"& destroy them all: leave not one alive to carry the news to the others. They seperated accordingly &
killed every soul. Then he took them to his tent & finding by their answers to his queries
that there were still another band not far off consisting of 40 young & 2 old men of the HB.
he ordered a quantity of poles or pickets to be cut very long & made a kind of Fort of
them round his own tent:—gave orders to them to gather a vast quantity of snow
round all the sides of it, to come over the points, so  that neither the pickets nor
tent might be seen, & that this rising might have the appearance of a natural
hill, something in short in the form of a pit. He immediately made a
number of lances & spears & walked off in quest of his enemies. He soon reached
their camp—drew near & found that there were but 2 old men, all the others were
out a hunting. Here he listened to their conversation & was burning with indignation
at the stories these 2 old men told each other of the cruelties they had done to
the Indians—They were chukling at this when he sprung into the tent, took each
by the head & thrust their faces in the fire & sprang out again to listen. One
of them returning to his senses, for they had both fainted during the ceremony, exclaimed thus "my
"old freind! what is the matter with me? I lost my senses quite suddenly & now
"that I am come to, I feel my face quite sore & cannot see"—"It is the same with me"
replied the other one—"Then it must be some evil spirit that has pounced upon us"
resumed the first. At last Nayhanimis addressed them thus "I shall tell ye old men a story too.
"There were two old men formerly seated in their tents relating to each other the exploits
"of their younger days & the cruelties they committed upon the Indians—Nayha-
"nimis was near—he pounced upon them & thrust both their heads together
"into the fire. When your children & young men be returned from their hunting
"tell them this Story, in the mean time I shall return home & make ready for them—
"—my name is Nayhanimis & I reside at such a place" (i.e. I am called (or
named) Nayhanimis &c.). The old men as may be imagined, were Thunder Struck with this & durst
not say a word more. But in the Evening the young men came home—They were astonished to see
their fathers in such a plight. "Children! behold your fathers! said they—Had any miscreant"durst act in such a manner to our fathers, their villanny should certainly not have
"passed off thus: but we are now old men & of no more account!!!" This last apostrophe
above all the rest roused them to vengeance: they merely scraped the snow off their feet
&legs & went immediately in quest of him, vowing vengeance all the way of a most cruel & ex-
emplary nature. Nayhanimis was on his guard, every soul able to weild a weapon had one in
his hand, besides an infinite number of spears & sharp stakes stuck in the Ground, The H.
B. came, but not perceiving the trap on account of the snow that was bro't over ends of the
stockades they all fell in one upon the other & impaled themselves in their fall on those sticks &c.—
All of them but 2 or 3 met with instantaneous death—The few that were not injured were put to

to an excruciating, but immediate death to satisfy the manes of the departed indians; & he proceeded im-
mediately to the Camp; killed the remaining 2 old men, scoffing & taunting them at the same
time. Immediately after this he ordered such of the indian women as had had their hus-
bands killed, or were taken by the H. B. to seperate from the other women & inflict the same
punishment upon them & their children as had been done to their friends. "Thus were
"the Hairy Breasts entirely exterpated, merely by their own folly & wickedness. Had they lived
"peaceably, & allowed the indians to partake of the blessings of this world without envy,
"as well as themselves, & to which they had an undoubted right, they might still have
"been in existence. However there are still 2 nations of them, one of which is on Your"Lands, the others, I believe beyond the Seas: but they are an insignificant & most
"despicable people. They pretend to antiquity & would fain extort respect from the
"moderns (i.e. themselves, or the indians, principally) but their very countenance, appearance,
"every thing about them denotes folly & seems more to demand contempt than to call for
"respect. I saw one many years back, who was bro't by the Traders from somewheres
"on your Lands:  he face was venerable, but still there was a meanness in the whole of
"him that I could not account for: I respected him, & wanted to treat him according-
"ly—this is as from the Stories I had heard related of them; but the Traders laughed
"at us & asked one if I was inclined to respect folly, insignificance, & nothing"!!!—
    I have been a long time in writing these Pages & have been frequently disturbed—I have been
often obliged to put by my paper after seating myself 5 or 6 times to write only one word: from such
long & frequent interruptions much method & correctness cannot be expected—I therefore send
them to you in the form of Notes. My motives for thus employing my time & paper were
first to amuse & instruct myself, but principally for your own amusement & such few
friends as you may think worthy of the communication. Lend them not of the house, nor
let too many see them; for I have some notion please God I live to digest them into
form & regularity & have them published, besides a vast many others I purpose with
Gods help, collecting: but this is merely between ourselves & immediately after perusal
blot out all this Paragraph. Journals, voyages &c. &c. of these people have been fre-
quently published: but I have met with none that gives so circumstantial a
detail of their private life (if I may so say) as is necessary to give that insight to
their ideas & notions (& this latter term too, I think, critically speaking cannot be appli-
cable to them) that is required & so much wanted to form a proper estimate of
man in his natural state.  We all see them, hear them & relate of them; but where is
there one who can give the why's & wherefore's that these people do so, & so?  I beg you will
blot this last paragraph entirely out, at least the first part; & do not be premature in
your condemnation or judgement of me, for I trust my motives are entirely destitute of
vanity & only the desire of truth urges me, or at least true & just information &c. &c. G N.
