The Project Gutenberg EBook of La Ronge Journal, 1823, by George Nelson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: La Ronge Journal, 1823 Author: George Nelson Release Date: April 8, 2013 [EBook #42479] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LA RONGE JOURNAL, 1823 *** Produced by Owen O'Donovan La Ronge Journal, 1823 George Nelson [Transcriber Note: Produced by Owen O'Donovan. (Includes additional materials: List of some other publications of his work; notes on the editing; example of music scroll; details of Nelson's fur trade career; table of contents; page images of handwritten manuscript; references.)] Also by George Nelson Peers, Laura & Schenck, Theresa (ed.). My First Years in the Fur Trade: The Journals of 1802-1804. St. Paul. Minnesota Historical Society Press. 2002. The La Ronge journal of 1823 has also been published in hard copy in an extensively researched work by Jennifer S. Brown and Robert Brightman in 1988. This work contains additional commentaries on the Nelson text by Stan Cuthand and Emma laRoque. Brown, Jennifer S. H., & Brightman, Robert (ed.). "The Orders of the Dreamed": George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth, 1823. Winnipeg. The University of Manitoba Press. 1988 Editing Notes Nelson's manuscript is a handwritten first draft for a work on North American aboriginal belief systems, completed in June, 1823. Nelson had intended to edit and publish it at a later date. The first publication did not occur until 1988 in "The Orders of the Dreamed": George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth, 1823 where it is given a comprehensive, analytical and contextual treatment by Jennifer Brown and Robert Brightman with contributions from other authors. The goals for this edition of Nelson's La Ronge Journal of 1823 are to make his work accessible to a wider audience and ensure its preservation and availability in digital format. It is presented here in three parts. Part 1 provides a lightly edited version of the manuscript. Nelson's text is an excellent example of common English usage in early nineteenth century North America. Idiosyncratic misspellings are generally corrected; archaisms and localizations have been maintained. Where the spelling of names is irregular or abbreviated, a consistent spelling is chosen. Punctuation has been somewhat modernized. Editorial interjections, including section and subsection headings not in the original, are enclosed in brackets. Nelson occasionally used brackets in the text for parenthetical remarks; these have been replaced with braces. Part 2 is a verbatim and line by line transcription of the original handwritten document. The transcription serves as the starting point for Part 1. It is included here because of the importance of the journal as an historical document and the desire to preserve and make the manuscript available close to the original form while moving it to a digital version. No attempt has been made to edit or correct the text. Part 3 (omitted from the text-only and portable reader "noimage" versions) is a set of digital images of the manuscript made from photocopies provided by the Toronto Reference Library, the holder of the Nelson papers. The size of the images is reduced to make them suitable for on-line use; resolution is kept adequate for direct comparison with the transcription. An added table of contents provides links (in the hypertext version) to sections or pages in each of the three parts. Page numbering preserves that of the manuscript for reference purposes. Certain sections of the this e-text may display poorly on some e-book readers: (1) References to World Wide Web resources may be longer than can be contained on normally formatted lines. To simplify correct copying of the references, the lines have not been split. (2) In Part 2, the line by line transcription, Nelson sometimes made additions or corrections increasing the number of words on a line of text. The length of the transcribed text line was increased to maintain the correspondence between the manuscript and the e-text. The Nelson manuscript was made available courtesy of the Toronto Public Library. I would like to thank the staff of the Baldwin Room Manuscripts Collection at Toronto Reference Library for their assistance in making the material available for digitization. I would also like to express thanks to my wife, Susan O'Donovan, for the hours spent proofing text and clarifying many fine details of the language. I hear the spirit speaking to us. I hear the spirit speaking to us. I am going into the medicine lodge. I am taking (gathering) medicine to make me live. I give you medicine, and a lodge, also. I am flying into my lodge. The Spirit has dropped medicine from the sky where we can get it. I have the medicine in my heart. Mide Song Scroll. Collection and translation by W. H. Hoffman, 1885-1886. The Mide�wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa Project Gutenberg E-book #19368 George Nelson's Fur Trading World Larger Map George Nelson's Postings and Employing Companies 1802/1803 Yellow River, Wisconsin, XY Company (XYC) 1803/1804 Lac du Flambeau, Chippewa River, Wisconsin, XYC 1804/1805 Lake