have come in afterwards) i.e. such as are medeci-nal, appear, & teach their votaries their respective Songs — how they must do, what ceremoniesthey must perform in taking them out of the Ground, their different applications &c. &c. Butthese roots, herbs, &c. (medecins) tho' they appear in their Dreams, they do not shew themselvesin the Conjuring Hut, box, or frame, that I learn. They are sent, as appears, by Wee-suck-a-jaak, "to teach indians their use & virtue." &c., without which "they would bevery ill off, whether to heal or cure themselves, or expell the charms by which otherindians may have bewitched them" &c. And tho' they are acquainted with many ofthese roots &c. the use & virtue of some of which I can no more doubt than those used by theFaculty in the Civilized world, yet they tell me there are several which they use to differ-ent, & some to diametrically opposite purposes.Their manner of Conjuring is this—in the first place a number straights poles of2, or 2 1/2 ins. diameter & about 8 or 9 feet long are prepared, i.e. cut, branched & Pointed at thelower end—they seldom require sofewas four, commonly 6 or 8, these are planted inthe Ground from 12 to 20 or 24 ins. deep in an hexagon or octagon form, enclosing a space of3 feet diameter, more or less—These Poles are secured by hoops,3 or 4 in number, & well tied to each pole, so that none be able to move without therest—This Hut, square, box, or frame, whatever it may be termed is covered with skins,an oil cloth, or some such sort of thing.— The Conjuror is bound hand & foot, not as ifhe were a man going topryinto futurity, but as a Criminal, i.e.mere, pureDevil & one whom they intend never to loosen, so barricaded & cross-corded is the creature,sometimes all crumpled into a heap. He is tied only with his Cloute on him & thusthrust into the hut, underneath, i.e. by raising the lower covering—his "she-she-quay" or rattler with him. Some of them sing on entering, others make a speech,—. Here they remain some several hours, others not 5 minutes before a flutteringis heard. The rattler is shaked at a merry rate & all of a Sudden, either from thetop, or below away flies the cords by which the indian was tiedinto the lapof he who tied him. It is then that the Devil is at work—Every instant someone or other enters, which is known to those outside by either the fluttering, the rubbing againstthe skins of the hut in descending (inside) or the shaking of the rattler, & sometimes alltogether. When any enter, the hut moves in a most violent manner—I have fre-quently thought that it would be knocked down, or torn out of the Ground. The first...(9)...The first who enters is commonly Meeh-key-nock (the Turtle) a jolly, jovial sort of afellow, who, after disencumbering his votary, chats & jokes with those outside & asks for apipe to smoke &c.—There is a good deal of talking inside as may be supposed from thenumber of folks collected in so small a space. To some renowned characters, allthe Spirits appear. The Thunder also frequently comes but he is desired to remainoutside as he would breake all—It is reported that he once entered & split oneof the Poles into shivers. The Flying Squirrel also enters—he is no liar, but youmust take every thing he says as we do our Dreams i.e. the opposite: his nature is suchthat he durst not tell the truth but in this ambiguous manner, otherwise theconjuror would soon after die. I do not know that the Skunk ever comes, but theWolverine (Carcajoux) does & he is known immediately by his stink, which occa-sions no small merriment at his expense, on the outside. TheLoonalso enters—he is known by his usual cry—"Nee-wih wee-way" repeated commonly 3 times ashe does when in the water. And this too occasions a great laugh, for these foursyllables, which form the most common Cry of that bird in theSpringof theyear, as every body may observe,arealso 3 words in the Sauteux & Cree languages,which signify "I want to marry"! "I want to marry"! "What! & will you never"have done marrying?—you were marrying all last Summer & still want to"—will someoutside say, & every one has his word to put in.Herculesalso comes in—he is per-haps as much revered by those people as even he was by the Spartans or Athenians—His name isStrong Neck(& every body knows how strong hercules was)—he doesnot seem over fond of Jokes—& when the other Spirits announce his coming allthose on the outside must cover their heads & not look up; for it appears that hecannot comeinvisibleas the others do, or will not, but still does not chuseto be seen. "Once upon a time his arrival was announced, & every body was ordered"to cover themselves, so as not to see (this, & all such like orders are commands sent to"the Conjuror, & which he, (being inside) mustPromulgateto those on the outside)—"—there was one young Buck however who wanted to shew himself supe-"rior to these orders & divert his freinds, would not cover himself—Hercules"entered—& at that time, as at all others, he was not in too good a humor—Some alter-"cation ensued & "I am Strong Neck" said he "Pah! says the young man at last,"the neck of my os-Pubis indeed is strong"! This raised a most violent laugh, but"the young man was lost—he disappeared from amongst them, & was never after"heard of. Sincethattime they are rather more cautious. Some of theAncientsalso enter—they are called "O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck" i.e.Hairybreasts...(10)...such as the ancients are said to be.. These are great boasters—they recount the exploits oftheir younger days, apparently with the greatest satisfaction; say "I used to do so & so"on such occasions—I never shot a Moose or Buffaloe, but pursued them on my feet,"& ripped them open with my knife &c." But this is onlywind, for no sooner do otherpowerful ones enter, but these Chaps search to secret themselves. The Sun enters—speakesvery bad English at the offset, but by degrees becomes to speake it very easily & fluently—Heis Gun Smith & watch-maker, or at least can repair them. When he is entered thereis commonly a beautiful clear light visible, through the covering—He neither does notadmit of too much familiarity; but is still good natured & condescending. The Pikeor Jack fish, also enters; as the Sun, they also speak (French,) badly enough at the offset,"When there are 2 or 3 on the outside who can speake french & address him together,"merely to perplex & bother him, he laughs at their folly & says 'you may talk"'20 or 100 of you together if you chuse, yet are you not able to perplex me—come as"'numerous as you chuse, yet are there many more of usPikethat you frenchmen'"—he is very familiar too. The Bull, or Buffaloe is understood only by the Conjuror,his voice being hoarse, & rough—his language quite foreign—the Conjurer mustinterpret when any thing is wanted of him.—As is his voice, so are his manners——however, he will joke a little too; but let them beware not to let drop anythingin a sarcastic or contemptuous manner as to his power, or knowledge of the future for hetakes it up & reproves in a very tart manner; & in a way too that conveys no com-fortable ideas to any one present, for they all endeavour to excuse it by saying it isonly a Joke, "I know Jokes too; & I can laugh, & understand the nature of laughing as"well as the best amongst you, but such language is unbecoming & I will have no"more of it."