...(14)...in the water: however he got safely on board; but in his hurry forgot to embark a little earth.—Now the waters swelled immensely, & in a very short time the highest land was cover'd& Weesuckajock was tossed about by the wind & water. It appears that he had not the fore-sight either of taking with him a sufficiency of Provisions for he became very hungry,& thus expressed himself to his crew. After some time he saw some-thing on the water, very large & moving towards him: He thus addressed it, "Who,"or what, art thou my younger brother? (for he being the first born, always addressedthe rest of the creation, whether animate, inanimate, or rational or not, as hisyounger"Brothers) & whither art thou going?" "Why! my Elder (brother) I am awaterLynx,"& am sent byConfrersin search of Weesuck. & to destroy him" "Aye! is it so indeed?"& how or with with instrument do you intend to destroy him?" "I have a large &"very strong Iron-tail, with which if I smite his Canoe, he must perish?" Wee-suckajock seeing his danger tho't to get off by duplicity & dissimulation & thuscontinued: "Indeed you must have a very extraordinarytailmyYounger...."come near, & let me see it, how it is made &c."—The Lynx drew up, present-ed his tail, Weesuck. took hold as to look on it, & placed it on the Gunnelof his Canoe & with a stone cut it off saying,"Now go to thy friends, & tell"them how Weesuck. has served thee."—He retired doubled quick, grieved,ashamed, & not with a little pain. "Ha!" said the water Lynxes on perceivingthe situation of their companion, "ha! weesuck. is cunning, & too powerful,"we must destroy him for our own safety." "Come, now, who amongst us will"volunteer, & go to destroy that enemy of ours?" —They at last pitched upon an enor-mous Beaver & thus addressed him at his departure "Go thou our Brother, Destroy"that mutual enemy of ours, be not afraid of him for he is not worthy of fear; but still be cau-"tious, for he is very artful." Weesuck. descryed him also, & the same addresses &compliments passed as with the first. And how do you intend to destroy Weesuck?""with my teeth." Well then do come near & let me see them." x x x The beaverdrew up, & shewed his teeth: weesuck. put his hand on his head & while exclaiming "What"terrible teeth!—how immensely broad & sharp—they are like large axes!" hewith his other hand took up a large stone & with a dreadful blow broke themall in his head. "Now go to thou too friends & tell them how Weesuck. hath served"thee." Indeed the beaver did go, sniffling & blowing & yelling. The Lynxes wereastonished, & durst no more attempt anything at him. His situation howeverwas very disagreable, very uncomfortable, & what added to it was his want offood. He thus addressed his companions one day. "Come now we very repre-"hensibly forgot to bring earth with us, & who knows how long this will conti-...(15)..."continue?—which of you all will endeavour to get a little earth for me out of which I"shall try to makeLandfor us to live on?—whoever will go shall be amply rewarded."They all said it was very deep. There was scarcely an hopes. Then he said to the otter"Go thou myYounger(brother) & if thou diest in the attempt, I shall restore thee to life,"& make thee immortal". Saying this he tied a long leather thong to his tail & sent himdown: he found the otter was dead, hauled him up in to the canoe, rubbed him dry& blowed in his nostrils, when he revived. Then he sent the Musk rat: "Come my"little brother, go thou, thou art small & very active, art fond of the water, & goeth to great"depths—thy reward shall be as that of the otter." The rat was secured with a thongalso & down he went. Weesuck found he was dead: hauled him up, & was extre-mely happy to find he had some earth in his little paws & mouth: he restoredhim to life as he did the otter, & sent him down again, when he bro't up his mouth asfull as it could hold & a good deal in hishandswhich he held pressed to breast.Now weesuck. took this earth & made a ball of it, & blew in it a considerabletime & sent off the Wolf to make its circuit to see if it was large enough. Afterfour nights he returned & thus spake "My Elder, the earth is indeed Large & beautiful; but our"number now is small: when we will increase it will be too small for us: we"will be all upon top of each other (i.e we will be in each others way &c.), & if you"make man as you contemplate,...it will be much moreso." Weesuck then blewit out again & once more sent the Wolf-- He was 8 nights absent, & reported itstill too small. Weesuck then blew it out for a long time & sends the wolfagain. But before he went off he said "My Elder, the Earth must now be very"large, & I shall possibly be too much wearied to make its circuit: I shall traverse,"& if I find any thing to assure me of its being large enough I shallhowl,"which will be a sign to you; & whatever place may suit me there will I make my resi-dance." After several nights absence they heard him howl, wherefore they allconcluded the Earth was sufficiently Large. Weesuck. thenblessedthe others & sentthem away telling them to multiply "& be good, not vicious or ill inclined, nor se-"cret, or hide themselves too much fromMylittle brothers (the human beingswhich he was about to create) when they might want to eat" &c. &c. Nowafter this he became very lonesome & bethout himself of makingIndiansi.e. human beings. He in consequence took up a stone & fashioned it intothe form of a man; but whilst at this work it struck him that by formingthem of so strong & hard a substance that in time when they would become toknow their nature, they would grow insolent & rebellious & be a great a great an-noyance to each other & of course also, would never die. "This will not do, I must...(16)..."I must make them of a more weake & fragible substance, "so that they may live a reas-"reasonable time & behave as becomes human beings." Upon this he took up a handfulof common Earth & made the form of a man, & blew into his nostrils thebreath of life.The Moon formed the Female, as Wesuck. did the Male, hence the reason of the Pe-riodical return of their sickness with that of the moon, "as also among the Sluts." (Bitches).Hence also all women are forbidden when they go out from the calls of nature, & thatoneinparticular, to look at the moon while thus employed. Those who are thus for-getful, ignorant, or obstinate immediately find the effect by the return &c. x x x.I should have said that he bruised the stone to Pieces, altho' a great part of it wasalready formed. For the white (I believe it was the Moon again) he made a Part-ner for him of one of his ribs & another piece, which he wrapped in a handker-chief & laid beside him saying "this, by the time thou risest, shall be a full"grown Woman & shall be thy companion" &c.——After all this done, hemade a separation in the Earth, one part of which was a beautifulplain meadow Ground, & the rest Woody; & then set off travelling in theEarth. He took a partner to himself, by whom he had a son. This soon got to mansestate, but had a great aversion to the female Sex, which gave his Parents a greatdeal of anxiety, all their trouble, all their remonstrances were to no effect: atlast the father betho't of a plan in which he was sure of success. "He transformed him-"self into a most beautiful woman & when the Son was returned from his hunting"well Son! said the Mother, here is a young & handsome woman we have procured"merily for thee; does she please thee?"—Hercharmswere so great the young manimmediately became extremely fond of her. But this, in the end, became thesource of much trouble to both Parents & of disgrace to the father particular-ly. The mother became jealous & vexed on her son's account that he should sobe imposed upon, & done many shameful things to her husband." Here followsa train of Stories the most indecent, & shameful & sometimes obscene, that one canwell imagine. But these people are yet, so far as regards their faculties, in astate of Nature. Every thing appears reasonable & natural & must be verygross & palpable indeed when they do not give credit to them. Their languageis also that of nature, & they speake out what they think—they do not use circumlocu-tion to avoid an indecent term, nor have they flourishes to embellish their dis-courses; & their speeches, to my taste, at least, are far more pleasing & naturalthan those strained & laboured compositions we meet with amongst ourselves. But this isnot the place for these discussions.——...(17)...