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The following few Stories or Tales will give a better notion or Idea of the religion of these
People than every other description  I am able to pen, & as their history is read with interest, I am
persuaded these few Pages will be found equally deserving attention.  I give them the same as I
received 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 an
elderly man, a chief of this place, a hunting.  Suddenly he stopped as to listen, apparent-
ly with great eagerness & anxiety, upon which after allowing a sufficient time the
Int. 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 as skeptical: 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 much
down-cast & very thoughtful for several days; & as if to increase his anxiety or rather to to corroborate
the husbands assertions, his wife said that one day she also heard, tho' the other women that were
with her heard nothing, & an altercation ensued.  His uneasyness increasing too much he was
forced to have recourse to their only alternative in such cases, i.e. une Jonglerie as the french
term it, that is conjuring. One of their party, another half-breed, abandoned many years since
by his Father & leading an  indian life, was applied to: he is reputed a true man, 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 these times they will carry me off." He was prepared, & entered with
his rattler, shortly after which the box & the rattler began to move in the usual brisk &
violent manner. Many entered, & 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 this moon (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 became
cheerful & assumed his wonted ways.  But not for a long time—he soon relapsed, & after
some days applied again to the conjurer. When he had entered his box or frame—a
number again entered & one of them enquired why they were called for? The conjuror
said-. "What? says he,* "again! Thou art very skeptical—dost thou not believe? now
thou art fond of, thou wantest to be haunted, well thou shalt have thy desire." At these

* i.e. the Spirit

these dreadful words, which were uttered in an angry & reproving manner, every soul was struck
with terror; but as if to give some consolation assured him "that that spirit had but just
left his home, & coming on very slowly would not be up with them 'till such a time,
a little prior to which they were ordered to conjure again, when they would be told what to
do. This was no pleasant information to the conjuror who never undertook this job
but with the greatest reluctance, nay indeed even sometimes horor: However, he neither, poor creature had no alternative. At the
time appointed he entered again, every thing being prepared. After the preliminary de-
mands or questions &c. "yes replies one of the spirits, that which thou dreadest is near, &
"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 he
alone 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 sweating bout I should be releived; but I have not the means
"here,—I have no stones"—"you are encamped upon them rejoined the spirit & at the
"door of your tent are some" "yes, but says the indian the dogs have watered them,
"& 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 de
Betes & 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 if we"lie"—he did indeed go out to some distance & after awhile heard as a distant
hollow noise, which increased 'till it became considerably more distinct & then
vanished 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, they have turned him off the road, as soon as the noise was
"heard, but he will not turn back, or go home: he is sent after 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 we shall drive 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

"This will happen between day light & Sun rise, & is his spirit, all that will remain
in 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, ontheir road, & seemingly far off: the indians gave implicit faith to all—& the conjuror
did not know what to beleive "there is something says he, for my Dreamed, or Dreamers"have assured me of it, but I  dont know what to say—however, most assuredly tomor-
"row morning we shall have the snow." This snow both comforted & depressed the poor
indian very much, seeing the weather was then so beautiful & so destitute of
all 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 thickness
of his thigh; to peel off all the bark nicely, leaving but a small tuft of the branches at the
tip end—this they painted cross-ways with bars of vermillion & charcoal, alternately
the whole length, leaving however some intervals undaubded—
& about 5 or 6 feet from the Ground, fastened a Pair of artificial horns, representing those
of 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 to
resume his wonted cheerfulness & contentment. However, once more he was obliged
to 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 that
the indian inquired of the spirits, is, as the told him, lightning, which always happens in
the month of December & they laughed at his having lived so long without observing it
before. 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. he
was very uneasy, & hunted several times for it: They having told the Interpretor often
how kind & charitable & indulgent those spirits of the upper regions were, & 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 the
same 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—