Winnipeg / Red River area (no journal), Manitoba, XYC / North West Company (NWC) 1805/1806 Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, NWC 1806/1811 Dauphin River, Manitoba, NWC 1811/1812 T�te au Brochet (Jack Head), Manitoba, NWC 1813/1816 Long Lake, Ontario area, NWC 1818/1819 T�te au Brochet, Manitoba, NWC 1819/1821 Moose Lake, Manitoba, NWC / Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) 1821/1822 Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, HBC 1822/1823 Lake la Ronge, Saskatchewan, HBC Nelson's experiences and accounts come from his life and work with Ojibwa / Saulteau cultures around Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg and contact in his later career with the Cree of Lake Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan Delta, Cumberland House and Lake la Ronge. He makes reference to the Beaver Indians (Dane-zaa) who, until the nineteenth century, lived as far east as the Slave and Clearwater Rivers bringing them and other Athabaskan cultures into contact with fur trading at Ile � la Crosse, the administrative centre for Nelson's post at Lake la Ronge. His journal of 1802/1803 was instrumental in leading to the rediscovery of the Folle Avoine posts of the XY Company and North West Company in 1969 by Harris and Frances Palmer with assistance of local residents. Subsequent archaeological work was undertaken and the forts were reconstructed and have been operated as the Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park by the Burnett County Historical Society since 1989. The Society provides tours, displays and programs on the fur trade and aboriginal culture of the area. Nelson recalled accounts of Ojibwa practices in the Lake Superior area in his 1823 La Ronge journal. George Nelson's Fur Trading World, 1822-23 Larger Map Lake la Ronge was the site of some twenty trading posts dating from 1779. Nelson's Hudson's Bay Company post was a reestablishment in 1821 of an earlier North West Company post. According to The Atlas of Saskatchewan, it was the only fort on the Lake over the winter of 1822/1823. The location is likely a known archaeological site in the area shown on the map identified in the Atlas as Lac la Ronge II. The road network reached La Ronge, founded in the early 1900's, in 1947, and Stanley Mission, which dates from 1851, in 1978. 1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 27 28 29 31 32 33 Table of Contents Part 1 Introductory Remarks Conjuring: The Interpreter's Account Initiations and Conjuring In Quest of Dreams Dialogue with a Spirit Principal Spirits Wee-suck-ā-jāāk / Gey-Shay-mani-to Key-jick-oh-kay (Old Nick) Water Lynx Sun A Dream Meeting with Sun Thunder Roots and Herbs (Medicines) The Manner of Conjuring Building the Lodge Preparing the Conjurer Spirits who Enter the Lodge and Interactions with Them Meeh-key-nock (Turtle) Thunder Flying Squirrel Wolverine Loon Hercules / Strong Neck: Altercation with a Young Man O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck (Ancients or Hairy Breasts) Sun Pike Buffaloe Omniscience of Spirits Showing the Turtle Spirit Bear Keyjickahkaiw Wee-suck-ā-jāāk Practices of Powerful Conjurers Mythology North Wind and his Daughter (Birth of Wee-suck-ā-jāāk & Mishabôse) Death of Mishabôse Wee-suck-ā-jāāk and Kingfisher Myths of the Flood Wee-suck-ā-jāāk's Revenge on the Sea Lynxes Wee-suck-ā-jāāk Tricks a Water Lynx and Beaver Recreation of the Land Wolf Surveys the Land Creation of Humans Separation of Land into Plains and Woods Wee-suck-ā-jāāk Travels the Earth, Has a Son, Becomes a Woman Language Use Conversations The Figure in the Dream is Sickness Sickness Gives Warnings of Diseases Reappearances of Spirits in Dreams to Teach the Votary Malevolent Spirits (Need for Regular Sacrifices) Accounts of Pahkack Attacks at Home and While Hunting Making Offerings at a Hunting Camp Description of Pahkack The Feast to Pahkack Roots and Medicines The Abode of the Medicine Spirit Teaching the Medicines to the Votary Stones and Their Virtues Songs and Notes Treatment of the Sick Ceremonies and Songs Related to Starvation Fugitive Pieces The Soul An Attempt to Capture a Soul Representation of the Soul Imprisonment of a Soul Medicines Used to Harm Others Used Against a Woman Wild Carroway Used in Hunting As Love Potions (Baptiste's Stories) Effecting and Avoiding Spells Dealing with Spells on Firearms 34 35 36 37 40 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 53 54 56 The Old Canadian's Account The Iroquois' Account The Half Breed's Account Stories of the Hairy Breasts and Nayhanimis North Wind's Challenge Nayhanimis Wars with the Hairy Breasts Notes Motives for Writing the Journal Comments on Aboriginal Beliefs Mee-tay-wee Conjuring Evidence of Spirits through Conjuring Practice Conjuring Ceremony for a N. W. Co. Gentleman Stories The Hunter and the Wolf Spirit Pursuit by a Pahkack Wetiko Trapping a Wetiko Habits and Types of Wetiko Those Driven to Cannibalism by Starvation Story of a Wetiko Woman Those who Dream of Ice and the North Dream Feasts Of Human Flesh Behavior of Infected People An Account of Survival Executing a Wetiko Treatments and Recovery Malignant Spirits North, Ice, Skeleton