——"A half breed one time,becausehisfatherwasafrenchman"thought he might go any lengths he pleased with him (the B.)—he replied very"warmly thus: "how durst thou doubt anything I say—Knowest thou not how clearly""& distinctly objects are discovered & seen in a plain, from an eminence; & my abode is""is in the regions above—I see every object as distinctly as you see at your feet, doubt""then no more, & never hereafter call our Power to question."—Aye! replied some of the other"spirits "We not only seeallthatyoudo,howeversecret&hidyouthinkyourselves""but we also hear every word you utter." If that indeed be the case tell me, where now are, &"when will be here, my fathers Country Men?[The conjuror had been employed to tell"what the people were about as it was long since the time they were expected, & ought to have"arrived, had elapsed]—"Wait! I shall go & see"—& shortly after he returned "They are""now all asleep at such a place—the weather will be calm tomorrow, & tho' the distance...(11)...""distance is great, yet will you see them tomorrow night, for they are as anxious as yourselves"—"another one said, "Since then ye Spirits pretend to know every thing & are vexed when we call""any of your sayings in question—come tell me—how long shall I live?—Shall I yet see""two more winters? "Ha! (laughing replied the same voice) two winters? I see you""all yet alive two winters hence, every soul that sets here & considerably more; & some of""you I see crawling with old age""!!!—With some of theSpirits as I've already said the by standers (or setters for they are seated on theGround round about) are very familiar—The Turtle is one of them, he is very hu-mersome, & their jokes with him were such (for I've heard this myself) as I shouldhave been ashamed to hold even with a bawd—it was pureribaldry: but they durstnot doubt him when he speaks seriously; for he is very powerful & makes himselfrespected when he thinks it necessary. "Who is that, now speaking?" said one of the in-dians (this I was told)—"It is Mihkenach" said the Conjuror—if it be him, prove it"—take him in your hand & show him to us" Now the Conjr. was a very great me-"decin man,—he took the turtle upon his hand, raised the covering of hisbox,"& called them to look—Every one was astonished at his beauty—he was very"small, scarcely more than 2 ins. long. When all had gazed enough the Conjurer"drew him in.—The Turtle was very quiet while out but as soon as he got in"exclaimed "Oh! how afraid I was when I saw the children look so eagerly—I"was afraid some of them would have attempted to take me in their hands &"let me fall, perhaps in the fire" & laughed heartily. The Bear is a roughbeast & makes a devil of a racket. Towards the latter end master Keyjickah-kaiw, that old serpent, Satan, enters;—his arrival is announced—all hands are greived, forthen the conclusion is soon to take place— He makes every thing fly again, kickingup his own (i.e. the Devils) racket, jawing & blabing, scolding & giving the lie to &abusing all hands: the indians are hurt & displeased, but durst not say anything—they mustswallow all quietly, & then it is that the Conjuror most dreads for his ownbacon:this however does not last very long for Weesuckajaak (the Supreme Being) enters last—as soon as his coming is announced Nick begins to sneake, but stillen maitre—Weekenters, Nickjaws, silence is imposed, nick still troublesome,at last the word comes authoratatively & awayheflies. The Indians are uncommonlyfond of Weesuckajâck—he commonly speaks to this effect "My Little (i.e. Grand) Children"I am very indulgent & kind, I am very charitable, & love you much,—a great deal more"than you imagine. You must not live ill, nor make a bad use of your power & knowledge"for I hate that;—hence it is I command Nick in that authoratative manner; because...(12)..."because he is wickedly inclined—mischief & destruction are in his nature—he greives at any"good he sees: take ye heed, beware of him for he is ever on the watch to destroy you"—WhenCharlyenters after some abuse he calls out "Get ye hence, get ye hence, what"are ye doing so long from your home: off with ye immediately"; & rubs up & downthe skins that form the covering lest any should be hid. Thus he sends off all theSpirits, who, as theyflyoff, as well as when they enter, give this frame a terribleshaking. It may be supposed what sort of a shaking he gives as he comes & goes, &how he shakes the rattler;—for they all shake the rattler on entering. When We-suckajaak goes off, all is done.—Some Conjurors are so powerful that thehutthey enter, must be doubled; that is tworows or Setts of Poles one on the outside the other, & each row fastened with goodstrong hoops well tied, after which the outer & inner row are also fastened—thusarranged, they seem to be beyond the power of any 3 or 4 men to move, yet when theSpirits enter it sets a-going with a motion equal to that of a Single pole indifferently stuckin the Ground & violently moved by a man. I have never seen any of these doubleones, but twice or thrice saw the others, whilst the conjuror was in—Some timeafterwards, when they were off, I shook them with both hands & with all my strength,but the motion was nothing like that of the Conjurors. I have been told thatthose who enter these Double ones, are so powerful that almost all the Creationcomes to see them, & they are shaken with uncommon violence. This motionthe Conjurors say is produced by the concussion of the air; i.e. the Spirits come& enter with such velocity that it is theWindtheyProducewhich occasions it.The conjuror is all the while seated Peaceably in the bottom, (on the Ground) of hishut. Some of them to shew their Power have had small sticks of the hardestwood (such as produces the wild Pear, & of which the Indians make their arrows, &ram-rods &c. for Guns) about the size of a mans finger, made as sharp point-ed as possible, & dried, when they become in consequence nearly as dangerous as iron,or bayonets—Some have 18, 24 more or less, tho' Seldom less than 18 planted in thebottom of their hut—They are about 12 or 14 ins. out of the Ground—On the Points of theseSticks is the conjuror placed, sometimes on his bottom, at others on hisknees & elbows, & there he remains as quietly & composedly as if he were on"abedofRoses"; & when he comes off no marks of injury appear, tho he enterednaked, only his Cloute about him, & of course the Cords with which he istied. "Their familiars (their Dreamed, or those who appear to them in their dreams &Promise them their assistance & Protection) support them so that no injury hap-pens them"!!! __________________...