april 16th 1823—

Such are the notions & ideas of these people. They acknowledge a superior Power, not Wee-Suck-a-
-jock, as I was erroneously informed "but the same one you adore in the Christmas holidays". This
one they have a great respect & veneration for but seldom it is as far as I can learn) that they sa-
crifice or pray to him i.e. make speeches, which tho' extempore, I consider as much prayers as tho'
they were composed after the most deliberate & mature reflection; & many parts of them so simple,
plain, natural, & withal so sublime that I frequently felt great pleasure in attending to them.
    But these sentiments are so few comparitively speaking, & the absurdities so great & frequent that
few men can hear them without lamenting their ignorance. They have often seemed to me
as desirous in a hi degree of becoming acquainted with the true mode of worshipping, from
the frequent changes, even during my time, they have made in their worshippings. As a proof of this
is the avidity with which they seize any new system introduced from their Southern neigh-
bors: the short time they hold it; & how completely it is abandoned, if not entirely forgotten
for another, equally if not more absurd than the former. To introduce a new system
among them it is only necessary to report an extravagant tale of some wonderful character,
—the cures by this means that have been performed & such like miraculous & fantastic
nonsense. But in their fundamental points I perceive no visible alteration. The prin-
cipal of these is what they call the Mee-tay-wee. A ceremony I shall compare
to Free-masonry; but the initiations are public—every one that chuses comes to see
them & many are invited. Here, in the course of initiation are ceremonies or deviltries
performed that no man of his own mere dexterity or Power can do. The next
principal one is conjuring. This is a principle I believe as natural to man as the air he
breathes (tho' not so necessary). Every one wishes to peep into futurity & there are few but
who would not inquire into causes could they do it, or were it not forbidden them. Thes two
of course are consequences or consequents of their mythology. There are many in the
civilized or Christian world who absolutely & positively deny this power of theirs as being
absolutely impossible & at best but absurd & idle stories. Many of the things related of
these Conjurings I acknowledge to be so; but at the same time I am as positive & as
firmly persuaded of the truth of the assertion "that they have dealings with some supernatural
spirit," as I am convinced that I live & breathe in air; unless, indeed, we chuse to acknow-
ledge & believe a certain sect of Philosophers (of the last century I beleive) who wish to tell
us that we only imagine ourselves alive. And I am by no means inclined to acknowledge
myself as superstitious: I am convinced of this from reason, argument, comparison; in-
-short from analysis. Let any one man, unless he be a headstrong brute who is de-
termined before hand not to be convinced, analyse their discourses &c. &c. and I am confi-
dent he will beleive as much as many, or have great doubts at least. To absolutely
deny this, we must first deny that there is a Devil, & afterwards deny his pernicious power

and if we deny these points, we must descend to a third, & more fit for an atheistical wretch
& a beast than a Christian, or even rational creature. I have heard some sensible & well informed
Gentleman deny it on the plea of their ignorance; but this again is a basis & very
solid one. These people are still in a complete state of nature: their ideas of the true
God are far from clear or correct: they acknowledge him indeed as the Supreme & absolute Master of
all, but more or rather as a passive Deity than as he really is; but their notions of their other
Deities come far more near the truth. Their wants indeed are also few, but they are arbitrary
& cannot be dispensed with, at least for any time; it is therefore very natural that they should em-
ploy their whole thoughts & most of their time in procuring these means to warding off or averting their dangers.