-April 4th 1823}There is a sick indian with me whom I have been obliged to feed with his wholefamily all winter, not being able to endure the cold on his lungs, & in a manner deserted byhis friends. To get as near the truth as I can possibly do in all things relating to theirmythology, I frequently converse with him on these subjects; & when "notforbid-denbyhisDreamedorfamiliars" is explicit enough. A few nights back hethus informed me upon the several questions I proposed. The one that I saw in mydream as above relatedisnottheSun, as my half-breeds told me. TheSun is dressed like a Gentleman, i.e a short coat, waistcoat, short breeches, stock-ings, boots, a hat & a beautiful feather stuck in it. He speakes English &c. andthe rest as mentioned above. But the one I mentioned above, isSickness, orthe Plague. There are four of them: two walking in the air as I mentioned, & twointhe earth, i.e. in the bowels of the earth at a certain moderate distance fromthe surface, perhaps in the sameproportionas those who are above. The indianthus relates of him: "When I was a young man, he appeared to me, & told me his"name was Sickness; & that every time ageneralsickness was to take place"amongst us he would come & forwarn me. See: Four winters ago (in 1819) after"we had taken debt in the fall & were proceding each of us to our hunting Grounds"he appeared to me one night & said, 'I am come to tell you to get out of the way"'of allLargewaters(i.e. Lakes & rivers) & pitch off immediately into the woods:"'Be cautious also & select proper ground for an encamping; never pitch your"'tents in Large high Woods, particularly of the Pine kind, chuselowwoods"'to encamp in & never look up to Gaze lest I see you see & you be"'smitten. Keep off, always from Large waters, for I am on a circuit round"'the earth: I shall follow the travelling waters (i.e. The routes or roads"'usually frequented or navigated) & smite all those I there find with"'sickness: in the interior, or to one side I shall not go. Tell this to the"'indians that they keep out of the way.'" It was that year that theMeaslesmade such havock in some places. He thus continued, "This last fall (in December)"I saw him again—he told me he was on another circuit & intended making a"large selection, passing thro' the plains & coming down again this way. He said"he would pass when the leaves would be rather large (about the 20thJune,"in these parts) & told me as before to admonish every body to keep out of the"way oflargewaters, trees &c. &c.—'It is not my doings, nor is it my choice"'that I thusprowlthro' the earth, said he, but I am sent, & cannot resist'—"Now we will be again this spring visited with some sickness, but I cannot"tell which—it is a breaking out in the flesh &c. and his appearing to you...(18)..."to you (i.e. me) is a sign that he will certainly pass." I then asked him if he intend-ed telling the other indians of it. "I shall tell my Elder (brother), but not the others, for they"wont beleive me." He was very diffident: he wanted to communicate to me all hewas told, but said he durst not lest he should injure himself, by exasperating the other(i.eSickness) & beingenigmaticallyforbidden!—"He told me, continued the indian,"as a sign that two of our number should die this winter, one a small one (&heis dead"naming to me a child that died about that time, tho' very distant then from him)"and the other a full grown person—whom he is I know not,but onemustdie!These Chaps seldom appear (in dreams) less than 4 times, but commonly 6 times,& each time in a different form 'till the last, when hemakeshimselfknown,& ever after appears(or rather appear) in the same uniform manner. Itis then, after they have made themselves completely known to their votaries,that they communicate their power &c. &c. &c. and teach their theirsongswhich tho' in their dreams, are so indelibly imprinted in their memories that they arenever forgotten. For every one of these Spirits, Genii, demons, phantasies, or whateveryou may please to term them, have each theirSong, which they communicateto their votaries, as well as explain also their power. Hence it is, that when anyany one amongst them has dreamed of a certain number, commonly a goodmany, 20, 30, or perhaps a thousand, that they canconjurewhen they please; forthese like the guardian Genii in the fables, keeps always near them, & pro-tect them fromtoomuch injury from the evil machinations of someof the mischievous ones. Indeed, from what I can learn, there are but few ofthesefamiliarsbut do do evil to their votaries if they (the votary, i.e. the in-dian) neglect performing the regular annual, or perhaps more distantperiodical sacrifice; and this sacrifice, theirfamiliartells them what it is he expects.A few days ago, in the night between the 31stMarch & 1stApril, this indian wassleeping in an old house I sent him to, when at a late hour in the night he was pulled mostviolently out of his bed; so that his wife that was lying beside him, awoke & withdifficulty kept him down, tho' he also struggled himself to make hisFami-liarleave his hold: & the house shook violently. The next day he sent me hiswife to ask a like a little grease to make a sacrifice (i.e. burnt offering X)—I gaveher a little, & the husband came the same evening to sleep with us. Upon en-quiring he told me thus. "It was aSkeleton: hewasdispleased with me because"I did not make him my usual offering & yet he knows that I ampitiful,"that I cannot move to hunt myself, but am beholding to others for every"mouthful I & my family eat; but they are wicked when they think themselvesX God forgive me the comparison, which by the bye is not meant to ridicule, but is really the case....(19)...neglected or abandoned, & think nothing of carrying off an indian & throwing him in somedistant place, dangerous precipice, or other place where he must perish if not succoredby some other more kind one. "Some years back continued he, I went out one night"in the fall to hunt moose. I had tied my Canoe very securely in the rushes &"there was waiting alone to hear the moose either come to the Lake, or cry after the"Dam, for it was in the rutting Season (& the indians commonly go out in thismanner at that season, for the Buck has a certain cry which he makes at thattime either to call the female, or as with the domestic cattle to exult as onemight think from their capers) "I all at once heard far a-head of me cries of heh, heh!"heh (or hayh, or haih) sudden, quick, coming in the air, & directly towards me 'oh!"'now said I, I am gone'!—Indeed he came—Icrinjed& laid myself as low in my"Canoe as possible; but he came straight to me, took me up & threw me in the"water, all the time crying he'! he'!—I then endeavoured to take out myfire-"bag; but this he would not let me do. Having then no alternative, I was obliged"to make for the shore as well as I could, he all the time crying in the same man-"ner just above my head, as if he intended absolutely my death. However I reached"the shore, tho' with the greatest difficulty. Then I took some dry grass which"I rubbed & bruised 'till it became soft & put it under my arm pits & crumpled"myself into a small heap & remained 'till the sun began to warm when I"swam back to my Canoe. He kept hovering over me all night & until the Sun was"pretty high, always making the same cry; tho' when he found me so benumbed with"cold on my debarkation he laughed, ha! ha! ha!" &c. &c.—Today (Apr. 4th)he asked me for a needle & thread to sew the sleeve of his Capot, which thisGhost!had torn in his endeavours to carry him off the other night. Whilst he was sewing"how he has vexed me, said he, by tearing my old Coat, but I am afraid of him."——He related me another story ofthemas follows. "I went out one"time a hunting beaver with a friend of mine: It was a long distance from our"lodges—we killed 6 Beavers, & slept out. I awoke in the night & was"much astonished to observe a man seated on the opposite side of the fire, resting his head on both"hands, with his elbows on his knees apparently in a very pensive, sullen manner. He had but skin & bone—not the least particle of"flesh; &thisone had hair on his bony head. I gently pushed my friend & told him to"look atthatstranger. We were both extremely agitated in consequence of our fear,"& were at a loss what to do. Having no alternative, I arose, conceiving he came to"ask for something to eat I took a Beaver, cut it in two & presented him the half of"it: he did not deign to look at it—I was much afraid. I then bethought"of cutting it into mouthfuls, which after presenting him I threw into the fire—"thus I did with the whole; & when done, he arose & walked off peaceably in theair."...(20)...This sort they termPâh-kàck, i.e Skeletons, or such as die of hunger; or some that die ex-tremely lean whether from the consumption or other sickness—Those, i. e. many of them,when they have nothing but just the mere skin & bone remaining, some of them in thissi-tuation disappear from the Earth & go to reside with all those who have already departedin that distressed state. This band or congregation have a head or chief—Theircolor is commonly green, tho' sometimes black; & it is extremely uncommonwhen one has even any hair, being bald—as if a blown bladder. They sometimes are heard inthe day. The nois is sometimes as of a quantity of dried bones rattled or shaken ina forcible manner in a kettle; & sometimes as above related making that samemonotonous but frightful cry of he'h! he'h! very quick & with an abrupt ter-mination. The sacrifice they offer to these is Grease, generally a large bladder full,& of the best kind. All the natives present are invited. Tobacco of course goes before everything else. He who makes the feast, or his assistant, most commonly lights, or fillsrather, the pipes of all who smoke, but when it is light it is first presented tothat quarter wheretheseare supposed to reside (I believe in the N. W. or West)then to the cardinal points—then to the (bladder of) Grease which is put is putin a dish fit to contain it & covered with down. Some of them have a smallboard about 20 or 24 ins. long, flat, painted with red earth, & a head made to it, of thesame piece, & flat as the rest. At a certain distance below the neck, as we mightsuppose the Shoulders, other small pieces made in the same form & about 3 or4 ins. long are stuck in each side at short distances, reaching to the ground—the lower end being small, & the head end would bear some resemblance to theribs or arms were there not so many, by their being somewhat in a hanging form.After smoking & somes speeches, in which these Ghosts are addressed—He who makesthe feast,wavesit 3 times crying he! he! very loud for a good many times, & thenpresents it to this board, which is intended as a representative of the Pahkack,desiringhimto accept it, & be propitious & merciful to them, neither to injure themnor theirlittleones. Then He dances 3 times round the tent (in the inside) &when he comes to the 4th time, the one seated next him (in the direction of theSun) rises. He makes a feint of offering it twice to the one who rises, who in histurndoesas if he was going to receive it; & the 3d time it is thrown intohis hands: this one makes a double turn upon his heels & dances ortrotsonce round thetent, & the next him, seated, rises to take it in his turn, with the same ceremony, 'till allhave passed. Then it comes into the masters hands again who reperform the sameceremonies once more,—puts down the Grease, cuts it up, & shares to every male orwidow present, in proportion to their numbers (i.e. the families they may have.