"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—

[...] [(4)] [...]

—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.

[...] [(5)] [...]

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

[...] [(6)] [...]

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-