And I do not know of any method more adapted to this than the one they pursue, i. e.
Fasting & Sleeping to dream; & they do dream too: & many of these dreams are so complicated,
or compounded of so many different things that it is absolutely beyond the power of their in-
vention to fabricate them. Surely a man man beleive his senses.  A man tied, wound up in
a blanket, or skin equally soft: here he is held by one, two, or 3 men—he slips out of the
blanket & presents himself before you free, leaving the cords &c. untied in the blanket: you
hear him Speak, & perhaps 20 other voices besides, all at the same: again he is bound as a
criminal, rather indeed as a Pig, crumpled into a heap & thrust in to his hut—at the
very instant of his entrance the hut shakes as if ten thousand devils were for pulling it
to pieces: you enter this, find the man absent, hear a fluttering about your ears, or see
a vast number of small lights resting on the hoops that hold the poles together:
immediately after you are out you hear the man speake within again; you look again & feel
for him, but hear him talking at a distance; What can this be but supernatural
agency?—I have never seen feats of this kind, but others I have, not so strong, but equally con-
vincing. I have been informed that a young half-breed, abandoned with the indians almost
from his childhood, a few years back entered one of these conjuring huts at the solicitation
of one of the N. W. Gentlemen to see what retarded the people so long. Previous to his entering a great
deal of conversation on the subject had been: matters were settled between them & the con-
juror. Some time after his entrance he began to cry (not weep) as a person uneasy,
at first the voice was within, but it appeared as rising in the air, & at last was lost.
"Well!" said one of the indians addressing one of the half-breeds, living with the white "Well! enter
"now, & see if he be there: thou art always doubting & denying what we say of these things:
"enter then & see if he be there, then indeed are our assertions false." He raised the bottom
of the casement & entered, but as he was not below, he rose on his feet & felt for him, but
not to be found. However he was paid for his curiosity: there was a dreadful flutter-
ing within, but especially about his head, his hair flying about in  his face as if in
a tempest & frequent appearances of small lights before his eyes which ever way he turned: he
bawled out & asked those without what was the matter with him: he became afraid & walkd

out as quick as he could. Very shortly after they heard the same cries of pain, faintly, at first, but
the voice soon entered. The Conjuror said he was carried to where the people were "They are all
aslepp, at such a place & tomorrow will be here" &c. He said there were 4 (spirits) of them,
that carried him off: Each held him by the little finger & little toe! I shall here relate
a couple more of these stories. And indian told me that several years back he left his lodge
on the borders of a large Lake to go to the house for some necessaries he wanted. He took
a traverse for some islands,—the weather was dull but mild: a storm very soon set in—
but he persevered: thinking the wind had changed, he also changed his course. He became
very much fatigued & laid down on the ice to rest himself & wait for day light, for
the night had overtaken him. He was not long down before reflecting on his situation
he became extremely uneasy & was afraid of freezing. At last he heard a curious noise near
him that he could not account for: at first his fears increased greatly dreading it was
some malignant spirit; but having no alternative he resigned himself to his fate "& I became
"as composed as tho' I were safe; & I was too: for an animal much resembling a Wolf
"& black, came up & covered me; I was very cold, shivering in every limb, but I soon
"became quite warm: he rose from off me & went on as if inviting me to follow—his
"eyes appeared like 2 candles.—I followed—he led me to an island where I made a fire
"& warmed & dried myself; & as soon as I was rigged I followed him, for he went off & looked at
"me so earnestly I took it for an order: he led me straight to the water hole:—
"there happened to be people at the time there going for water—They saw these lights
"& asked me what occasioned them, or who it was that came with me,—I told
"them it was a compassionate spirit that retrieved me from a dreadful death."—
—2nd! A young man lately told me the following "I was returning home with my
"uncle when come to that point we heard something crying behind us he! he! ha! ha!