—Shortly after my arrival here this lastfall they invited me thro' compliment to two of these feasts—I went both times merely...(21)...merely to have a better opportunity of making my observations, which are as above, as near as Ican bring them. But my mind was too much disturbed with reflections which soonbecame so melancholy that I had nothing to bestow on what was going on. Poorunfortunate creatures! I often exclaimed to myself—Ye are desirous, nay anxious to performyour duties to your maker, but know not how. If you only knew how he abomi-nates this ceremony which you perform with so much devotion, how soon wouldyou cast off all your superstitions, & rather live without any religion at all, & riskall upon chance, than perform sacrifices, for aught I know, to demons! I shall nothere enter upon these reflections further, suffice the above; for they are too long, toofrequent, & besides I wish to sacrifice the little paper I have remaining tosuch other things as I have, & which I think may not be quite uninter-esting to you. Had there been but their speeches, & the ceremonies, I shouldnot perhaps have thought so deeply. But their cries of he! he! & ha! ha! &c. so repeated& vociferous, that I was struck with a certain horror & thought that half of thedevils in hell had entered the throats of these men to givemean idea of theirPandemonium below. Good God! what a miserable reflection! but how muchmoreso the occasion leading to it is.—Notwithstanding they some timesDreamof roots (medecines &c.) there is a certain place accord-ing to their notions consecrated toEsculapius(& Perhaps Appollo also, conjointly). It is depictedas a most heavenly abode, so delightful. He (Esculapius) resides in a mountain in thebowels of which is his house—it has 6 doors, but so mysteriously constructed that no soulwhatever, besides himself & hisinmatesof whom there are a great number (of Every Nation& language) can open them—The Lock apparently is in the form of a Screw, orSpiral, & is opened on the inside, but only to such as Escu. deems worthy of admis-sion These doors opentodifferent quarters, the house being immensely large, & as above mentioned,in the bowels of yemountain:Inthis residance is of every medicine useful in life, such asdo notvegetate, i.e. minerals, fossils, &c. &c. These are shown to the votary; he is instruct-ed in their use; the manner of preparing & mixing them; the ceremonies, i.e. songs & sacrifices,&c. &c. to be performed in their application, taking of them up, or in instructingothers;because it is not everyIndianthat is favored with these Dreams. The mountain is of amoderate size, & there issue from it 40 Rivers which fall into a Lake not farfrom thebase& situated in a beautiful plain—this Lake is shallow & has somehandsome sandy shoals, & in the borders of (in the water) it grow beautifulrushes.The water in every one of these rivers is of a different color, no two being alike, one isBlack, another white, red, Green, blue,ash-color&c. &c.Inthe latter grow herbs &plants of a vast variety, as also their nature. In the sides of the mountain are of everyof every herb & plant that grows in any part of the world whatever. When any one of them...(22)...(of the indians I mean) is thus favored, he appears first at these rivers, when the head or Chief of the Mountaincomes out, accost him in a freindly manner, & after some conversation he is introduced into theinterior of the house, where he is astonished to find people of every nation & language in theearth. But if I can form a right opinion, there are but few of each language.—Theyare seated in Four rows, their seats being something like those of a Theatre, semicircu-lar & rising a little one above the other. These are all Doctors; & it is their businessto instruct thevotaryin the object of his mission &c. They have a great quantity ofmedecines already prepared, of such as are produced in the bowels of the Earth, suchas minerals, stones, shells &c. &c. and most, or many of these, are hung up in thehouse. Here is he is taught how, & in what manner, to prepare these, as also theSongs & sacrifices &c. appropriate to each different one or sort. When on theoutside, or out-of-Doors, he is shewn all the roots, herbs, plants &c. and is taughtthe respective Song (of each) or of any particular one, or number, or suchonly as grow in the climate he inhabits. Both the Songs & the Plant, herb &c.are so indelibly imprinted on his mind (or memory), tho' he had never seenthem before, or should not happen to meet with any of them for years afterwards, yeton his first view, he immediately recognises them, & every circumstance that had beeninstructed him, as if he had passed a regular apprenticeship. This may seem veryextraordinary, if not indeed absurd to people unacquainted with them, but still itis no less a positive fact. These rivers i.e. waters are of different colors, so also is therapidityof each stream; some of them moving in a turbulent & awful manner as the rapids& eddies at the foot of Large falls; some moving in large majestic waves likes theswells of a large & Deep Lake agitated by the wind; & some in a beautifulsmooth current, down which thecanoesare scarcly perceived to move. Theseare the tokens or signs or emblems of the manner ofourlives, here below, so far as regards tohealth & sickness, & of course the description requires no further explanation.In some of these rivers grow herbs or plants which, themselves, as well as their roots,are a rank, deadly poison, more or less; & their effects, when any Demon-Spirited wretchemployes them as instruments of vengeance, tho' I have known none to carryoff the objectimmediately, yet have a most melancholy baneful effect; some ofthem exactly similar (in their effects) toLunar Caustic, & oftentimes with an ad-ditionalhumiliatingeffect (But more of this hereafter) & some, deprive the ob-ject of every one of his senses but that of feeling—a melancholy instance of this I saw inthe Spring of 1813 & sufficient of itself toemeliatean heart of adamant! Sometimes Esculapius will not instruct his votary in their use, satisfying himself withtelling themtheyarebadmedecines, or perhaps not mentioning them at all. To othersagain, he explained everycircumstance&c. relating to them; but with amoststrict...(23)...injunction never to employ them at hisPeril"unless you wish to die: I teach you all these"these things because I love you, & know your heart to be compassionate: butmindmy"words, if ever you employ them with an ill or evilview, thou shalt die. Otherindians"as well as thyself, love life—it is sweet to every body; render it therefore not a bur-"then or adisgrace; & Ihatethose who thus abuse my confident affection" &c. &c.They are also forbidden sometimes as strictly, & for the same reasons, instructingothers in their use. Notwithstanding this great love & cautious diffidence of Escu-lapius, there are other malignant Powers who teach them & encourage their use.—Hence those distressing objects I cannot here for the want of Paper, speake of—What I have mentioned of minerals &c. which from their description are indeed reallysuch, i.e. minerals &c. yet I cannot take upon myself from my slender knowledge of theirlanguage &technicalterms, toassureyou that they are prepared afterourmanner,i.e. by Chemical processes. Mercury, sulphur, saltpetre or nitre &c. I do not know that theyhave; but there being french, English, German, & from the description Greek & HebrewDoctors, among the number, I should not suppose it preposterous in concluding that theyhave them all in the same way as ourselves. But from what I can learn it isStones,that is, some particular kinds of them that are most used, such astalk, pumice stones,& various other kinds. These they are shewn how to reduce to Powder, & with what water, i.e.out of which river (or colord water if you please) the water is taken to mix up these Powders."With the roots & herbs &c. it is different—theyareboiled" &c.—Thesestones(for they are mostcommonly thus denominated by them) are held in very great repute by them; tho' many of those thathave been shewn me as possessing wonderful virtues I considered as very common & fool-ish, or at least harmless things. Here! I am again digressing, which is everlastingly the case withme when not in thehumorof scribbling. I should have mentioned first (because as youmay see, I have beginthisstory in themiddleinstead at either of the two ends) that when theywant to dream of these things, as well as of any other particular thing, they must fast, & laydown to sleep, keeping their minds as free as possible from any other thoughts whatever,& wholly bent & employed on that particular one alone. I also should have observed inthe proper place that the door the votary is introduced is exactly in the middle ofthese rivers, there being 20 on each side of the door. The use, intent, &c. &c. ofthe other 5 doors, I never thought to enquire, & must leave you to guess as well asmyself 'till such times as I can get this matter explained. Their songs aredelivered inNotes, impressed or drawn on bark, in the form of hierlographics,& thus taught, & being hierlographics (& not very dissimilar to those anciently used by theEgyptians; nay indeed, I have reason to think from what I have seen of both, that anyLearnedman being perfectly acquainted with the one could trace a great deal in the other;but this opinion I hazard from my own ignorance) no two are alike, it therefore requires...