and the Crazy Woman Confession Animal Sacrifice (Beaver Indians) Fragments The Great Doctor The Devil and the Tailor Caricature Feasts Conjuring Ceremony (June 4th., 1823) Part 2 Typescript of Manuscript Part 3 Manuscript Page Images References Part 1 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. And 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 and leave every one to make his own remarks and to draw his own conclusions. My interpreter, a young half breed, passed the winter of 1819-20 with the Indians and gives this account. One day shortly before Christmas, he was out with an elderly man, a chief of this place, a hunting. Suddenly he stopped as to listen, apparently with great eagerness and anxiety, upon which, after allowing a sufficient time, the interpreter asked what was the matter. "Listen and you'll hear." "I have listened," says the interpreter, "but hear nothing, and it is surprising that you who are deaf should hear and I not." "Ah! A white man is thy father, and thou are just as skeptical, doubting and 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 downcast and very thoughtful for several days. And as if to increase his anxiety, or rather to corroborate the husband's assertions, his wife said that one day she also heard, though the other women that were with her heard nothing, and an altercation ensued. His uneasiness increasing too much, he was forced to have recourse to their only alternative in such cases, une Jonglerie as the French term it, that is conjuring. One of their party, another half-breed abandoned many years since by his father and leading an Indian life, was applied to. He is reputed a true man: [he] never lies. Out of respect to the other, he was induced to consent, but much against his will. "For I am much afraid that [one] of these times they will carry me off." He was prepared, and entered with his rattler, shortly after which the box and the rattler began to move in the usual brisk and violent manner. Many [spirits] entered, and one asked what was wanted that they had been called upon. {1} [Introductory Remarks] [Conjuring: The Interpreter's Account] The Indian, from the outside of the frame (for only the conjurer alone enters), inquired if there was not some evil spirit near from whom he had everything 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 those sudden flashes of light I sometimes see in the night?" "What?" rejoined another voice from within. "Hast thou attained unto this age and never yet observed this?" And then laughing, [it] continued, "It is always the case during this moon (December). And if you doubt me, for the future observe attentively and you will find it to be the case." This satisfied him for the time. He became cheerful and assumed his wonted ways, but not for a long time. He soon relapsed and, after some days, applied again to the conjurer. When he had entered his box or frame, a number again entered and one of them enquired why they were called for. The conjurer said [why]. "What?" says he, the Spirit, "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 dreadful words, which were uttered in an angry and reproving manner, every soul was struck with terror. But as if to give some consolation, [the voice] assured him that that spirit had but just left his home, and 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 conjurer who never undertook this job but with the greatest reluctance—nay indeed even sometimes horror. However, he neither, poor creature, had [an] alternative. At the time appointed he entered again, everything being prepared. After the preliminary demands or questions, "Yes," replies one of the spirits, "that which thou dreadest is near, and 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, (through the conjurer, for he alone could understand him, his voice being hoarse through, his uttering thick and inarticulate) asked the Indian if he remembered of a dream he made while 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 and a sweating bout I should be relieved. But I have not the means here. I have no stones." "You are encamped upon them," rejoined the spirit, "and 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 and make them change color and purify them? Do this, fail not and be not uneasy. We shall go, four of us (spirits), and amuse him upon the road and endeavour to drive him back." At this the interpreter burst out laughing, exclaimed, "Sacré bande de bêtes! And do you believe all that d——d nonsense?" "You doubt too." says a voice addressing him (the interpreter) from the inside. "Go out of the tent and listen, you'll see if we lie." He did indeed go out to some distance, and after a while heard [the spirits] as a distant hollow noise which increased 'till it became considerably more distinct, and then vanished as a great gust of wind, though the night was mild, calm, clear and beautifully 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 out of the deep (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 and bewilder him, surround, torment and tease him on every side. But he is of a monstrous size, ferocious and 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, and there