"& whistling alternatively.  My uncle told me it was a Pah-Kack (Skeleton) & wanted to
"destroy us. It came up with us very soon & kept constantly buzzing & whistling in our
"ears so that indeed we were quite bewildered at last: it was at night & dark, but
"we kept strait on as we thought; we were mistaken, for after
"walking a long time, we at last came to the water hole again from where we had
"set off.  We were both of much afraid; but finding this path we minded it no
"more tho' it pursued us making more & more noise the nearer we got home."
    Many of these stories bear a great resemblance to those extravagant tales of
la Béte a la Grande Queue, Loup Garoup, Chasse Galerie & many others
natural to superstitious people, it requires therefore a great deal of caution &
attention to get at the true ones. I have here inserted more than I originally intended,
but they will serve to give you an idea of the notions of these people; & except a few, I have
selected those that appeared most rational: however they will all come in time.

There is a kind of disease(or distemper rather, & of the mind, I am fully persuaded,) peculiar to the
Crees & Sauteux's & of which they have the greatest dread & horor; & certainly not without the
very greast cause, the consequences 49 times out of 50 being death unfortunately to many be-
sides the subjects or objects themselves. They term this Wen-di-go (according to the
french pronunciation, which is more correct than the English, in this word)—the pro-
per signification of which, to me at least, & no one I think can doubt it, is Giant of the
Anthropophagi Genus, sect, tribe, or kind &c. The stories related of these are as extravagant
& fantastatic as those we read in our old romances in the days of Chivalry; differing in no one
circumstance hardly but the means used in their destruction, which of course is often done by
the intervention or assistance of their Guardian Genii. However, there are some few more ra-
tional than those of ours & tho' still beyond all bounds of credibility, are as devoutly be-
lieved by these poor creatures as the Gospel is by the most orthodox among us. I do not
remember any of these sufficiently correctly to give you a few of the stories, one excepted:—
—Suffice it to say that they are of uncommon size—Goliath is an unborn infant to them;
& to add to their dread, they are represented as possessing much of
the Power of Magicians. Their head reaching to the tops of the highest Poplars (about 70, or 80,
feet) they are of proportionate size, of course they must be very heavy: their gait tho grand
& majestic, at every step the Earth shakes. They frequently pursue their Prey (indians of
course) invisibly, yet they cannot so completely divest themselves of all the incommodi-
ties of nature as to prevent their approach being known. A  secret & unaccountable horor pervades
the whole system of one, several, or the whole band, of those of whom he is in pursuit:
Phenomena in the heavens, earth &c. &c.—"In the days of Noah (or near them at least) there
were a large party of indians collected together for mutual safety: many camps
had been already destroyed by him, & the indians were in great danger being entirely ex-
terminated. At last they bethought  themselves of a plan. "It is needles to go to war upon him—
"—what can we do to him with our arms! Let us make an immense Large trap (of wood)
"& draw lots which of us shall serve as bait: it is a dangerous assay indeed, but will any
generous one amongst us refuse sacrificing his life for the safety of so many?"—They made
this trap on the opposite side of a small opening in the woods, so that he might see the
person seated from afar. it was between large trees which were made to serve as Posts.
It was finished. An old woman stepped up & said "My Grandchildren! I am now
"old & of no more account among ye: we are all in danger of being devoured by this insatiable
"& terrible beast, why should I then regret sacrificing a life that at best I can now
"enjoy but only for a short time, seeing it will in the end be productive of so much good?