(24)...him to learn them; that is anyoneof them: for those notes are not like ours,markedwith regularbars &c. so that one Gamut serves for all; but with them, each one may be said to be itself aGamut.However, I have reason to think that they are regular & uniform; for many years ago, whenI was still scarcely more than a boy, I remember throwing away the contents of one these mede-cine bags in which there were several strips of Bark covered with these Notes——an indian happened to be by—he took one up & with the Point of his knife placing it onone of these began to sing, moving the knife regularly as children do when they begin to learntheir a, b, c.—This surprised me a little at the time, for the indian was a stranger& had but lately arrived from his own lands that were several hundred miles off.—After laughing at, & ridiculing, him, as is the custom with us, I asked how he couldmake them out? "The same said he, as you do toreckon(i.e. read) yourpapers"See this one is (meant for) theThunder; that, the Earth, &c. &c.; but I only"know a few of these songs:—the possesser of this bag knew a great deal—he"was a great Medecine man, i.e. Doctor" &c. As far as I can learn, every differentroot, herb, plant, mineral, Spirit (or whatever you may please to term this latter) haveeach their respective songs; & which they must sing, were his voice like that of a chokedPig, when he employs them for one of themselves, or learns them to another. Whenthey sing, those of theirfamiliarswho instructed this Song, whether to the onewho sings, as having learnt it from himself (i.e Familiar) or having beenhanded to him; he is said to attend, invisibly of course, & perform that which hepromised this (medecine, supposing it is one) should effect.[This is a long &complex job, & I doubt much if I can get thro' with it without more of my blundering;but I shall risk blunders, omissions, & repetitions]Hence it is they always sing whenthey attend on a desperately sick person, amongst themselves, tho very rarely whenthey administer to the white. When any one is very sick, & that they becalledupon,or perhaps, tho' rarely, ordered, in their dreams, by their Familiars, they sing, blow,& suck, alternately, & with such violence that one would think they wanted toto blow them to the d___l, or swallow them down their throats; but no, it is toforce in the medecine, of which they have generally a mouthful, masticated intoa pulp. or something nearsalve, sometimes: the suction business is to draw outthe Devil; i.e the medicine, bone, stone, iron, brass, stick, or whatever they imagineit is that occasions the disease. If the complaint lies in any particular part, to thatpart it is they apply themselves most, & sometimesonly: supposing the hip, knee &c.for there they imagine it is a worm or maggot gnawing them. But if the complaintis universal, that is the whole system be sick & debilitated, it is then the pit of the Stomach& the Temples; rubbing sometimes the wrist, the palms of the hands. & opposite the heart.This is very frequently done, & in the intervals the songs & rattler together, & often a...(25)...& often a short speech or prayer to that one of theirFamiliarswhom they think will bemost propitious on the occasion, orhefrom whom they hold such, or such instruction &c.These songs are a dull monotony; for tho' they have a few variations & are hi & low, & thetransition sometimes so very sudden that it requires a particular command of thethroat to sing them; & tome, so difficult that I should I believe require a 7 yearsapprenticeship even with Esculapius (but I believe it isPluto, orPanwho teachesthe songs) himself, for me to learn them, there is certainly no musick inthem; tho' some few that I've heard many years ago, passing a winter with them,I found pleasing enough; but perhaps more from thesolemnitywith which allwas going on was I struck, than any thing else: indeed we had had great reason tobe solemn, for we were dreadfully pinched by hunger. When oppressed thro' star-vation, they have a variety of ceremonies which they perform; & tho' the songs be different,as also theceremoniesthemselves, still are they intended to answer the same purpose.—I shall endeavour to describe a couple to you from which you may form a prittyjust idea of the rest.—It was the latter end of Jany. or beginning of Feby. 1804, four ofus onlywhitepeople, mind were pitching off, or rather flying off from our houses we had built in the fall on ac-count oftheenemies. We had a small stock of dry Provisions & speared a few fish once ortwice, but there were so many of us that we were soon bro't to short commons as thestripof country we were then going thru contained no other animals but a few strag-ling Bears, but these animals atthisseason could not be found notwithstanding all theexertions of our hunters. One evening on my return to our lodges one of the women told me thatthe oldest man of our band, a great Doctor, or conjuror, as we frequently denominate them,said that if I were to pay him half a carrot (1 1/2 lbs) tobacco, he would conjure & be assuredof success, for it required payment. Tho' I suspected there was a trick in this, I didnot hesitate, but gave him his demand. The first night their songs & ceremonies wereas usual. —"Tomorrow, myfamiliartells me we shall get a Bear". All the huntersreturned at evening,maistousablanc. The second night, the rattler, songs, speeches,smoking, & medicine bags opened: "Tomorrow, we will assuredly get something." But thesame as the day before. The third night, the same, but every thing conducted witha sort of awful silence & solemnity that surprised me a good deal. I was harassedwith constant walking, weake thro' hunger, & tired with theirBêtisesas thefrench say; but the manner of their conduct kept me that time from growling."Oh! Now tomorrow indeed, we shall not fail—we shall certainly eat flesh; forthe old man is a great conjuror, & well liked: he prayed to themasteror giver ofLife, & hisDreamed have promised him success. But we get no more than before. In these conjuringboutes—they made no use of drums, but instead of that had cut a small hollow tree ofmaple, about 5 feet long & scooped it out, after splitting so that it resembled a semicircle—...(26)...or stove pipe split down—thishollowboard had been well dressed i.e. reduced to about half an inch in thick-ness & well polished: there were to the best of my memory four men seated taylor fashion & held asmall stick about 3/4 ins. diameter & about 15(ins.) long, in each hand: with these they beat timeto the tune & another moved or shaked the rattler in the same manner. All this however wasto no purpose. There was another indian in company with us, buttentingby himself (& hisfamily).—This indian who was very fond of me would frequently call me in & give me ashare of what he had to eat: "Well! said he, what success have your great men?"—I an-swered I did not expect much: "No replied he, they did not go the right way to work,"—had I not polluted (spoiled, as he said) my person last fall, alluding to an indian"he had then killed, I should try; & I beleive that my familiars would becharitable"to me: however I shall let them go on 'till they are done, after which I shall make"a trial: perhaps onyouraccountsthey may shew me their wonted attention."—I took this as wind, but as he spoke in so veryearnest(si naivement) a manner, I con-cealed my sentiments. The second night after the others had finished—he began alittle after dusk. But what a difference between them!—He had an immense largedrum, as large those among the military, & stretched hard: upon this he beat time,but very hard, to accord with his Songs which were as loud as he could bawl: at cer-tain intervals also he used only his rattler, but with as much violence as he could.Thus he continued alternately singing, praying (or making speeches) & smoking,'till broad day light. When he began, we thought this fellow was mad or only jesting;but the indians of our lodge reproved us. At Sun rise he came out of his lodge,& made a long speech; in which he told one to go one way, a second another, &himself by another route. "Thou, addressing the first one, a young lad—thou wilt"soon find thy (bear): but thou, addressing the father, on thy way on thou wilt"pass very near, but will not see him: Thou'lt search a long & return giving up"all hopes: but when come to this thou must return again & betweenthisthy last"track & the first one thou shalt make this morning, thou'lt see him in his"nest. as for me, I shall have much trouble to get mine." I heard himspeake, but not understanding sufficiently the language, the women explained to me.I need not tell you howwelaughed at the poor Devil; & so went off huntingIvywhich had been our support for a long time; but in the evening we found all thathe predicted, perfectly verified. This I assure you is a fact, & will maintain itnotwithstanding every thingskeptics, (excuse the term) or those unacquainted, orbut superficially so, with these people may say: & I am also certain that he had noprevious knowledge of their being there; for there was plenty of snow, & there were no othertracks but those of these 2 hunters, & we had pitchedup(the river) that day. But, hereI am digressing: to return therefore.