will fall a very smart shower of snow attended with a terrible gust of wind. This will happen between daylight and sunrise and is his spirit, all that will remain in his power. He'll then return to his home. The interpreter, though he laughed at all this and could not bring himself to credit it, yet swears that he heard the rumbling noise on their road and seemingly far off. The Indians gave implicit faith to all. And the conjurer did not know what to believe. "There is something," says he, "for my Dreamed, or Dreamers have assured me of it, but I don't know what to say. However, most assuredly, tomorrow morning we shall have the snow." This snow both comforted and depressed the poor Indian very much seeing the weather was then so beautiful and so destitute of all the usual signs of bad weather. It did snow. It came as foretold, quite suddenly, and as suddenly became fine again. In the ensuing morning, the Indian begged of the interpreter to chuse one of the longest and 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 and charcoal alternately the whole length, leaving however some intervals undaubded. And about five or six feet from the ground, [they] fastened a pair of artificial horns representing those of a bull, and decorated [it] with ribbon. He also (the Indian I mean) made the sweating hut, and in short done [sic] everything as directed, after which he (the Indian) became to resume his wonted cheerfulness and contentment. However, once more he was obliged to have recourse again to the conjurer, from hearing another rumbling noise. "Thou Fool!" answered the spirits. "Wilt thou never have done tormenting thyself and disquieting us. That rumbling noise proceeds from the ice on a lake a long way off. It is only the ice. Be therefore peaceable. I shall [advise] 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 they told him, lightening which always happens in the month of December. And they laughed at his having lived so long without observing it before. The conjurer had lost his smoking bag one day that he was out a hunting. And as it contained his only steel and not a small part of his winter stock of tobacco, he was very uneasy and hunted several times for it. They, having told the Interpreter often how kind and charitable and indulgent those spirits of the upper regions were, and he, desirous of proving them, told the conjurer 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." {2} {3} "I will go," said one. They heard a fluttering noise, and soon after they heard the same fluttering noise, and the rattler move, and down fell the bag by the conjurer, covered with snow. "How stupid thou art!" said the spirit naming the conjurer. "Thou passedst over it and yet did not see it." It was a long time since the bag was lost, and 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. [This happened] the first time, I believe 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 and articulation was different from that of the others. "Who is that one just now entered?" said those outside. "It is the Sun," replied the conjurer. "Ha! Well, I am happy of it." said the the Indian. "Is it not he who says himself able to repair firearms (guns), and do anything with them he pleases? Ask him (addressing the conjurer) if he will not have compassion on me and put my gun to rights that I also may kill. I am walking every day, and 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 conjurer. "It is loaded." continued the voice, "Shall I fire it off?" "You may, but take care you hurt nobody." replied the Indian. The gun was fired, and 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 and smoking bag took place the first time, I believe, the man conjured. There are but few individuals (men) among the Sauteux or Cris or Crees who have not their medicine bags and [are not] initiated into some ceremony or other. But it is not all of them who can conjure. Among some tribes most of them can, and among others again there are but very few. Nor is it every one of them that tells all truth, some scarcely nothing but lies, others again Not One falsehood. And this depends upon their Dreamed, sometimes. But I think [it] may be equally imputed to their own selves, [to] presumption, ignorance, folly, or any other of our passions or weaknesses. But to become conjurers, they have rites and ceremonies to perform and go through, which, though apparently simple and absurd, yet I have no doubt, but fully answer their ends. Any person among them wishing to dive into futurity must be young and unpolluted, at any age between 18 and 25, though as near as I can learn between 17 and 20 years old. They must have had no intercourse with the other sex; they must be chaste and unpolluted. In the spring of the year, they chuse a proper place at a sufficient distance from the camp not [to] be discovered nor disturbed. They make themselves a bed of grass, or hay as we term it, and have besides enough to make them a covering. When all this is done, and they do it entirely alone, they strip stark naked and put all their things a good way off. And then [they] return, lie on this bed, and then cover themselves with the rest of the grass. Here they