(13)...March 29th- I feel but very indifferently disposed to write; but I am on the eve of an accumula-tion of business & may not, after a few days, have the necessary time, so that I shall risk.A Couple of days back I have been conversing with a Cree (indian) who bypeace-mealgives me the following account of their mythology:—"The North-(wind) apparently one ofoldest of created rational beings thus addressed his daughter, his only child "My"daughter! be very careful, & remember that anything you do, or wherever you go, on turn-ing yourself, turnalwaysinthesamedirectionwiththeSun, &neverinacontra-rydirection." Now women are a compound of Perverseness, obstinacy & curiosity; & withallforgetful enough too,sometimes. This Girl one day she was chopping fire-wood, withoutthinking of her fathers admonition, in going to another Tree, turned roundto the right, in a contrary direction to the Sun, & instantly fell to the Ground, &died. The time she used to take up in this occupation, being expired, her Parents becamevery uneasy, & after some search found her on herback, dead, & her belly swolen to an enor-mous size. The father & mother, on each or opposite sides, contemplated her si-tuation with great grief. At last the Father arose, stood up, & made a longspeech, praying to "The Father of Life" to have mercy & compassion on his child.His speech was not ineffectual: the Girl was delivered of a Boy, & shortly after, of another—The Elder was called Wee-suck-a-jock; the younger "Mi (or Mee) shaw-bôse"—After this the Girl recovered & became as aforetime. These two young men immedi-ately attained "mans estate"—i.e. to manhood, &c. and became hunters. Theyounger of the two one day was in pursuit of a Grey, or rein Deer (Carriboeuf) afterwhich also pursued a Wolf. The Deer having thus no hopes of escape fled to arock on the edge of the waters & plunged in, Mishabôse & the Wolf followed; but theyall three became a prey to the Michi-Pichoux, or Great Lynx, i.e. water Lynx,water-Cat, or water Dog. Wesuckajock was very uneasy for his brother, wasanxious to revenge his death, but scarcely knew-well how. At last one day seeinga Kings-fisher hovering in a certain spot addressed him thus "My younger"Brother! what art thou there looking at?" "I am looking at Mishabôse, your"brother, lying in the bottom of the deep, drowned" &c. After some further con-versation, Weesuck. discovered the means of avenging himself. He accordingly set towork & made himself alargeCanoe, on board of which he embarked the Moose, Deer,Bear, otter, Beaver, muskrat, wolf &c. &c. & repaired to the place where theSea Lynxes used to resort to sleep; this was a fine pleasant place onthe Land. Here he observed several of them & began his work. It is not relatedhow many he did kill, but the waters upon their death came rushing uponhim in a violent torrent; as he expected this, he had bro't his canoe near hand,but before he reached it, after killing his enemies, he was already knee-deep in the
Page 1stThe following few Stories or Tales will give a better notion or Idea of the religion of thesePeople than every other descriptionIam able to pen, & as theirhistoryis read with interest, I ampersuaded these few Pages will be found equally deserving attention. I give them the same as Ireceived them & leave every one to make his own remarks & to draw his own conclusions.My Interpretor, a young half breed, passed the winter of -'19-'20 with the Indians &gives this account. One day shortly before Christmass he was out with anelderly man, a chief of this place, a hunting. Suddenly he stopped as tolisten, apparent-ly with great eagerness & anxiety, upon which after allowing a sufficient time theInt. asked what was the matter? "Listen & you'll hear" "I have listened, says the Intr. but hear no-"thing & it is surprising that you who are deaf should hear & I not"—"Ah! a white man is thy"father & thou are just asskeptical: doubting & ridiculing every thing we say or do 'till"when it is then too late—then ye lament, but in vain ...." After this the Indian became muchdown-cast & very thoughtful for several days; & as if to increase his anxiety or rather to to corroboratethe husbands assertions, his wife said that one day she alsoheard, tho' the other women that werewith her heard nothing, & an altercation ensued. His uneasyness increasing too much he wasforced to have recourse totheironly alternative in such cases, i.e.une Jonglerieas the frenchterm it, that is conjuring. One of their party, another half-breed, abandoned many years sinceby his Father & leading an indian life, was applied to: he is reputed atrueman, i.e. never lies.Out of respect to the other he was induced to consent, but much against his will; "for I am"much afraid that some of thesetimestheywillcarrymeoff." He was prepared, & entered withhisrattler, shortly after which the box & therattlerbegan to move in the usual brisk &violent manner.Manyentered, & one asked "what was wanted that they had been called"upon." The indian from the outside of the frame (for only the conjuror alone &enters) inquired "if there was not some evil spirit near from whom he had much"every thing to dread?" —"No, replied the same voice,all is quiet, you trouble yourself"with vain phantoms" "What then is the meaning, asked again the Indian, of the those sud-"den flashes of light I sometimes see in the night?"—"What! rejoined another voice from within,"hast thou attained unto this age & never yet observed this;" & then laughing, continued, "it is al-"ways the case during thismoon(December) & if you doubt me, for the future observe"attentively & you will find it to be the case".—This satisfied him for the time, he becamecheerful & assumed his wonted ways. But not for a long time—he soon relapsed, & aftersome days applied again to the conjurer. When he had entered his box or frame—anumber again entered & one of them enquired why they were called for? The conjurorsaid-. "What? says he,* "again! Thou art very skeptical—dost thou not believe? nowthou art fond of, thou wantest to be haunted, well thou shalt have thy desire." At these* i.e. the Spirit
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these dreadful words, which were uttered in an angry & reproving manner, every soul was struckwith terror; but as if to give some consolation assured him "that that spirit had but justleft hishome, & coming on very slowly would not be up with them 'tillsuch a time,a little prior to which they were ordered to conjure again, when they would be told what todo. This was no pleasant information to the conjuror who never undertook this jobbut with the greatest reluctance, nay indeed even sometimes horor: However, he neither, poor creature had no alternative. At thetime appointed he entered again, every thing being prepared. After the preliminary de-mands or questions &c. "yes replies one of thespirits, that which thou dreadestisnear, &"is drawing on apace" ... "How shall we do? what shall we do?" exclaimed the indian—At last one of them, who goes by the name of the Bull or Buffaloe (thru the conjuror, for healone could understand him his voice being hoarse & rough, his uttering thick & inarticulate)"asked the indian if he remembered of a dream he made whilst yet a young man?." "Yes""replies the indian—I remember perfectly,—I dreamed I saw one just like yourself,"who told me that when advanced in life I should be much troubled one winter, but"by a certain sacrifice & a sweatingboutI should be releived; but I have not the means"here,—I have no stones"—"you are encamped upon them rejoined thespirit& at the"door of your tent are some" "yes, but says the indian the dogs havewateredthem,"& they are otherwise soiled"—"Fool, put them in the fire, will not the fire heat,"& make them change color, & purify them? Do this, fail not & be not uneasy—"we shall go four of us (spirits) & amuse him upon the road, & endeavour