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in the water: however he got safely on board; but in his hurry forgot to embark a little earth.—Now the waters swelled immensely, & in a very short time the highest land was cover'd& Weesuckajock was tossed about by the wind & water. It appears that he had not the fore-sight either of taking with him a sufficiency of Provisions for he became very hungry,& thus expressed himself to his crew. After some time he saw some-thing on the water, very large & moving towards him: He thus addressed it, "Who,"or what, art thou my younger brother? (for he being the first born, always addressedthe rest of the creation, whether animate, inanimate, or rational or not, as hisyounger"Brothers) & whither art thou going?" "Why! my Elder (brother) I am awaterLynx,"& am sent byConfrersin search of Weesuck. & to destroy him" "Aye! is it so indeed?"& how or with with instrument do you intend to destroy him?" "I have a large &"very strong Iron-tail, with which if I smite his Canoe, he must perish?" Wee-suckajock seeing his danger tho't to get off by duplicity & dissimulation & thuscontinued: "Indeed you must have a very extraordinarytailmyYounger...."come near, & let me see it, how it is made &c."—The Lynx drew up, present-ed his tail, Weesuck. took hold as to look on it, & placed it on the Gunnelof his Canoe & with a stone cut it off saying,"Now go to thy friends, & tell"them how Weesuck. has served thee."—He retired doubled quick, grieved,ashamed, & not with a little pain. "Ha!" said the water Lynxes on perceivingthe situation of their companion, "ha! weesuck. is cunning, & too powerful,"we must destroy him for our own safety." "Come, now, who amongst us will"volunteer, & go to destroy that enemy of ours?" —They at last pitched upon an enor-mous Beaver & thus addressed him at his departure "Go thou our Brother, Destroy"that mutual enemy of ours, be not afraid of him for he is not worthy of fear; but still be cau-"tious, for he is very artful." Weesuck. descryed him also, & the same addresses &compliments passed as with the first. And how do you intend to destroy Weesuck?""with my teeth." Well then do come near & let me see them." x x x The beaverdrew up, & shewed his teeth: weesuck. put his hand on his head & while exclaiming "What"terrible teeth!—how immensely broad & sharp—they are like large axes!" hewith his other hand took up a large stone & with a dreadful blow broke themall in his head. "Now go to thou too friends & tell them how Weesuck. hath served"thee." Indeed the beaver did go, sniffling & blowing & yelling. The Lynxes wereastonished, & durst no more attempt anything at him. His situation howeverwas very disagreable, very uncomfortable, & what added to it was his want offood. He thus addressed his companions one day. "Come now we very repre-"hensibly forgot to bring earth with us, & who knows how long this will conti-
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"continue?—which of you all will endeavour to get a little earth for me out of which I"shall try to makeLandfor us to live on?—whoever will go shall be amply rewarded."They all said it was very deep. There was scarcely an hopes. Then he said to the otter"Go thou myYounger(brother) & if thou diest in the attempt, I shall restore thee to life,"& make thee immortal". Saying this he tied a long leather thong to his tail & sent himdown: he found the otter was dead, hauled him up in to the canoe, rubbed him dry& blowed in his nostrils, when he revived. Then he sent the Musk rat: "Come my"little brother, go thou, thou art small & very active, art fond of the water, & goeth to great"depths—thy reward shall be as that of the otter." The rat was secured with a thongalso & down he went. Weesuck found he was dead: hauled him up, & was extre-mely happy to find he had some earth in his little paws & mouth: he restoredhim to life as he did the otter, & sent him down again, when he bro't up his mouth asfull as it could hold & a good deal in hishandswhich he held pressed to breast.Now weesuck. took this earth & made a ball of it, & blew in it a considerabletime & sent off the Wolf to make its circuit to see if it was large enough. Afterfour nights he returned & thus spake "My Elder, the earth is indeed Large & beautiful; but our"number now is small: when we will increase it will be too small for us: we"will be all upon top of each other (i.e we will be in each others way &c.), & if you"make man as you contemplate,...it will be much moreso." Weesuck then blewit out again & once more sent the Wolf-- He was 8 nights absent, & reported itstill too small. Weesuck then blew it out for a long time & sends the wolfagain. But before he went off he said "My Elder, the Earth must now be very"large, & I shall possibly be too much wearied to make its circuit: I shall traverse,"& if I find any thing to assure me of its being large enough I shallhowl,"which will be a sign to you; & whatever place may suit me there will I make my resi-dance." After several nights absence they heard him howl, wherefore they allconcluded the Earth was sufficiently Large. Weesuck. thenblessedthe others & sentthem away telling them to multiply "& be good, not vicious or ill inclined, nor se-"cret, or hide themselves too much fromMylittle brothers (the human beingswhich he was about to create) when they might want to eat" &c. &c. Nowafter this he became very lonesome & bethout himself of makingIndiansi.e. human beings. He in consequence took up a stone & fashioned it intothe form of a man; but whilst at this work it struck him that by formingthem of so strong & hard a substance that in time when they would become toknow their nature, they would grow insolent & rebellious & be a great a great an-noyance to each other & of course also, would never die. "This will not do, I must
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"I must make them of a more weake & fragible substance, "so that they may live a reas-"reasonable time & behave as becomes human beings." Upon this he took up a handfulof common Earth & made the form of a man, & blew into his nostrils thebreath of life.The Moon formed the Female, as Wesuck. did the Male, hence the reason of the Pe-riodical return of their sickness with that of the moon, "as also among the Sluts." (Bitches).Hence also all women are forbidden when they go out from the calls of nature, & thatoneinparticular, to look at the moon while thus employed. Those who are thus for-getful, ignorant, or obstinate immediately find the effect by the return &c. x x x.I should have said that he bruised the stone to Pieces, altho' a great part of it wasalready formed. For the white (I believe it was the Moon again) he made a Part-ner for him of one of his ribs & another piece, which he wrapped in a handker-chief & laid beside him saying "this, by the time thou risest, shall be a full"grown Woman & shall be thy companion" &c.——After all this done, hemade a separation in the Earth, one part of which was a beautifulplain meadow Ground, & the rest Woody; & then set off travelling in theEarth. He took a partner to himself, by whom he had a son. This soon got to mansestate, but had a great aversion to the female Sex, which gave his Parents a greatdeal of anxiety, all their trouble, all their remonstrances were to no effect: atlast the father betho't of a plan in which he was sure of success. "He transformed him-"self into a most beautiful woman & when the Son was returned from his hunting"well Son! said the Mother, here is a young & handsome woman we have procured"merily for thee; does she please thee?"—Hercharmswere so great the young manimmediately became extremely fond of her. But this, in the end, became thesource of much trouble to both Parents & of disgrace to the father particular-ly. The mother became jealous & vexed on her son's account that he should sobe imposed upon, & done many shameful things to her husband." Here followsa train of Stories the most indecent, & shameful & sometimes obscene, that one canwell imagine. But these people are yet, so far as regards their faculties, in astate of Nature. Every thing appears reasonable & natural & must be verygross & palpable indeed when they do not give credit to them. Their languageis also that of nature, & they speake out what they think—they do not use circumlocu-tion to avoid an indecent term, nor have they flourishes to embellish their dis-courses; & their speeches, to my taste, at least, are far more pleasing & naturalthan those strained & laboured compositions we meet with amongst ourselves. But this isnot the place for these discussions.——