—however, he attached the fault to the Gun—The first time, I beleive it was, that this
half-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 the Sun, replied the Conjuror"
"ha! well, I am happy of it, said the the indian, is it not he who 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 to
the 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 after
handed back to the owner—"Here is your Gun—you will kill with it now" said the
Spirit.——Both this business of the Gun & smoking bag took place, the
first time, I beleive, the man Conjured.———
    There are but few Individuals (i.e. men) among the
Sauteux or Cris, or Crees who have not their medicine bags—& initiated into some cere-
mony or other, but it is  not all of them who can Conjur. Among some tribes, most
of them, can; & among others again, there are but very few.  Nor is it every one of them
that tells all truth, some scarcily nothing but lies, others again not one false-
hood, & this depends upon their Dreamed, sometimes, but I think may be equally
imputed to their own selves, i.e. Presumption, ignorance, folly, or any other of our
passions or weaknesses. But to become Conjurors, they have rights & ceremonies
to Perform & go through, which, tho' apparently simple & absurd, yet I have no doubt but
fully answer their ends. Any person among them wishing to dive into futurity,
must be Young & unpolluted. At any age between 18 & 25. Tho' as near as I can
learn between 17 & 20 years old—they must have had no intercourse with
the other Sex—they must be chaste & unpolluted. In the spring of the year they
chuse a proper place at a sufficient distance from the camp not be discovered
nor 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 entirely
alone, they strip stark naked & put all their things a good way off & then return,
ly on this bed & then cover themselves with the rest of the Grass.  Here they remain &
endeavour to sleep, 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 to
Dream 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.

on the Ground. Here they ly for a longer or shorter time,  according to their success, or the
orders 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 his
Dreams!—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 drink
of water, smoke the Pipe: & after that eat, but as composedly as if they had
but just risen from a hearty meal. Their Dreamed sometimes order them to make a
Feast; & not uncommonly tell them where to go, where they will find the animal whose
flesh 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 have
the most pleasant dreams imaginable; others indifferent. When they are to live to
a 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 of a"young man"; & so on of the other ages,  as well as the manner of life they shall have; & the
language is not very dissimilar to that of our version of the Bible. But that stile seems to
me to be the language of Nature which I always find the more charming the more re-
tired the speaker is from the Pompous, bombastic walks of high life, which tho' they furnish
us with more ideas, I do 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. Every
thing in nature appears unto them, but in the Shape of a human-being—They dream
they 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 is
perhaps that of a Tree, a Stone, a fish &c. &c. & after rechanging several times
in this manner, 'till such times as the Ind. becomes perfectly to know him, then this stran-
ger gives him to smoke, learns him his Song &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 of these Spirits as soon as they see them (in their dreams) by the des-
cription the other indians have given of them—some however they know from their
Nature. When The Snow addresses them—he they know, because he is perfectly white. The
Ice also. The Sun & Moon from their beautifull brilliancy & the elegance of their
abode. The Houses of the two last being uncommonly neat & handsome, such as those of

the white (i e. civilized). One Principal amongst all these,  & every thing in Nature appears
at least to some, of them, is the Supreme Being, whom they term Wee-suck-ā jāāk
(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 far
every thing is very well, & is perhaps a better idea than many of the vulgar Christians can give; but
on 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, & not
unfrequently their making him dupe;  but become so by such vile, such abominable deception as
I doubt to be equalled by the most absurd & romantic of the arabian Tales; for there
are 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) but
not more than might be expected from a people yet in a perfect state of
nature, as to their mental Powers, to our eternal shame & scandal. This one
they love, they love him a great deal, & are by no means are afraid of him, because he always
addresses them "my Little Children &c." & all the rest of his character is of a
piece with this.—The next one is Old Nick—Him some term "Key-
"-jick-oh-kay" (The J being pronounced soft, as Git, or Gil, in french, for Iknow of no English word where properly speaking the J is of any use & has the
sound seemed intended by it) or "Key-jick-oh-kaiw". I cannot at present
give the proper signification of this name, for I am not sufficiently acquainted with
the 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; inexorable
to the highest degree; always plotting evil, & endeavouring to circumvent the rest
of 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 is
so 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 so
much Power over one whose name alone they never utter but with the greatest
Dread & horor. Their Horor of the Devil is so great, that no one ever utters it but
when unavoidable; & if thro' inadvertancy or ignorance one of their children
should mention it he is severely reprimanded by all who hear.—
There is also the Sea Serpent, a monstrous animal & has much Power; The Mer-