remain and endeavour to sleep, which from their nature is no very difficult task. But during 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 the spirits inhabiting our Earth, or those residing in the waters, on the ground. Here they lie for a longer or shorter time according to their success or the orders of the dreamed. Some remain but three or four days, some ten. And I have [been] told one remained thirty 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 friends is to take a good drink of water, smoke the pipe, and after that eat, but as composedly as but just risen from a hearty meal. Their Dreamed sometimes order them to make a feast, and not uncommonly tell them where to go where they will find the animals whose flesh is to be served up (always boiled). They sometimes lie in one posture and sometimes 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 "Though you shall never see your head white, yet you shall live till you are obliged to make use of a stick and long after. You shall die old, very old, respected and regretted." If they are to die young: "Thou shalt see the years of a young man."—and 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 retired the speaker is from the pompous bombastic walks of high life, which though they furnish us with more ideas, I do not think add much to the beauty of the language. As I have said before, the purpose of these dreams is to dive into futurity. Everything in nature appears unto them, but in the shape of a human being. They 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 stranger. The Indian follows. The other leads him to his abode and 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. And after rechanging several times in this manner, until such time as the Indian becomes perfectly to know him, then this stranger gives him to smoke, [teaches] him his song, thus addressing him, "Now do you remember my song? Whenever you will wish to call upon me, sing this song, and I shall not be far. I will come and do for you what you require." They know many of these Spirits as soon as they see them (in their dreams) by the description 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 and Moon [they know] from their beautiful brilliancy and the elegance of their abode—the houses of the two last being uncommonly neat and handsome such as {4} [Initiations and Conjuring] [In Quest of Dreams] {5} [Dialogue with a Spirit] [Principal Spirits] {6} those of the white (i.e. civilized). One principal amongst all these, and everything 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' etc.; the first as ale, bail etc.) i.e. by his proper name, his common name, Gey-Shay-mani-to (this is among the Crees nation), which signifies "the Greatly charitable Spirit." He is uncommonly good and kind, addresses them and talks to them as to children whom he most tenderly loves and is extremely anxious for. Thus far everything is very well, and is perhaps a better idea than many of the vulgar christians can give. But on the other hand again, their mythology, or stories relating to him, are many of them absurd and indecent in the highest degree, reducing him to the level of his creatures, and 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 and romantic of the Arabian tales. For there are many of these tales the author durst not publish for the obscenity and indecency. 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 and scandal. This one they love, they love him a great deal, and are by no means afraid of him, because he always addresses them "my little children" and 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 I know of no English word where properly speaking the J is of any use and 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". This one they represent wicked, and terrible, inexorable to the highest degree, always plotting evil and endeavouring to circumvent the rest of the creation. [He] is always jawing and bawling. But when the other appears, he orders him in a peremptory manner. "Hold thy tongue. Get thee hence, thou deceiver; thou ill-liver." But these words are uttered in such an authoratative and commanding tone that the Indians themselves are quite astonished to see one who is so uncommonly kind and indulgent to them in every respect, so tender and affectionate, even in the choice of his words, assume so suddenly and with so much authority, so much power over one whose name alone they never utter but with the greatest dread and horror. Their horror of the Devil is so great, that no one ever utters [his name] but when unavoidable. And if, through inadvertency 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 and has much power. The Mermaid (or Sea-Man), the Water Lynx or rather Tyger—a dreadful character [is] this last, who keeps all the inhabitants of the deep in the greatest subjection. There are however one or two who contend with him, and sometimes he is reduced to the necessity of compounding with them—the Great Turtle, and many others. They have their abodes in the deep, but perfectly dry and comfortable. Each one of these, and indeed all of them, have their stories or mythology. Some I forget entirely and others remember too incorrectly to mention at present. {These [spirits], when anyone conjures, if he is a renowned medicine man, they all appear and speak to him mostly in his own language. Some few excepted are the Pike (a jack fish) who speaks French, the Sun and Moon both speak English, the Bull or Buffaloe in an unknown, or at least strange, language. But all [are] perfectly intelligible to the conjurer. 