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-April 4th 1823}There is a sick indian with me whom I have been obliged to feed with his wholefamily all winter, not being able to endure the cold on his lungs, & in a manner deserted byhis friends. To get as near the truth as I can possibly do in all things relating to theirmythology, I frequently converse with him on these subjects; & when "notforbid-denbyhisDreamedorfamiliars" is explicit enough. A few nights back hethus informed me upon the several questions I proposed. The one that I saw in mydream as above relatedisnottheSun, as my half-breeds told me. TheSun is dressed like a Gentleman, i.e a short coat, waistcoat, short breeches, stock-ings, boots, a hat & a beautiful feather stuck in it. He speakes English &c. andthe rest as mentioned above. But the one I mentioned above, isSickness, orthe Plague. There are four of them: two walking in the air as I mentioned, & twointhe earth, i.e. in the bowels of the earth at a certain moderate distance fromthe surface, perhaps in the sameproportionas those who are above. The indianthus relates of him: "When I was a young man, he appeared to me, & told me his"name was Sickness; & that every time ageneralsickness was to take place"amongst us he would come & forwarn me. See: Four winters ago (in 1819) after"we had taken debt in the fall & were proceding each of us to our hunting Grounds"he appeared to me one night & said, 'I am come to tell you to get out of the way"'of allLargewaters(i.e. Lakes & rivers) & pitch off immediately into the woods:"'Be cautious also & select proper ground for an encamping; never pitch your"'tents in Large high Woods, particularly of the Pine kind, chuselowwoods"'to encamp in & never look up to Gaze lest I see you see & you be"'smitten. Keep off, always from Large waters, for I am on a circuit round"'the earth: I shall follow the travelling waters (i.e. The routes or roads"'usually frequented or navigated) & smite all those I there find with"'sickness: in the interior, or to one side I shall not go. Tell this to the"'indians that they keep out of the way.'" It was that year that theMeaslesmade such havock in some places. He thus continued, "This last fall (in December)"I saw him again—he told me he was on another circuit & intended making a"large selection, passing thro' the plains & coming down again this way. He said"he would pass when the leaves would be rather large (about the 20thJune,"in these parts) & told me as before to admonish every body to keep out of the"way oflargewaters, trees &c. &c.—'It is not my doings, nor is it my choice"'that I thusprowlthro' the earth, said he, but I am sent, & cannot resist'—"Now we will be again this spring visited with some sickness, but I cannot"tell which—it is a breaking out in the flesh &c. and his appearing to you
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"to you (i.e. me) is a sign that he will certainly pass." I then asked him if he intend-ed telling the other indians of it. "I shall tell my Elder (brother), but not the others, for they"wont beleive me." He was very diffident: he wanted to communicate to me all hewas told, but said he durst not lest he should injure himself, by exasperating the other(i.eSickness) & beingenigmaticallyforbidden!—"He told me, continued the indian,"as a sign that two of our number should die this winter, one a small one (&heis dead"naming to me a child that died about that time, tho' very distant then from him)"and the other a full grown person—whom he is I know not,but onemustdie!These Chaps seldom appear (in dreams) less than 4 times, but commonly 6 times,& each time in a different form 'till the last, when hemakeshimselfknown,& ever after appears(or rather appear) in the same uniform manner. Itis then, after they have made themselves completely known to their votaries,that they communicate their power &c. &c. &c. and teach their theirsongswhich tho' in their dreams, are so indelibly imprinted in their memories that they arenever forgotten. For every one of these Spirits, Genii, demons, phantasies, or whateveryou may please to term them, have each theirSong, which they communicateto their votaries, as well as explain also their power. Hence it is, that when anyany one amongst them has dreamed of a certain number, commonly a goodmany, 20, 30, or perhaps a thousand, that they canconjurewhen they please; forthese like the guardian Genii in the fables, keeps always near them, & pro-tect them fromtoomuch injury from the evil machinations of someof the mischievous ones. Indeed, from what I can learn, there are but few ofthesefamiliarsbut do do evil to their votaries if they (the votary, i.e. the in-dian) neglect performing the regular annual, or perhaps more distantperiodical sacrifice; and this sacrifice, theirfamiliartells them what it is he expects.A few days ago, in the night between the 31stMarch & 1stApril, this indian wassleeping in an old house I sent him to, when at a late hour in the night he was pulled mostviolently out of his bed; so that his wife that was lying beside him, awoke & withdifficulty kept him down, tho' he also struggled himself to make hisFami-liarleave his hold: & the house shook violently. The next day he sent me hiswife to ask a like a little grease to make a sacrifice (i.e. burnt offering X)—I gaveher a little, & the husband came the same evening to sleep with us. Upon en-quiring he told me thus. "It was aSkeleton: hewasdispleased with me because"I did not make him my usual offering & yet he knows that I ampitiful,"that I cannot move to hunt myself, but am beholding to others for every"mouthful I & my family eat; but they are wicked when they think themselvesX God forgive me the comparison, which by the bye is not meant to ridicule, but is really the case.
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neglected or abandoned, & think nothing of carrying off an indian & throwing him in somedistant place, dangerous precipice, or other place where he must perish if not succoredby some other more kind one. "Some years back continued he, I went out one night"in the fall to hunt moose. I had tied my Canoe very securely in the rushes &"there was waiting alone to hear the moose either come to the Lake, or cry after the"Dam, for it was in the rutting Season (& the indians commonly go out in thismanner at that season, for the Buck has a certain cry which he makes at thattime either to call the female, or as with the domestic cattle to exult as onemight think from their capers) "I all at once heard far a-head of me cries of heh, heh!"heh (or hayh, or haih) sudden, quick, coming in the air, & directly towards me 'oh!"'now said I, I am gone'!—Indeed he came—Icrinjed& laid myself as low in my"Canoe as possible; but he came straight to me, took me up & threw me in the"water, all the time crying he'! he'!—I then endeavoured to take out myfire-"bag; but this he would not let me do. Having then no alternative, I was obliged"to make for the shore as well as I could, he all the time crying in the same man-"ner just above my head, as if he intended absolutely my death. However I reached"the shore, tho' with the greatest difficulty. Then I took some dry grass which"I rubbed & bruised 'till it became soft & put it under my arm pits & crumpled"myself into a small heap & remained 'till the sun began to warm when I"swam back to my Canoe. He kept hovering over me all night & until the Sun was"pretty high, always making the same cry; tho' when he found me so benumbed with"cold on my debarkation he laughed, ha! ha! ha!" &c. &c.—Today (Apr. 4th)he asked me for a needle & thread to sew the sleeve of his Capot, which thisGhost!had torn in his endeavours to carry him off the other night. Whilst he was sewing"how he has vexed me, said he, by tearing my old Coat, but I am afraid of him."——He related me another story ofthemas follows. "I went out one"time a hunting beaver with a friend of mine: It was a long distance from our"lodges—we killed 6 Beavers, & slept out. I awoke in the night & was"much astonished to observe a man seated on the opposite side of the fire, resting his head on both"hands, with his elbows on his knees apparently in a very pensive, sullen manner. He had but skin & bone—not the least particle of"flesh; &thisone had hair on his bony head. I gently pushed my friend & told him to"look atthatstranger. We were both extremely agitated in consequence of our fear,"& were at a loss what to do. Having no alternative, I arose, conceiving he came to"ask for something to eat I took a Beaver, cut it in two & presented him the half of"it: he did not deign to look at it—I was much afraid. I then bethought"of cutting it into mouthfuls, which after presenting him I threw into the fire—"thus I did with the whole; & when done, he arose & walked off peaceably in theair."