to"drive him back." At this the Interpretor burst out laughing & exclaimed "sacré bande deBetes & do you beleive all that d__d nonsense?" "You doubt too says a voice addres-"sing him (the In.) from the inside; go out of the tent & listen, you'll see ifwe"lie"—he did indeed go out to some distance & after awhile heard as a distanthollow noise, which increased 'till it became considerably more distinct & thenvanished as a great gust of wind, tho' the night was mild, calm, clear & beauti-fully serene—it even startled the dogs. "Mahn! (an indian term or exclamation signifying haste)"said the spirits from within,theyhave turned him off the road, as soon as the noise was"heard, but he will not turn back, or go home: he issentafter you by another indian'who conjured him up from out the Deep (i.e the bottom of some flood) but be not"too uneasy, if these four will not do, there are yet a vast many of us, so that between"us all weshalldrive him back: we will perplex & bewilder him: surround, tor-"ment & tease him on every side: but he is of a monstrous size, ferocious & withal"enraged against you:—The task is mighty difficult.Observe! See how beautifully"serene the night is—if we succeed, the sky will change all of a sudden, & there"will fall a very smart shower of snow attended with a terrible gust of wind. This
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"This will happen between day light & Sun rise,&ishisspirit, all that will remainin his power—he'll then return to his home."—The Intr, tho he laughed at all this,& could not bring himself to credit it, yet swears that he heard the rumbling noise,ontheirroad, & seemingly far off: the indians gave implicit faith to all—& the conjurordid not know what to beleive "there is something says he, formy Dreamed, orDreamers"have assured me of it, butIdont know what to say—however, most assuredly tomor-"row morning we shall have the snow."Thissnowboth comforted & depressed the poorindian very much, seeing the weather was then so beautiful & so destitute ofall the usual signs of bad weather. It did snow—it came as foretold, quite sudden-ly, & as suddenly became fine again. In the ensuing morning the Indian begged of the Inter-preter to chuse one of the longest & straightest Pine (Epinette) trees he could find of the thicknessof his thigh; to peel off all the bark nicely, leaving but a small tuft of the branches at thetip end—this they painted cross-ways with bars of vermillion & charcoal, alternatelythe whole length, leaving however some intervals undaubded—& about 5 or 6 feet from the Ground, fastened a Pair of artificial horns, representing thoseof a Bull, & decorated with ribbon. He also (the Indian I mean) made the sweat-ing hut, & in short done every thing as directed, after which he (the indian) became toresume his wonted cheerfulness & contentment. However, once more he was obligedto have recourse again to the Conjuror, from hearing another rumbling noise; "Thou"Fool answered the spirits: wilt thou never have done tormenting thyself & dis-"quieting us—that rumbling noise proceeds from the ice in a Lake a long way"off—it is only the ice—be therefore peaceable—I shall advertise thee if any"ill is to happen thee."———The Flashes of light, or those sudden glares thatthe indian inquired of the spirits, is, as the told him, lightning, which always happens inthe month of December & they laughed at his having lived so long without observing itbefore. The Conjuror had lost his smoking bag one day that he was out a hunting &as it contained his only steel & not a small part of his winter stock of Tobacco &c. hewas very uneasy, & hunted several times for it: They having told the Interpretor oftenhow kind & charitable & indulgent thosespirits of the upper regionswere, & he,desirous of Proving them, told the Conjuror to send for his bag. He asked "which of"ye will go for my bag that I lost? He that brings it me, I shall make him"smoke" "I will go, said one—they heard a fluttering noise, & soon after they heard thesame fluttering noise & the rattler move, & down fell the bag by the conjuror, covered with snow—"How stupid thou art, said the spirit, naming the Conjuror, thou passedst over it & yet"did not see it." It was a long time since the bag was lost & the distance was several miles.—Another one, could not kill with his Gun, owing to its being crooked, or some other cause—
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—however, he attached the fault to the Gun—The first time, I beleive it was, that thishalf-breed conjured. The People on the outside hearing many voices speak as they entered,at last they stopped at one whose voice & articulation was different from that of the others: "Who"is that one just now entered? said those outside—"It is theSun, replied the Conjuror""ha! well, I am happy of it, said the the indian, is it nothewho says himself able"to repair Fire-arms (Guns), & do anything with them he pleases?—ask him (ad-"dressing the Conjuror) if he will not have compassion on me & put my Gun to rights, that"I also may kill—I am walking every day & frequently shoot at moose, but always miss"--"Hand it me" said a voice from the top of the conjuring frame. The Gun was given tothe Conjuror. "It is loaded, continued the voice, shall I fire it off?"—"You may, but"take care you hurt no body" replied the indian. The Gun was fired, & shortly afterhanded back to the owner—"Here is your Gun—you will kill with it now" said theSpirit.——Both this business of the Gun & smoking bag took place, thefirst time, I beleive, the man Conjured.———There are but few Individuals (i.e. men) among theSauteux or Cris, or Crees who have not their medicine bags—& initiated into some cere-mony or other, but it is notallof them who can Conjur. Among some tribes, mostof them, can; & among others again, there are but very few. Nor is it every one of themthat tellsall truth, some scarcily nothing but lies, others againnot onefalse-hood, & this depends upon theirDreamed, sometimes, but I think may be equallyimputed to their own selves, i.e. Presumption, ignorance, folly, or any other of ourpassions or weaknesses. But to become Conjurors, they have rights & ceremoniesto Perform & go through, which, tho' apparently simple & absurd, yet I have no doubt butfully answer their ends. Any person among them wishing todiveinto futurity,must be Young & unpolluted. At any age between 18 & 25. Tho' as near as I canlearn between 17 & 20 years old—they must have had no intercourse withthe other Sex—they must be chaste & unpolluted. In the spring of the year theychuse a proper place at a sufficient distance from the camp not be discoverednor disturbed. They make themselves a bed of Grass, or hay as we term it, &have besides enough to make them a covering. When all this is done—& they do it entirelyalone, they strip stark naked & put all their thingsa good way off& then return,ly on this bed & then cover themselves with the rest of the Grass. Here they remain &endeavour tosleep, which from their nature is no very difficult task. But, du-ring whatever time they may remain, they must neither eat nor drink. If they want toDream of the Spirits above, their bed must be made at some distance from the Ground—if of Spirits inhabiting our Earth, or those residing in the waters, on the Ground.