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) walking on the wind. His dress is of a variety of colors and handsome. I had a dream the latter part of which I shall relate to you as it is perfectly descriptive 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, and 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." And 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 and 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 and yellow, but also of a few other colors. The garters of his leggings were also neat and handsome and had a tuft of swans-down that had been powdered with vermillion attached to the knot on the back part of the leg. To his shoes were attached two long swan quills inclosing the foot thus with a tuft of down at each end and in the middle on both sides all powdered with vermillion. With these quills and down, and the down on his garters, [he was buoyed] up in the air. I addressed [him] in broken Cree. He answered in the same broken accent. Upon my second address, I thought he did not understand more of that language than I did myself. The Sauteux seemed to me his proper tongue, and 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. He was very high, insomuch that the others thought it preposterous in my addressing him —that he could not hear from that distance. Upon this he came down and talked with us, saying he was an ambassador. Such is the habillement, and manner in which the Sun shews himself. The Thunder also appears to them, in the shape and form of a most beautiful bird (The Pea-Cock). Roots and herbs also (this also ought to have come in afterwards), such as are medicinal, appear, and 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. But these roots [and] herbs (medicines), though 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-ā-jāāk, to teach Indians their use and virtue 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. And though they are acquainted with many of these roots, the use and 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 different, and some {6} [Wee-suck-ā-jāāk / Gey-Shay-mani-to] [Key-jick-oh-kay (Old Nick)] [Water Lynx] {7} [Sun] [A Dream Meeting with Sun] {8} [Thunder] [Roots and Herbs (Medicines)] to diametrically opposite, purposes. Their manner of conjuring is this: In the first place a number [of] straight poles of two, or two and a half inches diameter and about eight or nine feet long are prepared, cut, branched and pointed at the lower end. They seldom require so few as four, commonly six or eight. These are planted in the ground from twelve to twenty or twenty-four inches deep in an hexagon or octagon form, enclosing a space of three feet diameter, more or less. These poles are secured by hoops, three or four in number, and 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 conjurer is bound hand and foot, not as if he were a man going to pry into futurity, but as a criminal, [a] mere, pure devil, and one whom they intend never to loosen, so barricaded and cross-corded is the creature, sometimes all crumpled into a heap. He is tied only with his cloute on him, and thus thrust into the hut underneath 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 five minutes, before fluttering is heard. The rattler is shaked at a merry rate, and all of a sudden, either from the top, or below, away flies the cords by which the Indian was tied, into the lap of 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, and sometimes all together. When any enter, the hut moves in a most violent manner. I have frequently thought that it would be knocked down, or torn out of the ground. The first who enters is commonly Meeh-key-nock (the Turtle), a jolly, jovial sort of a fellow who, after disencumbering his votary, chats and jokes with those outside and asks for a pipe to smoke. 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 and 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, the opposite. His nature is such that he durst not tell the truth but in this ambiguous manner, otherwise the conjurer would soon after die. I do not know that the Skunk ever comes. But the Wolverine (Carcajoux) does and he is known immediately by his stink, which occasions 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 three 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 three words in the Sauteux and Cree languages, which signify "I want to marry; I want to marry!" "What! And will you never have done marrying? You were marrying all last summer and still want to!" will some outside say. And everyone has his word to put in. Hercules also comes in. He is perhaps as much revered by those people as even he was by the Spartan or Athenians. His name is Strong Neck (and everybody knows how strong Hercules was). He does not seem over fond of jokes, and when