"I will go & be bait." The others were extremely touched at her generosity, but they had no
alternative, & circumstances admitted of no delay. The old lady seated herself very com-

composedly in the trap & awaited his arrival: the others fled off of course. It was time too, for he soon hove in
sight!—Stalking along in all the stile & terror of Imperial Gradeur, his head equal with the tops
of the highest trees, & the ground shaking at every step, tho' froze, it being then depth of winter,
& his countenance denoting an assemblage of pity, contempt, rage & voraciousness.  All this
did not dismay the old Lady: she remained quiet:—he perceived her—"What! What
"old woman, art thou doing there?" But changing his tone, which he did several times thus
continued; "Thou art of my natural enemies & I shall presently Grind thee." "Ah! my
"Grand Child! I am an old woman, abandoned & deserted by those whom I have suckled & bro't
"up: they are fled off in dread of thee, & being old & helpless they thrust me in this tuft of trees
"so as to be the less embarrassed: come now & assist me out & in acknowledgement I shall
"inform thee of their precautions, otherwise thou'lt lose thy life by their deceptions." He
was in no dread of the indians, so far as regarded their own Power, but he thought a little
salutary advice would not be amiss, intending after this to Grind the old thing as he had pro-
mised himself. He drew up: "what a devil of a place they have put thee indeed—did they
think to conceal thee from me?"—He stooped to enter: when she found he had entered
far enough she touched a stick & down came all the weights & cross bar upon his
back. Tho' he was uncommonly strong the weight, & suddenness of the blow was such
that he gave way & was jamed between the two beams or bars—here he struggled denouncing
vengeance & eternal destruction to the whole of the human race. The great bellowing
he made was a signal to the men who were in ambush not far off: they came
running up & soon dispatched him with a multitude of blows from axes & Chissels
&c. &c."—Thus were they for one time releived: the women & children returned
to the camp & enjoyed themselves as usual without further apprehensions. These Gi-
ants as far as I can learn reside somewhere about the North Pole; & even at this day
frequently pay their unwelcome visits, but which however, are attended with a complete
fright only. It seems also that they delegate their Power to the indians occasionly; &
this occasions that cannibalism which is Produced or proceeds rather from a sort of
distemper much resembling maniaism. There are 3 sorts or kinds that I
know of, & beleive there are no more.  The first I have already related as above, & the
2 I am going to give you are sometimes compounded together & sometimes independent;
but they are both equally true &  melancly & distressing in whatever light we may view
them: However, I shall not pretend by any means to palm all that is said about
them upon you as true—of this you'll by & bye be able to judge as well as myself
& not doubt. The first of these are such as are driven to this dreadful extremity by
starvation. In all woody countries where the inhabitants lead a wandering, roving life, & whose
subsistence depend upon the Game they procure, they must of necessity be frequently pinched, & some-
times bro't very low. All People cannot bear this privation alike & tho'  there is perhaps not a

a people in this world who take this so patiently as those people do, yet there are not wanting in-
stances where even with them that nature  gives-way. They vanish as a dying Candle; but others can-
not stand it out so long: they must have something to eat, be it what it may: sometimes, tho'  with
the most extreme reluctance at first, they feed upon the flesh of such as have died. Any kind of
animal substance at such times, must come very grateful to the Stomack; & hence it is I be-
lieve that those who have once preyed upon their fellows, ever after feel a great desire for the
same nourishment, & are not so scrupulous about the means of procuring it. I have seen
several that had been reduced this distressing alternative, & tho' many years after there ap-
peared to me a wildness in their eyes, a confusion in their countenances much resem-
bling that of reprieved murderers....Now if we consider how very precarious their
mode of subsistance is, how devoted they are to superstition & prejudice, we, i. e. such of usas know more about them, we, I say, may wonder how they stand out so well: very many
instances I have known seem to be far beyond the power of human nature to stand:—Yet
notwithstanding this dreadful privation lasts not for a few days, but even to weeks & months,