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on the Ground. Here they ly for a longer or shorter time, according to their success, or theorders of the Dreamed. Some remain but 3 or 4 days, some 10, & I have be told one re-mained 30 days without eating or drinking; such was the delight he received from hisDreams!—When I laughed at this, the man was vexed, & the others not a little hurt.—The first thing they do after their return to their freinds is to take a good drinkof water, smoke the Pipe: & after that eat, but as composedly as if they hadbut just risen from a hearty meal. TheirDreamedsometimes order them to make aFeast; & not uncommonly tell them where to go, where they will find the animal whoseflesh is to be served up (i.e. always boiled) &c. They sometimes lie in one Posture,& sometimes in another, i.e. their head to some one of the Cardinal Points. Some havethe most pleasant dreams imaginable; others indifferent. When they are to live toa good old age(!!!) they are told..."You will see many winters! your head will grow"quite white"; or "tho you shall never see your head white, yet you shall live"till you are obliged to make use of a stick, & long after"—"You shall die old,"very old, respected & regretted."—If they are to die young... "Thou shalt see the years ofa"young man"; & so on of the other ages, as well as the manner of life they shall have; & thelanguage is not very dissimilar to that of our version of the Bible. But that stile seems tome to be the language of Nature whichIalways find the more charming the more re-tired thespeakeris from the Pompous, bombastic walks ofhighlife, which tho' they furnishus with more ideas,Ido not think adds so much to the beauty of the language.As I have said before, the purpose of these Dreams is to dive into futurity. Everything in nature appears unto them, but in the Shape of a human-being—They dreamthey meet a man who asks them (after some preliminary conversation of course) "Dost"thou know me? (who or what I am?)"—"No" "Follow me then" replies this strangers,the indian follows—the other leads him to his abode & again makes the inquiry—the answer is perhaps as before. Then the Stranger assumes his proper form, which isperhaps that of a Tree, a Stone, a fish &c. &c. & after rechanging several timesin this manner, 'till such times as the Ind. becomes perfectly to know him, then this stran-ger gives him to smoke, learns himhisSong &c. thus addressing him: "Now do"you remember my song? .... Whenever you will wish to call upon me, Sing"this Song, & I shall not be far—I will come, & do for you what you require."—They know many oftheseSpiritsas soon as they see them (in their dreams) by the des-cription the other indians have given of them—some however they know from theirNature. When TheSnowaddresses them—he they know, because he is perfectly white. TheIcealso. The Sun & Moon from their beautifull brilliancy & the elegance of theirabode. The Houses of the two last being uncommonly neat & handsome, such as those of
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the white (i e. civilized). One Principal amongst all these, & every thing in Nature appearsat least to some, of them, is the Supreme Being, whom they term Wee-suck-Ä jÄÄk(the last a's being pronounced as in, all, hawk, &c.; the first as ale, bail, &c.) i.e. by his Pro-per name, his common name, Gey-Shay-mani-to(this is among the Crees nation),which signifies "the Greatly charitable Spirit." He is uncommonly good & kind, addresses them,& talk to them as to children whom he most tenderly loves & is extremely anxious for. Thus farevery thing is very well, & is perhaps a betterideathan many of the vulgar Christians can give; buton the other hand again thier Mythology, or Stories relating to him, are many of them ab-surd & indecent in the highest degree: reducing him to the level of his creatures, & notunfrequently their making him dupe; but become so by such vile, such abominable deception asI doubt to be equalled by the most absurd & romantic of the arabian Tales; for thereare many of these Tales the author durst not publish for the obscenity & inde-cency. There are some obscene passages also in these tales (of the indians) butnot more than might be expected from a people yet in a perfect state ofnature, as to their mental Powers, to our eternal shame & scandal. This onethey love, they love him a great deal, & are by no means are afraid of him, because he alwaysaddresses them "my Little Children &c." & all the rest of his character is of apiece with this.—Thenext oneis Old Nick—Him some term "Key-"-jick-oh-kay" (The J being pronounced soft, as Git, or Gil, in french, forIknow of no English word where properly speaking the J is of any use & has thesound seemed intended by it) or "Key-jick-oh-kaiw". I cannot at presentgive the proper signification of this name, for I am not sufficiently acquainted withthe language, but it appears to me as to mean "he who made the Day or Skies,"or resides in the Sky" &c.—This one they represent wicked, & terrible; inexorableto the highest degree; always plotting evil, & endeavouring to circumvent the restof the creation; is always jawing & bawling; but when the other appears he or-ders him in a peremptory manner "hold thy Tongue; Get the hence, thou"deceiver; thou ill-liver". But these words are uttered in such an authoratative& commanding tone that the Indians themselves are quite astonished, to see one who isso uncommonly kind & indulgent to them in every respect; so tender & affectionate,even in the choice of his words, assume so suddenly & with so much authority somuch Power over one whose name alone they never utter but with the greatestDread & horor. Their Horor of the Devil is so great, that no one ever utters it butwhen unavoidable; & if thro' inadvertancy or ignorance one of their childrenshould mention it he is severely reprimanded by all who hear.—There is also the Sea Serpent, a monstrous animal & has much Power; The Mer-