the other spirits announce his coming, all those on the outside must cover their heads and not look up, for it appears that he cannot [become] invisible as the others do, or will not, but still does not chuse to be seen. Once upon a time his arrival was announced, and everybody was ordered to cover themselves, so as not to see. (This, and all such like orders are commands sent to the conjurer, and which he, (being inside) must promulgate to those on the outside). There was one young buck, however, who wanted to shew himself superior to these orders and divert his friends. [He] would not cover himself. Hercules entered, and at that time, as at all others, he was not in too good a humor. Some altercation ensued and "I am Strong Neck." said he. "Pah!" says the young man at last, "The neck of my os-Pubis indeed is [as] strong!" This raised a most violent laugh. But the young man was lost. He disappeared from amongst them, and was never after heard of. Since that time they are rather more cautious. Some of the Ancients also enter. They are called "O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck", 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. [They] say, "I used to do so and so on such occasions. I never shot a moose or buffaloe, but pursued them on my feet, and ripped them open with my knife." But this is only wind, for no sooner do other powerful ones enter, but these chaps search to secret themselves. The Sun enters, speaks very bad English at the offset, but by degrees becomes to speak it very easily and fluently. He is gun smith and watch- [The Manner of Conjuring] [Building the Lodge] [Preparing the Conjurer] [Spirits who Enter the Lodge and Interactions with Them] {9} [Meeh-key-nock (Turtle)] [Thunder] [Flying Squirrel] [Wolverine] [Loon] [Hercules / Strong Neck: Altercation with a Young Man] [O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck (Ancients or Hairy Breasts)] {10} [Sun] maker, or at least can repair them. When he is entered, there is commonly a beautiful clear light visible, through the covering. He [too] does not admit of too much familiarity, but is still good natured and condescending. The Pike or Jack fish also enters. As the Sun, [he] also speaks (French,) badly enough at the offset. When there are two or three on the outside who can speak French and address him together, merely to perplex and bother him, he laughs at their folly and says, "You may talk twenty or a hundred of you together if you chuse, yet are you not able to perplex me. Come as numerously as you chuse, yet are there many more of us Pike than you Frenchmen." He is very familiar too. The Bull, or Buffaloe is understood only by the conjurer, his voice being hoarse, and rough, his language quite foreign. The conjurer must interpret when anything 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 and reproves in a very tart manner. And [he does this] in a way too that conveys no comfortable ideas to anyone present, for they all endeavour to excuse it by saying it is only a joke. "I know jokes too; and I can laugh and understand the nature of laughing as well as the best amongst you. But such language is unbecoming, and I will have no more of it!" A half breed one time, because his father was a Frenchman, thought he might go any lengths he pleased with him (the B[uffaloe]). He replied very warmly thus: "How durst thou doubt anything I say! Knowest thou not how clearly and distinctly objects are discovered and seen in a plain from an eminence? And my abode is in the regions above. I see every object as distinctly as you see at your feet. Doubt then no more, and never hereafter call our power to question." "Aye!" replied some of the other spirits, "We not only see all that you do, however secret and hid you think yourselves, but we also hear every word you utter." "If that indeed be the case, tell me where now are and when will be here my father's countrymen?" {The conjurer had been employed to tell what the people were about, as it was long since the time they were expected, and ought to have arrived, had elapsed.} "Wait! I shall go and see." And shortly after he returned. "They are now all asleep at such a place. The weather will be calm tomorrow, and though the 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 everything and 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 sits here and considerably more; and some of you I see crawling with old age!" With some of the Spirits, as I've already said, the bystanders (or setters, for they are seated on the ground round about) are very familiar. The Turtle is one of them. He is very humorsome, and 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, and makes himself respected when he thinks it necessary. "Who is that now speaking?" said one of the Indians. (This I was told.) "It is Mihkenach," said the conjurer. "If it be him, prove it. Take him in your hand and show him to us." Now the conjurer was a very great medicine man. He took the turtle upon his hand, raised the covering of his box, and called them to look. Every one was astonished at his beauty. He was very small, scarcely more than two inches 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 