during all which time the men are out from star-light to star-light & have never
anything more to eat than some bits of leather, moss, bark & such like, it is very rare they
will kill a fellow to live upon him. This is not universal, there are unfortunately still
too many exceptions; but these again would seem as denounciations from their Gods—
—They appear so to me--- I can scarcely doubt it! and the indians themselves seem to think
the same tho' in another way. At this place where I am now writing (Lac La Ronge, English River) but
a few years back several instances occurred. An old Canadian is said to have lost one of his
Sons thus, tho' an excellent hunter: the old man sometimes speakes to me of that son: and the
second died on his way to the house, &  not far off. The same year an indian killed all
his family but 2 daughters whom he compelled to partake with him, & for the rest of the
route he ........—I shall here give you a few stories of the kind. "That same
"year (I do not know precisely when but only a few years back) a woman alone arrived at the
"house. Her appearance was haggard, wild, & distressed: However she was taken into the house—
"questions put as usual, but the answers, vague, indefinite & contradictory: they
"handed her something to eat—she acted as if eating it indeed, but let the whole fall in
"the inside of her gown: this rose suspicion. But what added to this was the extra-
"ordinary stench she emitted from the heat of the chimney; & shortly after her entrance, a
"part of a human shoulder the Dogs bro't in from upon her road. She went off—being
"directed upon a road leading to a camp not far off. As soon as she made her appearance the indians
"immediately conceived what was to matter; but thro' charity as well as for safety & to find the
"truth they gave her to eat, principally marrow-fat." Now these people pretend that cannibals
cannot bear this fat or grease, of course it was a kind of ordeal. "Every thing she did & said, notwithstand-
"ing her great caution, betrayed her. She took up some of the children of her acquaintances to kiss

"kiss as is customary but would have given it a bite had they not taken it from her. They wat-
"ched her narrowly. All the men slept in one tent with her: she pretended to be asleep 'till
"she imagined the others were, then rose very cautiously & was beginning to prepare herself for action"—One of the men perceived this—rose upon her with an axe; tho' the blow was violent &
"upon the head she would have killed him had not the others interfered: her wretched fate
"was soon decided." There is such a singular, strange, incomprehensible contradictoriness in
almost all these cases, & many I have heard, that I do most verily believe they are denun-
ciations, witch, or wizardisms: in any other manner they are not rationally to be account-
ed for, unless we suppose all those who feed on human flesh to be thus possest,—then it
is natural to man in those cases; but why then not the same with us as with these people?
—The 3d Kind, or delegated, which by what follows, I believe may be allowed to be
the term, are those who dream of the North, or the Ice, or both. Every one knows
where the North resides, but only few know the abode of Ice, or the Ice. This they pretend is the
Parent of Ice, is in the bowels of the Earth, at a great depth & never thaws—all ice originates
from this. These 2 they are much afraid of, because they are both highly malignant spi-
rits: there is no joking or jesting with them. Those who at any future period are to become
cannibals thus dream of them. After the certain things usual in all dreams  "I was
"invited by the North to partake of a feast of ducks, the most beautiful I had ever seen
"& well cooked—the dish was before me,  I set too: a stranger by me touched me with his elbow & said, Eat not thou
"of that; look into thy dish; behold that which I had taken for the wing of a duck was
"the arm of a child! 'he! what a narrow escape'! said I. Then he took me into another
"room & gave me most excellent meat, the most delicious in appearance I had ever seen
"I would not eat—I discovered it was the flesh of indians thus served up to me! He
"took me into a 3d room & gave me Tongues: These I also perceived were the Tongues of in-
"dians. 'Why refusest thou what I offer thee? is it not good?' 'I feel no inclination
"'to eat' I replied. Then he took me in a fourth room where fine beautiful
"hearts were served up, & I was desired to eat, but I perceived that it was still the same
"I therefore refused. Then said he 'it is well done—thou hast done well!' Heh! had I unfor-
"tunately eaten of this then had I become a cannibal in addition to all my other misfortunes."