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This sort they termPâh-kàck, i.e Skeletons, or such as die of hunger; or some that die ex-tremely lean whether from the consumption or other sickness—Those, i. e. many of them,when they have nothing but just the mere skin & bone remaining, some of them in thissi-tuation disappear from the Earth & go to reside with all those who have already departedin that distressed state. This band or congregation have a head or chief—Theircolor is commonly green, tho' sometimes black; & it is extremely uncommonwhen one has even any hair, being bald—as if a blown bladder. They sometimes are heard inthe day. The nois is sometimes as of a quantity of dried bones rattled or shaken ina forcible manner in a kettle; & sometimes as above related making that samemonotonous but frightful cry of he'h! he'h! very quick & with an abrupt ter-mination. The sacrifice they offer to these is Grease, generally a large bladder full,& of the best kind. All the natives present are invited. Tobacco of course goes before everything else. He who makes the feast, or his assistant, most commonly lights, or fillsrather, the pipes of all who smoke, but when it is light it is first presented tothat quarter wheretheseare supposed to reside (I believe in the N. W. or West)then to the cardinal points—then to the (bladder of) Grease which is put is putin a dish fit to contain it & covered with down. Some of them have a smallboard about 20 or 24 ins. long, flat, painted with red earth, & a head made to it, of thesame piece, & flat as the rest. At a certain distance below the neck, as we mightsuppose the Shoulders, other small pieces made in the same form & about 3 or4 ins. long are stuck in each side at short distances, reaching to the ground—the lower end being small, & the head end would bear some resemblance to theribs or arms were there not so many, by their being somewhat in a hanging form.After smoking & somes speeches, in which these Ghosts are addressed—He who makesthe feast,wavesit 3 times crying he! he! very loud for a good many times, & thenpresents it to this board, which is intended as a representative of the Pahkack,desiringhimto accept it, & be propitious & merciful to them, neither to injure themnor theirlittleones. Then He dances 3 times round the tent (in the inside) &when he comes to the 4th time, the one seated next him (in the direction of theSun) rises. He makes a feint of offering it twice to the one who rises, who in histurndoesas if he was going to receive it; & the 3d time it is thrown intohis hands: this one makes a double turn upon his heels & dances ortrotsonce round thetent, & the next him, seated, rises to take it in his turn, with the same ceremony, 'till allhave passed. Then it comes into the masters hands again who reperform the sameceremonies once more,—puts down the Grease, cuts it up, & shares to every male orwidow present, in proportion to their numbers (i.e. the families they may have.—Shortly after my arrival here this lastfall they invited me thro' compliment to two of these feasts—I went both times merely
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merely to have a better opportunity of making my observations, which are as above, as near as Ican bring them. But my mind was too much disturbed with reflections which soonbecame so melancholy that I had nothing to bestow on what was going on. Poorunfortunate creatures! I often exclaimed to myself—Ye are desirous, nay anxious to performyour duties to your maker, but know not how. If you only knew how he abomi-nates this ceremony which you perform with so much devotion, how soon wouldyou cast off all your superstitions, & rather live without any religion at all, & riskall upon chance, than perform sacrifices, for aught I know, to demons! I shall nothere enter upon these reflections further, suffice the above; for they are too long, toofrequent, & besides I wish to sacrifice the little paper I have remaining tosuch other things as I have, & which I think may not be quite uninter-esting to you. Had there been but their speeches, & the ceremonies, I shouldnot perhaps have thought so deeply. But their cries of he! he! & ha! ha! &c. so repeated& vociferous, that I was struck with a certain horror & thought that half of thedevils in hell had entered the throats of these men to givemean idea of theirPandemonium below. Good God! what a miserable reflection! but how muchmoreso the occasion leading to it is.—Notwithstanding they some timesDreamof roots (medecines &c.) there is a certain place accord-ing to their notions consecrated toEsculapius(& Perhaps Appollo also, conjointly). It is depictedas a most heavenly abode, so delightful. He (Esculapius) resides in a mountain in thebowels of which is his house—it has 6 doors, but so mysteriously constructed that no soulwhatever, besides himself & hisinmatesof whom there are a great number (of Every Nation& language) can open them—The Lock apparently is in the form of a Screw, orSpiral, & is opened on the inside, but only to such as Escu. deems worthy of admis-sion These doors opentodifferent quarters, the house being immensely large, & as above mentioned,in the bowels of yemountain:Inthis residance is of every medicine useful in life, such asdo notvegetate, i.e. minerals, fossils, &c. &c. These are shown to the votary; he is instruct-ed in their use; the manner of preparing & mixing them; the ceremonies, i.e. songs & sacrifices,&c. &c. to be performed in their application, taking of them up, or in instructingothers;because it is not everyIndianthat is favored with these Dreams. The mountain is of amoderate size, & there issue from it 40 Rivers which fall into a Lake not farfrom thebase& situated in a beautiful plain—this Lake is shallow & has somehandsome sandy shoals, & in the borders of (in the water) it grow beautifulrushes.The water in every one of these rivers is of a different color, no two being alike, one isBlack, another white, red, Green, blue,ash-color&c. &c.Inthe latter grow herbs &plants of a vast variety, as also their nature. In the sides of the mountain are of everyof every herb & plant that grows in any part of the world whatever. When any one of them
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(of the indians I mean) is thus favored, he appears first at these rivers, when the head or Chief of the Mountaincomes out, accost him in a freindly manner, & after some conversation he is introduced into theinterior of the house, where he is astonished to find people of every nation & language in theearth. But if I can form a right opinion, there are but few of each language.—Theyare seated in Four rows, their seats being something like those of a Theatre, semicircu-lar & rising a little one above the other. These are all Doctors; & it is their businessto instruct thevotaryin the object of his mission &c. They have a great quantity ofmedecines already prepared, of such as are produced in the bowels of the Earth, suchas minerals, stones, shells &c. &c. and most, or many of these, are hung up in thehouse. Here is he is taught how, & in what manner, to prepare these, as also theSongs & sacrifices &c. appropriate to each different one or sort. When on theoutside, or out-of-Doors, he is shewn all the roots, herbs, plants &c. and is taughtthe respective Song (of each) or of any particular one, or number, or suchonly as grow in the climate he inhabits. Both the Songs & the Plant, herb &c.are so indelibly imprinted on his mind (or memory), tho' he had never seenthem before, or should not happen to meet with any of them for years afterwards, yeton his first view, he immediately recognises them, & every circumstance that had beeninstructed him, as if he had passed a regular apprenticeship. This may seem veryextraordinary, if not indeed absurd to people unacquainted with them, but still itis no less a positive fact. These rivers i.e. waters are of different colors, so also is therapidityof each stream; some of them moving in a turbulent & awful manner as the rapids& eddies at the foot of Large falls; some moving in large majestic waves likes theswells of a large & Deep Lake agitated by the wind; & some in a beautifulsmooth current, down which thecanoesare scarcly perceived to move. Theseare the tokens or signs or emblems of the manner ofourlives, here below, so far as regards tohealth & sickness, & of course the description requires no further explanation.In some of these rivers grow herbs or plants which, themselves, as well as their roots,are a rank, deadly poison, more or less; & their effects, when any Demon-Spirited wretchemployes them as instruments of vengeance, tho' I have known none to carryoff the objectimmediately, yet have a most melancholy baneful effect; some ofthem exactly similar (in their effects) toLunar Caustic, & oftentimes with an ad-ditionalhumiliatingeffect (But more of this hereafter) & some, deprive the ob-ject of every one of his senses but that of feeling—a melancholy instance of this I saw inthe Spring of 1813 & sufficient of itself toemeliatean heart of adamant! Sometimes Esculapius will not instruct his votary in their use, satisfying himself withtelling themtheyarebadmedecines, or perhaps not mentioning them at all. To othersagain, he explained everycircumstance&c. relating to them; but with amoststrict
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injunction never to employ them at hisPeril"unless you wish to die: I teach you all these"these things because I love you, & know your heart to be compassionate: butmindmy"words, if ever you employ them with an ill or evilview, thou shalt die. Otherindians"as well as thyself, love life—it is sweet to every body; render it therefore not a bur-"then or adisgrace; & Ihatethose who thus abuse my confident affection" &c. &c.They are also forbidden sometimes as strictly, & for the same reasons, instructingothers in their use. Notwithstanding this great love & cautious diffidence of Escu-lapius, there are other malignant Powers who teach them & encourage their use.—Hence those distressing objects I cannot here for the want of Paper, speake of—What I have mentioned of minerals &c. which from their description are indeed reallysuch, i.e. minerals &c. yet I cannot take upon myself from my slender knowledge of theirlanguage &technicalterms, toassureyou that they are prepared afterourmanner,i.e. by Chemical processes. Mercury, sulphur, saltpetre or nitre &c. I do not know that theyhave; but there being french, English, German, & from the description Greek & HebrewDoctors, among the number, I should not suppose it preposterous in concluding that theyhave them all in the same way as ourselves. But from what I can learn it isStones,that is, some particular kinds of them that are most used, such astalk, pumice stones,& various other kinds. These they are shewn how to reduce to Powder, & with what water, i.e.out of which river (or colord water if you please) the water is taken to mix up these Powders."With the roots & herbs &c. it is different—theyareboiled" &c.—Thesestones(for they are mostcommonly thus denominated by them) are held in very great repute by them; tho' many of those thathave been shewn me as possessing wonderful virtues I considered as very common & fool-ish, or at least harmless things. Here! I am again digressing, which is everlastingly the case withme when not in thehumorof scribbling. I should have mentioned first (because as youmay see, I have beginthisstory in themiddleinstead at either of the two ends) that when theywant to dream of these things, as well as of any other particular thing, they must fast, & laydown to sleep, keeping their minds as free as possible from any other thoughts whatever,& wholly bent & employed on that particular one alone. I also should have observed inthe proper place that the door the votary is introduced is exactly in the middle ofthese rivers, there being 20 on each side of the door. The use, intent, &c. &c. ofthe other 5 doors, I never thought to enquire, & must leave you to guess as well asmyself 'till such times as I can get this matter explained. Their songs aredelivered inNotes, impressed or drawn on bark, in the form of hierlographics,& thus taught, & being hierlographics (& not very dissimilar to those anciently used by theEgyptians; nay indeed, I have reason to think from what I have seen of both, that anyLearnedman being perfectly acquainted with the one could trace a great deal in the other;but this opinion I hazard from my own ignorance) no two are alike, it therefore requires