and let me fall, perhaps in the fire." and laughed heartily. The Bear is a rough beast and makes a devil of a racket. Towards the latter end, Master Keyjickahkaiw, that old serpent Satan, enters. His arrival is announced. All hands are grieved for then the conclusion is soon to take place. He makes everything fly again, kicking up his own (the Devil's) racket, jawing and blabbing, scolding and giving the lie to and abusing all hands. The Indians are hurt and displeased, but durst not say anything. They must swallow all quietly And then it is that the conjurer most dreads for his own bacon. This however does not last very long, for Wee-suck-ā-jāāk (the Supreme Being) enters last. As soon as his coming is announced, Nick begins to sneak, but still en maitre. Wee-suck-ā-jāāk enters, Nick jaws, silence is imposed, Nick [is] still troublesome. At last the word comes authoratatively and away he flies. The Indians are uncommonly fond of Wee-suck-ā-jāāk. He commonly speaks to this effect. My Little (Grand) Children, I am very indulgent and kind. I am very charitable, and love you much, a great deal more than you imagine. You must not live ill, nor make a bad use of your power and knowledge, for I hate that. Hence it is I command Nick in that authoratative manner, because he is wickedly inclined. Mischief and destruction are in his nature; he grieves 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!". And [he] rubs up and 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 and goes, and how he shakes [Pike] [Buffaloe] [Omniscience of Spirits] {11} [Showing the Turtle Spirit] [Bear] [Keyjickahkaiw] [Wee-suck-ā-jāāk] {12} the rattler;—for they all shake the rattler on entering. When Wee-suck-ā-jāāk goes off all is done. Some conjurers are so powerful that the hut they enter, must be doubled; that is two rows or sets of poles, one on the outside [of] the other, and each row fastened with good strong hoops well tied, after which the outer and inner row are also fastened. Thus arranged they seem to be beyond the power of any three or four 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 and violently moved by a man. I have never seen any of these double ones, but twice or thrice saw the others whilst the conjurer was in. Some time afterwards, when they were off, I shook them with both hands and with all my strength, but the motion was nothing like that of the conjurers. I have been told that those [conjurers] who enter these double ones are so powerful that almost all the creation comes to see them, and [the poles] are shaken with uncommon violence. This motion, the conjurers say, is produced by the concussion of the air. The spirits come and enter with such velocity that it is the wind they produce which occasions it. The conjurer 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, and of which the Indians make their arrows, and ram-rods for guns) about the size of a man's finger, made as sharp-pointed as possible and dried, when they become in consequence nearly as dangerous as iron or bayonets. Some have eighteen, twenty-four, more or less, though seldom less than eighteen planted in the bottom of their hut. They are about twelve or fourteen inches out of the ground. On the points of these sticks is the conjurer placed, sometimes on his bottom, at others on his knees and elbows. And there he remains as quietly and composedly as if he were on "a bed of roses". And when he comes off, no marks of injury appear, though he entered naked, only his cloute about him, and of course the cords with which he is tied. Their familiars (their dreamed, or those who appear to them in their dreams and promise them their assistance and protection) support them so that no injury happens them!!! March 29th.—I feel but very indifferently disposed to write, but I am on the eve of an accumulation of business and may not after a few days have the necessary time, so that I shall [take the] risk. A couple of days back, I have been conversing with a Cree (Indian) who piecemeal gives 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, and remember that anything you do, or wherever you go, on turning yourself, turn always in the same direction with the sun, and never in a contrary direction." Now women are a compound of perverseness, obstinacy and curiosity, and withall forgetful enough too sometimes. This girl, one day she was chopping fire-wood. Without thinking of her father's admonition, in going to another tree, [she] turned round to the right in a contrary direction to the sun, and instantly fell to the ground and died. The time she used to take up in this occupation being expired, her parents became very uneasy, and after some search, found her on her back dead, and her belly [swollen] to an enormous size. The father and mother, on each or opposite sides, contemplated her situation with great grief. At last the father arose, stood up, and made a long speech, praying to "The Father of Life" to have mercy and compassion on his child. His speech was not ineffectual. The girl was delivered of a boy, and shortly after, of another. The elder was called Wee-suck-ā-jāāk; the younger "Mi (or Mee) shaw-bôse". After this the girl recovere...