    Those who eat at these feasts are frequently, but not universally told thus: " This is a sign to
"thee that thou shalt one day become a cannibal & feed on the flesh of thy fellows—When
"thou shalt see children play with, & eat, ice (or snow) in thy Tent say 'my time is near';
"for then thou shalt soon eat indian (human) flesh." They have such dread & horor of
this that it is constantly in their minds. "You white people! who live at your ease, get your
"living out of your Nets or from your indians, & besides are not otherwise troubled as we,
"make light of these Things:—I do not make much  account of them either, but I tell you that he
"who thus once dreams of either of those Dogs are for ever after continually troubled with them

"—we do every thing in our Power to drive him away from us, but still he hovers about us & we can-
"not avoid him. You are very fortunate—you live as you please, never care for him nor does he molest
"you."—Such I am told are the sentiments of these people in General. I look upon this
as a sort of mania, a fever, a distemper of the brain. Their eyes (for I have seen thus perplexd)
are wild & uncommonly clear—they seem as if they glistened—It seems to me to
lodge in the Head. They are generally rational except at short, sudden intervals when the
paroxysms cease them: their motions then are various & diametrically contrary at one
time to what they are the next moment—Sullen, thoughtful, wild look & perfectly
mute:—staring in sudden convulsions, wild incoherent & extravagant language.
There was one a few years back infected with this not far from where I was at
the time: the accounts given of him, tho' I shall not vouch for their truth are
thus. One night towards the latter end of December he began staring at his daugh-
ter with an extraordinary intenseness: "My daughter! I am fond of thee! I love
"thee extremely"—"I know thou dost" replied the woman abashed, for she was then
very young"—Yes! I love thee—I think I could eat a piece of thee, I love thee
"so much". The Girl exclaimed at his rashness—there were but 3 of them
the father, daughter & her husband. When it was dark he put himself stark-naked &
uttering a strong tremulous noise, & his teeth chattering in his head as if thro' cold, rose
up & walked out of the Tent & laid himself curled as a dog in a heap upon the wood
that his daughter had that day bro't to the door. Here he remained all night in-
spite of what they could do. A little before day he returned. Thus did he every
night for about a month & every time slept out naked; nor would he eat,
excepting at times a little raw flesh. In the day time he was more composed,
but his face &c. bore the appearance of one possessed of the Devil. He recovered &
became as usual, composed, & good natured—I knew them all well, but had no
dealings with them from the year before (1812)—A young indian a few years
back had one of the above Dreams. He became very uneasy & thoughtful finding it recur
so  very frequently: & he would have willing undergone any torments any death rather than
become an anthropophagi: he also frequently desired his friends upon any, the least appear-
ance of these symptoms in him to kill him. "For if you do not kill me 'till I have eaten of human"flesh, you'll perhaps not be able to do it afterwards; but my Children! Oh! my children!
"how grieved am I to leave ye! but it must be so—I have no alternative." "Spare me
"not, my friends I conjure you"! He had been a good hunter & a peaceable indian, & of course
much loved by his friends: this business depressed them a great deal. At last the time approach-
ing fast his brother one day remained behind with him to watch him, whilst the others pitch-
ed off: about the time this one thought the others had finished the encampment he proposed their
setting off to join them. But before long he left his brother behind & laid an ambush for him not

not far from the Tent. This was a preconcerted scheme, the other men of course were not far off.
The sick one drew near, in a very slow & thoughtful manner: however when he came near to where
his brother was hid, he stopped, looked up & called out "Thou thinkest thyself well hid from
"me my brother, but I see thee: it is well thou undertakest, it had been better for thee however
"hadst thou began sooner. Remember what I told you all—it is my heart; my heart, that is
"terrible, & however you may injure my body if you do not completely annihilate my heart"nothing is done." The brother was sure that he was not discovered, this knowledge being the
information of some of the spirits: he therefore did not answer. Some of the other men had
gone to meet him & endeavoured to amuse him that the brother might give the first
blow: accordingly he shot, straight for the heart—he dropped, but rose immediately,
& continued towards the camp that was within sight laughing at their undertaking. "The
"Ball went through & through, but not a drop of blood was seen—his heart was alrea-
"ready formed into Ice."  Here they seized & bound him & with ice chissels & axes
set to work to dispatch him. "According to his desire they had collected a large pile
"of dry wood & laid him upon it.—The body was soon consumed, but the heart remained perfect
"& entire" it rolled several times off the Pile—They replaced it as often: fear ceased them—
"then with their (Ice) chissels they cut & hacked it into small bits,  but yet with diffi-
"culty was it consumed"!!! They fancy that blood which circulated thro' the heart
first turns into water, then coagulates or congeals, & shortly after becomes into solid
imperforable or impenetrable ice. The only antidote or remedy for this, is to give them
large draughts of high-wines; double distilled spirits, or the spirits of wine, if any
can be had the better: this taken in large draughts & frequently, & kept beside a large
fire, flows to the heart & thaws the ice: if a profuse sweat ensues it is a happy
omen. An indian with me this winter gave out his apprehensions that he was thus
tormented—I communicated it to 2 others who happened to come in about that time: "Why do you not give him
"large draughts of your strongest spirits to drink & keep him in the room beside a large
"fire." I replied that I was afraid it would burn him "Oh! no—if he is a real
"Wendigo it will only do him good by driving out the ice; but if he lies to you indeed,
"then it certainly will injure him; but it will be good for him, & teach him for the future
"not to impose upon people to frighten them." However, they are in general kind &
extremely indulgent to those thus infected: they seem to consider it as an infliction &
are desirous of doing all they can to assist. There are however many exceptions: but these
again depend upon the circumstances &c. attending them. One of my best hunters here
is thus tormented, or at least thus torments himself; & very often desires his friends in
compassion to put a period to existence the first symptoms he may shew of cannibalism.