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The Mermaid (or Sea-Man), The Water Lynx, or rather Tyger—a dreadful charac-ter this last, who keeps all the Inhabitants of the deep in the Greatest Subjection—thereare however one or two who contend with him; & sometimes he is reduced to the necissity ofcompounding with them. The Great Turtle, and many others. They have their abodesin the Deep, but perfectly dry & comfortable. Each one of these, & indeed all of themhave their Stories or Mythology; some I forget entirely, & others remember too incor-rectly to mention at present.——[These When any one Conjures, if he is a renounedMedicineMan,theyall appear, & Speake to him, mostly in his own language, somefew excepted as thePike(a Jack fish) who Speaks french; The Sun & Moon, both speakEnglish; the Bull or Buffaloe in an unknown, or at least strange language; but all per-fectly intelligible to the Conjuror.—I am quite astray—leaving the proper thread ofmy story to follow one of its branches—I ought to have said that]The Sun whenhe appears to an indian, he is seen in the Heavens, as an Indian (i.e. a Man)"walk-ing on the Wind." His dress is of a variety of Colors & handsome. I had a dream,the latter part of which I shall relate to you as it is perfectly des-criptive of the manner or form in which the Sun appears. I related it the next day tosome of my half-breeds, when one of them replied; "What a pity! had you now forbornefor a few days mentioningthis, he would have appeared again to you; & then you would havehad a fine opportunity of learning (from the fountain-head, as we might say) how it is theindians come to perform those things the white will never credit:" & he continued thatit was precisely the form he assumed when he appears to the indians. In mydream I thought we were travelling a road from which some of our Party had theutmost to dread from the ambush of an indian who could transport himself towhat place he pleased. As we were walking I happened to look above & wasmuch struck with the appearance of a man walking in the Heavens. Hisdress was that of a neatSouthernIndian, composed mostly of red & yellow, but also of afew other colors: The Garters of his leggings were also Neat & handsome & had a tuft ofSwans-down that had been Powdered with vermillion, attached to the not, on theback part of the leg: To His shoes were attached 2 long Swan quills inclosingthe foot thus [diagram] with a tuft of down at each end & in the middle on bothsides, all Powdered with vermillion—with these quills & down, & the downon his Garters buoyed him up in the air. I addressed in broken Cree—he answeredin the same broken accent; upon my second address I though he did not understand moreof that language than I did myself: the Sauteux seemed to me his proper tongue & I wasglad of having an opportunity of speaking that language; so I the third time addressed himin it asked him from whence he came, whither he was going &c. &c.—He was very hi
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hi, insomuch that the others thought it preprosterous in my addressing him—that he could nothear from that distance. Upon this he came down & talked with us—Saying he was anambas-sador&c. Such is the habillement, & manner in which the Sun shews himself.— The Thun-der also appears to them, in the Shape & form of a Most beautiful bird (The Pea-Cock).—Roots & herbs also (this also ought to have come in afterwards) i.e. such as are medeci-nal, appear, & teach their votaries their respective Songs — how they must do, what ceremoniesthey must perform in taking them out of the Ground, their different applications &c. &c. Butthese roots, herbs, &c. (medecins) tho' they appear in their Dreams, they do not shew themselvesin the Conjuring Hut, box, or frame, that I learn. They are sent, as appears, by Wee-suck-a-jaak, "to teach indians their use & virtue." &c., without which "they would bevery ill off, whether to heal or cure themselves, or expell the charms by which otherindians may have bewitched them" &c. And tho' they are acquainted with many ofthese roots &c. the use & virtue of some of which I can no more doubt than those used by theFaculty in the Civilized world, yet they tell me there are several which they use to differ-ent, & some to diametrically opposite purposes.Their manner of Conjuring is this—in the first place a number straights poles of2, or 2 1/2 ins. diameter & about 8 or 9 feet long are prepared, i.e. cut, branched & Pointed at thelower end—they seldom require sofewas four, commonly 6 or 8, these are planted inthe Ground from 12 to 20 or 24 ins. deep in an hexagon or octagon form, enclosing a space of3 feet diameter, more or less—These Poles are secured by hoops,3 or 4 in number, & well tied to each pole, so that none be able to move without therest—This Hut, square, box, or frame, whatever it may be termed is covered with skins,an oil cloth, or some such sort of thing.— The Conjuror is bound hand & foot, not as ifhe were a man going topryinto futurity, but as a Criminal, i.e.mere, pureDevil & one whom they intend never to loosen, so barricaded & cross-corded is the creature,sometimes all crumpled into a heap. He is tied only with his Cloute on him & thusthrust into the hut, underneath, i.e. by raising the lower covering—his "she-she-quay" or rattler with him. Some of them sing on entering, others make a speech,—. Here they remain some several hours, others not 5 minutes before a flutteringis heard. The rattler is shaked at a merry rate & all of a Sudden, either from thetop, or below away flies the cords by which the indian was tiedinto the lapof he who tied him. It is then that the Devil is at work—Every instant someone or other enters, which is known to those outside by either the fluttering, the rubbing againstthe skins of the hut in descending (inside) or the shaking of the rattler, & sometimes alltogether. When any enter, the hut moves in a most violent manner—I have fre-quently thought that it would be knocked down, or torn out of the Ground. The first
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The first who enters is commonly Meeh-key-nock (the Turtle) a jolly, jovial sort of afellow, who, after disencumbering his votary, chats & jokes with those outside & asks for apipe to smoke &c.—There is a good deal of talking inside as may be supposed from thenumber of folks collected in so small a space. To some renowned characters, allthe Spirits appear. The Thunder also frequently comes but he is desired to remainoutside as he would breake all—It is reported that he once entered & split oneof the Poles into shivers. The Flying Squirrel also enters—he is no liar, but youmust take every thing he says as we do our Dreams i.e. the opposite: his nature is suchthat he durst not tell the truth but in this ambiguous manner, otherwise theconjuror would soon after die. I do not know that the Skunk ever comes, but theWolverine (Carcajoux) does & he is known immediately by his stink, which occa-sions no small merriment at his expense, on the outside. TheLoonalso enters—he is known by his usual cry—"Nee-wih wee-way" repeated commonly 3 times ashe does when in the water. And this too occasions a great laugh, for these foursyllables, which form the most common Cry of that bird in theSpringof theyear, as every body may observe,arealso 3 words in the Sauteux & Cree languages,which signify "I want to marry"! "I want to marry"! "What! & will you never"have done marrying?