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—there
are however one or two who contend with him; & sometimes he is reduced to the necissity of
compounding with them.  The Great Turtle, and many others. They have their abodes
in the Deep, but perfectly dry & comfortable. Each one of these, & indeed all of them
have 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 renouned
Medicine Man, they all appear, & Speake to him, mostly in his own language, some
few excepted as the Pike (a Jack fish) who Speaks french; The Sun & Moon, both speak
English; 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 of
my story to follow one of its branches—I ought to have said that] The Sun when
he 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 to
some of my half-breeds, when one of them replied; "What a pity! had you now forborne
for a few days mentioning this, he would have appeared again to you; & then you would have
had a fine opportunity of learning (from the fountain-head, as we might say) how it is the
indians come to perform those things the white will never credit:" & he continued that
it was precisely the form he assumed when he appears to the indians. In my
dream I thought we were travelling a road from which some of our Party had the
utmost to dread from the ambush of an indian who could transport himself to
what place he pleased. As we were walking I happened to look above & was
much struck with the appearance of a man walking in the Heavens. His
dress was that of a neat Southern Indian, composed mostly of red & yellow, but also of a
few other colors: The Garters of his leggings  were also Neat & handsome & had a tuft of
Swans-down that had been Powdered with vermillion, attached to the not, on the
back part of the leg: To His shoes were attached 2 long Swan quills inclosing
the foot thus [diagram] with a tuft of down at each end & in the middle on both
sides, all Powdered with vermillion—with these quills & down, & the down
on his Garters buoyed him up in the air. I addressed in broken Cree—he answered
in the same broken accent; upon my second address I though he did not understand more
of that language than I did myself: the Sauteux seemed to me his proper tongue & I was
glad of having an opportunity of speaking that language; so I the third time addressed him
in it asked him from whence he came, whither he was going &c. &c.—He was very hi

hi, insomuch that the others thought it preprosterous in my addressing him—that he could not
hear from that distance. Upon this he came down & talked with us—Saying he was an ambas-
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 ceremonies
they must perform in taking them out of the Ground, their different applications &c. &c. But
these roots, herbs, &c. (medecins) tho' they appear in their Dreams, they do not shew themselves
in 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 be
very ill off, whether to heal or cure themselves, or expell the charms by which other
indians may have bewitched them" &c. And tho' they are acquainted with many of
these roots &c. the use & virtue of some of which I can no more doubt than those used by the
Faculty 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 of
2, or 2 1/2 ins. diameter & about 8 or 9 feet long are prepared, i.e. cut, branched & Pointed at the
lower end—they seldom require so few as four, commonly 6 or 8, these are planted in
the Ground from 12 to 20 or 24 ins. deep in an hexagon or octagon form, enclosing a space of
3 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 the
rest—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 if
he were a man going to pry into futurity, but as a Criminal, i.e.  mere,  pure
Devil & 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 & thus
thrust 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 fluttering
is heard.  The rattler is shaked at a merry rate & all of a Sudden, either from the
top, or below away flies the cords by which the indian was tied into the lapof he who tied him. It is then that the Devil is at work—Every instant some
one or other enters, which is known to those outside by either the fluttering, the rubbing against
the skins of the hut in descending (inside) or the shaking of the rattler, & sometimes all
together. 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

The first who enters is commonly Meeh-key-nock (the Turtle) a jolly, jovial sort of a
fellow, who, after disencumbering his votary, chats & jokes with those outside & asks for a
pipe to smoke &c.—There is a good deal of talking inside as may be supposed from the
number of folks collected in so small a space. To some renowned characters, all
the Spirits appear. The Thunder also frequently comes but he is desired to remain
outside as he would breake all—It is reported that he once entered & split one
of the Poles into shivers. The Flying Squirrel also enters—he is no liar, but you
must take every thing he says as we do our Dreams i.e. the opposite: his nature is such
that he durst not tell the truth but in this ambiguous manner, otherwise the
conjuror would soon after die. I do not know that the Skunk ever comes, but the
Wolverine (Carcajoux) does & he is known immediately by his stink, which occa-
sions no small merriment at his expense, on the outside. The Loon also enters
—he is known by his usual cry—"Nee-wih wee-way" repeated commonly 3 times as
he does when in the water. And this too occasions a great laugh, for these four
syllables, which form the most common Cry of that bird in the Spring of the
year, as every body may observe, are also 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 some
outside say, & every one has his word to put in. Hercules also comes in—he is per-
haps as much revered by those people as even he was by the Spartans or Athenians—
His name is Strong Neck (& every body knows how strong hercules was)—he does
not seem over fond of Jokes—& when the other Spirits announce his coming all
those on the outside must cover their heads & not look up; for it appears that he
cannot come invisible as the others do, or will not, but still does not chuse
to 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) must Promulgate to 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. Since that time they are rather more cautious. Some of the Ancientsalso enter—they are called "O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck" i.e. Hairy breasts