A young girl lately maried, & scarcely worth a Filip, so small & diminutive, was this winter
seized with this phrensy—the consequence was that the men durst not leave the tent for any

any length of time, being obliged to assist the women in holding & preventing her from biting or eating
any of the children, & perhaps herself. They bethought of a sacrifice i.e. cropping her hair & short—
—she recovered & is now well. She says "I do not recollect any single one circumstance of all that
"is told me.—I thought I was always on the tops of the Trees." There is another one of my in-
dians thus affected too.  The indians say it is a punishment (from some of their familiars of
course) for so lightly esteeming their ceremonies; nay indeed & ridiculing them often. This
fall he began: there were but 2 men of them together (with each his family)—Things
bore a most dismal aspect;—at last the wife of the other,  who by-the-bye is said to
a little affected that way too, told him one day that he sprang forward to seize one of
his own children, to "keep quiet, for thou dog if a Gun hath no effect on thee, my
" axe shall—I shall chop thee up into slices:—thou hast then better be quiet."
This kept him indeed quiet for some time: how they are now I cannot say, not hav-
ing heard of them from the beginning of Decr (now Apl. 20th). They appear most
inclined to prey first upon their own family: & they also think that fire arms
are absolutely unable to injure them—"a ball cannot injure Ice: to destroy
"Ice, it must be chopped up: & the heart then is all Ice." They sometimes,
indeed frequently recover with the warm weather "for the sun then animatesall nature"!!!—There are many other instances of a like kind in their tendency
or consequences, but different in their proceedings that I cannot bring to mind at present: I men-
tion several of these to shew you the different manner they are infected—in the mean time
I shall relate you others not less entertaining. There are several Spirits of whom these
people are much afraid, but four principally, they being the most malignant & little
accepting of excuses however great & urgent they may be for the non performance of theirsacrifices. These are the North, Ice, Skeletons & the Crazy woman, or foolish,
mad, jealous, woman. "Not very many years ago an indian had entered his conjuring hut.
"She came among the rest; but being displeased with the conjuror on account of some
"sacrifice to other spirits, she seized & carried him off! Skeleton perceived it, &
"being of the conjuror pursued Jealousy: finding herself nearly overtaken she prefered
"her own safety to vengeance & let the indian fall in some place at a vast dis-
"tance from where he had been taken—Skeleton took him up & bro't him back
"to the great satisfaction of all parties"! "She frequently comes with the otherswhen they conjure, but on her appearance she is desired to be quiet "Pay-ah-tick"
i.e. gently, quietly, peaceably &c." Master Skeleton also is as much dreaded as
Folly, if-not more, because he shews himself at any time he pleases, it not being
necessary to conjure to call him to. There is an indian who before he married had his
Dress Shoes made by this Lady (Folly, or Jealousy)—She was of course extremely fond of him"—"The shoes
"were beautifully garnished, far superior to anything of the kind done by our women"! There are not