—you were marrying all last Summer & still want to"—will someoutside say, & every one has his word to put in.Herculesalso comes in—he is per-haps as much revered by those people as even he was by the Spartans or Athenians—His name isStrong Neck(& every body knows how strong hercules was)—he doesnot seem over fond of Jokes—& when the other Spirits announce his coming allthose on the outside must cover their heads & not look up; for it appears that hecannot comeinvisibleas the others do, or will not, but still does not chuseto be seen. "Once upon a time his arrival was announced, & every body was ordered"to cover themselves, so as not to see (this, & all such like orders are commands sent to"the Conjuror, & which he, (being inside) mustPromulgateto those on the outside)—"—there was one young Buck however who wanted to shew himself supe-"rior to these orders & divert his freinds, would not cover himself—Hercules"entered—& at that time, as at all others, he was not in too good a humor—Some alter-"cation ensued & "I am Strong Neck" said he "Pah! says the young man at last,"the neck of my os-Pubis indeed is strong"! This raised a most violent laugh, but"the young man was lost—he disappeared from amongst them, & was never after"heard of. Sincethattime they are rather more cautious. Some of theAncientsalso enter—they are called "O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck" i.e.Hairybreasts
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such as the ancients are said to be.. These are great boasters—they recount the exploits oftheir younger days, apparently with the greatest satisfaction; say "I used to do so & so"on such occasions—I never shot a Moose or Buffaloe, but pursued them on my feet,"& ripped them open with my knife &c." But this is onlywind, for no sooner do otherpowerful ones enter, but these Chaps search to secret themselves. The Sun enters—speakesvery bad English at the offset, but by degrees becomes to speake it very easily & fluently—Heis Gun Smith & watch-maker, or at least can repair them. When he is entered thereis commonly a beautiful clear light visible, through the covering—He neither does notadmit of too much familiarity; but is still good natured & condescending. The Pikeor Jack fish, also enters; as the Sun, they also speak (French,) badly enough at the offset,"When there are 2 or 3 on the outside who can speake french & address him together,"merely to perplex & bother him, he laughs at their folly & says 'you may talk"'20 or 100 of you together if you chuse, yet are you not able to perplex me—come as"'numerous as you chuse, yet are there many more of usPikethat you frenchmen'"—he is very familiar too. The Bull, or Buffaloe is understood only by the Conjuror,his voice being hoarse, & rough—his language quite foreign—the Conjurer mustinterpret when any thing is wanted of him.—As is his voice, so are his manners——however, he will joke a little too; but let them beware not to let drop anythingin a sarcastic or contemptuous manner as to his power, or knowledge of the future for hetakes it up & reproves in a very tart manner; & in a way too that conveys no com-fortable ideas to any one present, for they all endeavour to excuse it by saying it isonly a Joke, "I know Jokes too; & I can laugh, & understand the nature of laughing as"well as the best amongst you, but such language is unbecoming & I will have no"more of it."——"A half breed one time,becausehisfatherwasafrenchman"thought he might go any lengths he pleased with him (the B.)—he replied very"warmly thus: "how durst thou doubt anything I say—Knowest thou not how clearly""& distinctly objects are discovered & seen in a plain, from an eminence; & my abode is""is in the regions above—I see every object as distinctly as you see at your feet, doubt""then no more, & never hereafter call our Power to question."—Aye! replied some of the other"spirits "We not only seeallthatyoudo,howeversecret&hidyouthinkyourselves""but we also hear every word you utter." If that indeed be the case tell me, where now are, &"when will be here, my fathers Country Men?[The conjuror had been employed to tell"what the people were about as it was long since the time they were expected, & ought to have"arrived, had elapsed]—"Wait! I shall go & see"—& shortly after he returned "They are""now all asleep at such a place—the weather will be calm tomorrow, & tho' the distance
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""distance is great, yet will you see them tomorrow night, for they are as anxious as yourselves"—"another one said, "Since then ye Spirits pretend to know every thing & are vexed when we call""any of your sayings in question—come tell me—how long shall I live?—Shall I yet see""two more winters? "Ha! (laughing replied the same voice) two winters? I see you""all yet alive two winters hence, every soul that sets here & considerably more; & some of""you I see crawling with old age""!!!—With some of theSpirits as I've already said the by standers (or setters for they are seated on theGround round about) are very familiar—The Turtle is one of them, he is very hu-mersome, & their jokes with him were such (for I've heard this myself) as I shouldhave been ashamed to hold even with a bawd—it was pureribaldry: but they durstnot doubt him when he speaks seriously; for he is very powerful & makes himselfrespected when he thinks it necessary. "Who is that, now speaking?" said one of the in-dians (this I was told)—"It is Mihkenach" said the Conjuror—if it be him, prove it"—take him in your hand & show him to us" Now the Conjr. was a very great me-"decin man,—he took the turtle upon his hand, raised the covering of hisbox,"& called them to look—Every one was astonished at his beauty—he was very"small, scarcely more than 2 ins. long. When all had gazed enough the Conjurer"drew him in.—The Turtle was very quiet while out but as soon as he got in"exclaimed "Oh! how afraid I was when I saw the children look so eagerly—I"was afraid some of them would have attempted to take me in their hands &"let me fall, perhaps in the fire" & laughed heartily. The Bear is a roughbeast & makes a devil of a racket. Towards the latter end master Keyjickah-kaiw, that old serpent, Satan, enters;—his arrival is announced—all hands are greived, forthen the conclusion is soon to take place— He makes every thing fly again, kickingup his own (i.e. the Devils) racket, jawing & blabing, scolding & giving the lie to &abusing all hands: the indians are hurt & displeased, but durst not say anything—they mustswallow all quietly, & then it is that the Conjuror most dreads for his ownbacon:this however does not last very long for Weesuckajaak (the Supreme Being) enters last—as soon as his coming is announced Nick begins to sneake, but stillen maitre—Weekenters, Nickjaws, silence is imposed, nick still troublesome,at last the word comes authoratatively & awayheflies. The Indians are uncommonlyfond of Weesuckajâck—he commonly speaks to this effect "My Little (i.e. Grand) Children"I am very indulgent & kind, I am very charitable, & love you much,—a great deal more"than you imagine. You must not live ill, nor make a bad use of your power & knowledge"for I hate that;—hence it is I command Nick in that authoratative manner; because