such as the ancients are said to be.. These are great boasters—they recount the exploits of
their 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 only wind, for no sooner do other
powerful ones enter, but these Chaps search to secret themselves. The Sun enters—speakes
very bad English at the offset, but by degrees becomes to speake it very easily & fluently—He
is Gun Smith & watch-maker, or at least can repair them. When he is entered there
is commonly a beautiful clear light visible, through the covering—He neither does not
admit of too much familiarity; but is still good natured & condescending. The Pike
or 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 us Pike that 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 must
interpret 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 anything
in a sarcastic or contemptuous manner as to his power, or knowledge of the future for he
takes 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 is
only 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, because his father was a french man"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 see all that you do, however secret &hid you think yourselves""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

""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 the
Spirits as I've already said the by standers (or setters for they are seated on the
Ground 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 should
have been ashamed to hold even with a bawd—it was pure ribaldry: but they durst
not doubt him when he speaks seriously; for he is very powerful & makes himself
respected 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 his box,
"& 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 rough
beast & 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, for
then the conclusion is soon to take place— He makes every thing fly again, kicking
up 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 must
swallow all quietly, & then it is that the Conjuror most dreads for his own bacon:
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 still en maitre—Week  enters, Nick jaws, silence is imposed, nick still troublesome,
at last the word comes authoratatively & away he flies. The Indians are uncommonly
fond 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

"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"
—When Charly enters 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 & down
the skins that form the covering lest any should be hid. Thus he sends off all the
Spirits, who, as they fly off, as well as when they enter, give this frame a terrible
shaking. 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 the hut they enter, must be doubled; that is two
rows or Setts of Poles one on the outside the other, & each row fastened with good
strong hoops well tied, after which the outer & inner row are also fastened—thus
arranged, they seem to be beyond the power of any 3 or 4 men to move, yet when the
Spirits enter it sets a-going with a motion equal to that of a Single pole indifferently stuck
in the Ground & violently moved by a man. I have never seen any of these double
ones, but twice or thrice saw the others, whilst the conjuror was in—Some time
afterwards, 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 that
those who enter these Double ones, are so powerful that almost all the Creation
comes to see them, & they are shaken with uncommon violence. This motion
the Conjurors say is produced by the concussion of the air; i.e. the Spirits come
& enter with such velocity that it is the Wind they Produce which occasions it.
The conjuror is all the while seated Peaceably in the bottom, (on the Ground) of his
hut. Some of them to shew their Power have had small sticks of the hardest
wood (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 the
bottom of their hut—They are about 12 or 14 ins. out of the Ground—On the Points of these
Sticks is the conjuror placed, sometimes on his bottom, at others on his
knees & elbows, & there he remains as quietly & composedly as if he were on
"a bed of Roses"; & when he comes off no marks of injury appear, tho he entered
naked, only his Cloute about him, & of course the Cords with which he is
tied. "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"!!! __________________

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 by peace-mealgives me the following account of their mythology:—"The North-(wind) apparently one of
oldest 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, turn always in the same direction with the Sun, & never in a contra-
ry direction." Now women are a compound of Perverseness, obstinacy & curiosity; & withall
forgetful enough too, sometimes. This Girl one day she was chopping fire-wood, without
thinking of her fathers admonition, in going to another Tree, turned round
to 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 became
very uneasy, & after some search found her on her back, 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 long
speech, 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.  The
younger of the two one day was in pursuit of a Grey, or rein Deer (Carriboeuf) after
which also pursued a Wolf. The Deer having thus no hopes of escape fled to a
rock on the edge of the waters & plunged in, Mishabôse & the Wolf followed; but they
all 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, was
anxious to revenge his death, but scarcely knew-well how. At last one day seeing
a 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 to
work & made himself a large Canoe, on board of which he embarked the Moose, Deer,
Bear, otter, Beaver, muskrat, wolf &c. &c. & repaired to the place where the
Sea Lynxes used to resort to sleep; this was a fine pleasant place on
the Land. Here he observed several of them & began his work. It is not related
how many he did kill, but the waters upon their death came rushing upon
him 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