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him to learn them; that is anyoneof them: for those notes are not like ours,markedwith regularbars &c. so that one Gamut serves for all; but with them, each one may be said to be itself aGamut.However, I have reason to think that they are regular & uniform; for many years ago, whenI was still scarcely more than a boy, I remember throwing away the contents of one these mede-cine bags in which there were several strips of Bark covered with these Notes——an indian happened to be by—he took one up & with the Point of his knife placing it onone of these began to sing, moving the knife regularly as children do when they begin to learntheir a, b, c.—This surprised me a little at the time, for the indian was a stranger& had but lately arrived from his own lands that were several hundred miles off.—After laughing at, & ridiculing, him, as is the custom with us, I asked how he couldmake them out? "The same said he, as you do toreckon(i.e. read) yourpapers"See this one is (meant for) theThunder; that, the Earth, &c. &c.; but I only"know a few of these songs:—the possesser of this bag knew a great deal—he"was a great Medecine man, i.e. Doctor" &c. As far as I can learn, every differentroot, herb, plant, mineral, Spirit (or whatever you may please to term this latter) haveeach their respective songs; & which they must sing, were his voice like that of a chokedPig, when he employs them for one of themselves, or learns them to another. Whenthey sing, those of theirfamiliarswho instructed this Song, whether to the onewho sings, as having learnt it from himself (i.e Familiar) or having beenhanded to him; he is said to attend, invisibly of course, & perform that which hepromised this (medecine, supposing it is one) should effect.[This is a long &complex job, & I doubt much if I can get thro' with it without more of my blundering;but I shall risk blunders, omissions, & repetitions]Hence it is they always sing whenthey attend on a desperately sick person, amongst themselves, tho very rarely whenthey administer to the white. When any one is very sick, & that they becalledupon,or perhaps, tho' rarely, ordered, in their dreams, by their Familiars, they sing, blow,& suck, alternately, & with such violence that one would think they wanted toto blow them to the d___l, or swallow them down their throats; but no, it is toforce in the medecine, of which they have generally a mouthful, masticated intoa pulp. or something nearsalve, sometimes: the suction business is to draw outthe Devil; i.e the medicine, bone, stone, iron, brass, stick, or whatever they imagineit is that occasions the disease. If the complaint lies in any particular part, to thatpart it is they apply themselves most, & sometimesonly: supposing the hip, knee &c.for there they imagine it is a worm or maggot gnawing them. But if the complaintis universal, that is the whole system be sick & debilitated, it is then the pit of the Stomach& the Temples; rubbing sometimes the wrist, the palms of the hands. & opposite the heart.This is very frequently done, & in the intervals the songs & rattler together, & often a
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& often a short speech or prayer to that one of theirFamiliarswhom they think will bemost propitious on the occasion, orhefrom whom they hold such, or such instruction &c.These songs are a dull monotony; for tho' they have a few variations & are hi & low, & thetransition sometimes so very sudden that it requires a particular command of thethroat to sing them; & tome, so difficult that I should I believe require a 7 yearsapprenticeship even with Esculapius (but I believe it isPluto, orPanwho teachesthe songs) himself, for me to learn them, there is certainly no musick inthem; tho' some few that I've heard many years ago, passing a winter with them,I found pleasing enough; but perhaps more from thesolemnitywith which allwas going on was I struck, than any thing else: indeed we had had great reason tobe solemn, for we were dreadfully pinched by hunger. When oppressed thro' star-vation, they have a variety of ceremonies which they perform; & tho' the songs be different,as also theceremoniesthemselves, still are they intended to answer the same purpose.—I shall endeavour to describe a couple to you from which you may form a prittyjust idea of the rest.—It was the latter end of Jany. or beginning of Feby. 1804, four ofus onlywhitepeople, mind were pitching off, or rather flying off from our houses we had built in the fall on ac-count oftheenemies. We had a small stock of dry Provisions & speared a few fish once ortwice, but there were so many of us that we were soon bro't to short commons as thestripof country we were then going thru contained no other animals but a few strag-ling Bears, but these animals atthisseason could not be found notwithstanding all theexertions of our hunters. One evening on my return to our lodges one of the women told me thatthe oldest man of our band, a great Doctor, or conjuror, as we frequently denominate them,said that if I were to pay him half a carrot (1 1/2 lbs) tobacco, he would conjure & be assuredof success, for it required payment. Tho' I suspected there was a trick in this, I didnot hesitate, but gave him his demand. The first night their songs & ceremonies wereas usual. —"Tomorrow, myfamiliartells me we shall get a Bear". All the huntersreturned at evening,maistousablanc. The second night, the rattler, songs, speeches,smoking, & medicine bags opened: "Tomorrow, we will assuredly get something." But thesame as the day before. The third night, the same, but every thing conducted witha sort of awful silence & solemnity that surprised me a good deal. I was harassedwith constant walking, weake thro' hunger, & tired with theirBêtisesas thefrench say; but the manner of their conduct kept me that time from growling."Oh! Now tomorrow indeed, we shall not fail—we shall certainly eat flesh; forthe old man is a great conjuror, & well liked: he prayed to themasteror giver ofLife, & hisDreamed have promised him success. But we get no more than before. In these conjuringboutes—they made no use of drums, but instead of that had cut a small hollow tree ofmaple, about 5 feet long & scooped it out, after splitting so that it resembled a semicircle—
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or stove pipe split down—thishollowboard had been well dressed i.e. reduced to about half an inch in thick-ness & well polished: there were to the best of my memory four men seated taylor fashion & held asmall stick about 3/4 ins. diameter & about 15(ins.) long, in each hand: with these they beat timeto the tune & another moved or shaked the rattler in the same manner. All this however wasto no purpose. There was another indian in company with us, buttentingby himself (& hisfamily).—This indian who was very fond of me would frequently call me in & give me ashare of what he had to eat: "Well! said he, what success have your great men?"—I an-swered I did not expect much: "No replied he, they did not go the right way to work,"—had I not polluted (spoiled, as he said) my person last fall, alluding to an indian"he had then killed, I should try; & I beleive that my familiars would becharitable"to me: however I shall let them go on 'till they are done, after which I shall make"a trial: perhaps onyouraccountsthey may shew me their wonted attention."—I took this as wind, but as he spoke in so veryearnest(si naivement) a manner, I con-cealed my sentiments. The second night after the others had finished—he began alittle after dusk. But what a difference between them!—He had an immense largedrum, as large those among the military, & stretched hard: upon this he beat time,but very hard, to accord with his Songs which were as loud as he could bawl: at cer-tain intervals also he used only his rattler, but with as much violence as he could.Thus he continued alternately singing, praying (or making speeches) & smoking,'till broad day light. When he began, we thought this fellow was mad or only jesting;but the indians of our lodge reproved us. At Sun rise he came out of his lodge,& made a long speech; in which he told one to go one way, a second another, &himself by another route. "Thou, addressing the first one, a young lad—thou wilt"soon find thy (bear): but thou, addressing the father, on thy way on thou wilt"pass very near, but will not see him: Thou'lt search a long & return giving up"all hopes: but when come to this thou must return again & betweenthisthy last"track & the first one thou shalt make this morning, thou'lt see him in his"nest. as for me, I shall have much trouble to get mine." I heard himspeake, but not understanding sufficiently the language, the women explained to me.I need not tell you howwelaughed at the poor Devil; & so went off huntingIvywhich had been our support for a long time; but in the evening we found all thathe predicted, perfectly verified. This I assure you is a fact, & will maintain itnotwithstanding every thingskeptics, (excuse the term) or those unacquainted, orbut superficially so, with these people may say: & I am also certain that he had noprevious knowledge of their being there; for there was plenty of snow, & there were no othertracks but those of these 2 hunters, & we had pitchedup(the river) that day. But, hereI am digressing: to return therefore.