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"because he is wickedly inclined—mischief & destruction are in his nature—he greives at any"good he sees: take ye heed, beware of him for he is ever on the watch to destroy you"—WhenCharlyenters after some abuse he calls out "Get ye hence, get ye hence, what"are ye doing so long from your home: off with ye immediately"; & rubs up & downthe skins that form the covering lest any should be hid. Thus he sends off all theSpirits, who, as theyflyoff, as well as when they enter, give this frame a terribleshaking. It may be supposed what sort of a shaking he gives as he comes & goes, &how he shakes the rattler;—for they all shake the rattler on entering. When We-suckajaak goes off, all is done.—Some Conjurors are so powerful that thehutthey enter, must be doubled; that is tworows or Setts of Poles one on the outside the other, & each row fastened with goodstrong hoops well tied, after which the outer & inner row are also fastened—thusarranged, they seem to be beyond the power of any 3 or 4 men to move, yet when theSpirits enter it sets a-going with a motion equal to that of a Single pole indifferently stuckin the Ground & violently moved by a man. I have never seen any of these doubleones, but twice or thrice saw the others, whilst the conjuror was in—Some timeafterwards, when they were off, I shook them with both hands & with all my strength,but the motion was nothing like that of the Conjurors. I have been told thatthose who enter these Double ones, are so powerful that almost all the Creationcomes to see them, & they are shaken with uncommon violence. This motionthe Conjurors say is produced by the concussion of the air; i.e. the Spirits come& enter with such velocity that it is theWindtheyProducewhich occasions it.The conjuror is all the while seated Peaceably in the bottom, (on the Ground) of hishut. Some of them to shew their Power have had small sticks of the hardestwood (such as produces the wild Pear, & of which the Indians make their arrows, &ram-rods &c. for Guns) about the size of a mans finger, made as sharp point-ed as possible, & dried, when they become in consequence nearly as dangerous as iron,or bayonets—Some have 18, 24 more or less, tho' Seldom less than 18 planted in thebottom of their hut—They are about 12 or 14 ins. out of the Ground—On the Points of theseSticks is the conjuror placed, sometimes on his bottom, at others on hisknees & elbows, & there he remains as quietly & composedly as if he were on"abedofRoses"; & when he comes off no marks of injury appear, tho he enterednaked, only his Cloute about him, & of course the Cords with which he istied. "Their familiars (their Dreamed, or those who appear to them in their dreams &Promise them their assistance & Protection) support them so that no injury hap-pens them"!!! __________________
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March 29th- I feel but very indifferently disposed to write; but I am on the eve of an accumula-tion of business & may not, after a few days, have the necessary time, so that I shall risk.A Couple of days back I have been conversing with a Cree (indian) who bypeace-mealgives me the following account of their mythology:—"The North-(wind) apparently one ofoldest of created rational beings thus addressed his daughter, his only child "My"daughter! be very careful, & remember that anything you do, or wherever you go, on turn-ing yourself, turnalwaysinthesamedirectionwiththeSun, &neverinacontra-rydirection." Now women are a compound of Perverseness, obstinacy & curiosity; & withallforgetful enough too,sometimes. This Girl one day she was chopping fire-wood, withoutthinking of her fathers admonition, in going to another Tree, turned roundto the right, in a contrary direction to the Sun, & instantly fell to the Ground, &died. The time she used to take up in this occupation, being expired, her Parents becamevery uneasy, & after some search found her on herback, dead, & her belly swolen to an enor-mous size. The father & mother, on each or opposite sides, contemplated her si-tuation with great grief. At last the Father arose, stood up, & made a longspeech, praying to "The Father of Life" to have mercy & compassion on his child.His speech was not ineffectual: the Girl was delivered of a Boy, & shortly after, of another—The Elder was called Wee-suck-a-jock; the younger "Mi (or Mee) shaw-bôse"—After this the Girl recovered & became as aforetime. These two young men immedi-ately attained "mans estate"—i.e. to manhood, &c. and became hunters. Theyounger of the two one day was in pursuit of a Grey, or rein Deer (Carriboeuf) afterwhich also pursued a Wolf. The Deer having thus no hopes of escape fled to arock on the edge of the waters & plunged in, Mishabôse & the Wolf followed; but theyall three became a prey to the Michi-Pichoux, or Great Lynx, i.e. water Lynx,water-Cat, or water Dog. Wesuckajock was very uneasy for his brother, wasanxious to revenge his death, but scarcely knew-well how. At last one day seeinga Kings-fisher hovering in a certain spot addressed him thus "My younger"Brother! what art thou there looking at?" "I am looking at Mishabôse, your"brother, lying in the bottom of the deep, drowned" &c. After some further con-versation, Weesuck. discovered the means of avenging himself. He accordingly set towork & made himself alargeCanoe, on board of which he embarked the Moose, Deer,Bear, otter, Beaver, muskrat, wolf &c. &c. & repaired to the place where theSea Lynxes used to resort to sleep; this was a fine pleasant place onthe Land. Here he observed several of them & began his work. It is not relatedhow many he did kill, but the waters upon their death came rushing uponhim in a violent torrent; as he expected this, he had bro't his canoe near hand,but before he reached it, after killing his enemies, he was already knee-deep in the