[...] [(7)] [...]

The Mermaid (or Sea-Man), The Water Lynx, or rather Tyger—a dreadful charac-
ter this last, who keeps all the Inhabitants of the deep in the Greatest Subjection—there
are however one or two who contend with him; & sometimes he is reduced to the necissity of
compounding with them. The Great Turtle, and many others. They have their abodes
in the Deep, but perfectly dry & comfortable. Each one of these, & indeed all of them
have their Stories or Mythology; some I forget entirely, & others remember too incor-
rectly to mention at present.——[These When any one Conjures, if he is a renouned
Medicine Man, they all appear, & Speake to him, mostly in his own language, some
few excepted as the Pike (a Jack fish) who Speaks french; The Sun & Moon, both speak
English; the Bull or Buffaloe in an unknown, or at least strange language; but all per-
fectly intelligible to the Conjuror.—I am quite astray—leaving the proper thread of
my story to follow one of its branches—I ought to have said that] The Sun when
he appears to an indian, he is seen in the Heavens, as an Indian (i.e. a Man)"walk-
ing on the Wind." His dress is of a variety of Colors & handsome. I had a dream,
the latter part of which I shall relate to you as it is perfectly des-
criptive of the manner or form in which the Sun appears. I related it the next day to
some of my half-breeds, when one of them replied; "What a pity! had you now forborne
for a few days mentioning this, he would have appeared again to you; & then you would have
had a fine opportunity of learning (from the fountain-head, as we might say) how it is the
indians come to perform those things the white will never credit:" & he continued that
it was precisely the form he assumed when he appears to the indians. In my
dream I thought we were travelling a road from which some of our Party had the
utmost to dread from the ambush of an indian who could transport himself to
what place he pleased. As we were walking I happened to look above & was
much struck with the appearance of a man walking in the Heavens. His
dress was that of a neat Southern Indian, composed mostly of red & yellow, but also of a
few other colors: The Garters of his leggings were also Neat & handsome & had a tuft of
Swans-down that had been Powdered with vermillion, attached to the not, on the
back part of the leg: To His shoes were attached 2 long Swan quills inclosing
the foot thus [diagram] with a tuft of down at each end & in the middle on both
sides, all Powdered with vermillion—with these quills & down, & the down
on his Garters buoyed him up in the air. I addressed in broken Cree—he answered
in the same broken accent; upon my second address I though he did not understand more
of that language than I did myself: the Sauteux seemed to me his proper tongue & I was
glad of having an opportunity of speaking that language; so I the third time addressed him
in it asked him from whence he came, whither he was going &c. &c.—He was very hi

[...] [(8)] [...]

hi, insomuch that the others thought it preprosterous in my addressing him—that he could not
hear from that distance. Upon this he came down & talked with us—Saying he was an ambas-
sador &c. Such is the habillement, & manner in which the Sun shews himself.— The Thun-
der also appears to them, in the Shape & form of a Most beautiful bird (The Pea-Cock).—
Roots & herbs also (this also ought to have come in afterwards) i.e. such as are medeci-
nal, appear, & teach their votaries their respective Songs — how they must do, what ceremonies
they must perform in taking them out of the Ground, their different applications &c. &c. But
these roots, herbs, &c. (medecins) tho' they appear in their Dreams, they do not shew themselves
in the Conjuring Hut, box, or frame, that I learn. They are sent, as appears, by Wee-
suck-a-jaak, "to teach indians their use & virtue." &c., without which "they would be
very ill off, whether to heal or cure themselves, or expell the charms by which other
indians may have bewitched them" &c. And tho' they are acquainted with many of
these roots &c. the use & virtue of some of which I can no more doubt than those used by the
Faculty in the Civilized world, yet they tell me there are several which they use to differ-
ent, & some to diametrically opposite purposes.
Their manner of Conjuring is this—in the first place a number straights poles of
2, or 2 1/2 ins. diameter & about 8 or 9 feet long are prepared, i.e. cut, branched & Pointed at the
lower end—they seldom require so few as four, commonly 6 or 8, these are planted in
the Ground from 12 to 20 or 24 ins. deep in an hexagon or octagon form, enclosing a space of
3 feet diameter, more or less—These Poles are secured by hoops,
3 or 4 in number, & well tied to each pole, so that none be able to move without the
rest—This Hut, square, box, or frame, whatever it may be termed is covered with skins,
an oil cloth, or some such sort of thing.— The Conjuror is bound hand & foot, not as if
he were a man going to pry into futurity, but as a Criminal, i.e. mere, pure
Devil & one whom they intend never to loosen, so barricaded & cross-corded is the creature,
sometimes all crumpled into a heap. He is tied only with his Cloute on him & thus
thrust into the hut, underneath, i.e. by raising the lower covering—his "she-she-
quay" or rattler with him. Some of them sing on entering, others make a speech,
—. Here they remain some several hours, others not 5 minutes before a fluttering
is heard. The rattler is shaked at a merry rate & all of a Sudden, either from the
top, or below away flies the cords by which the indian was tied into the lapof he who tied him. It is then that the Devil is at work—Every instant some
one or other enters, which is known to those outside by either the fluttering, the rubbing against
the skins of the hut in descending (inside) or the shaking of the rattler, & sometimes all
together. When any enter, the hut moves in a most violent manner—I have fre-
quently thought that it would be knocked down, or torn out of the Ground. The first

[...] [(9)] [...]

The first who enters is commonly Meeh-key-nock (the Turtle) a jolly, jovial sort of a
fellow, who, after disencumbering his votary, chats & jokes with those outside & asks for a
pipe to smoke &c.—There is a good deal of talking inside as may be supposed from the
number of folks collected in so small a space. To some renowned characters, all
the Spirits appear. The Thunder also frequently comes but he is desired to remain
outside as he would breake all—It is reported that he once entered & split one
of the Poles into shivers. The Flying Squirrel also enters—he is no liar, but you
must take every thing he says as we do our Dreams i.e. the opposite: his nature is such
that he durst not tell the truth but in this ambiguous manner, otherwise the
conjuror would soon after die. I do not know that the Skunk ever comes, but the
Wolverine (Carcajoux) does & he is known immediately by his stink, which occa-
sions no small merriment at his expense, on the outside. The Loon also enters
—he is known by his usual cry—"Nee-wih wee-way" repeated commonly 3 times as
he does when in the water. And this too occasions a great laugh, for these four
syllables, which form the most common Cry of that bird in the Spring of the
year, as every body may observe, are also 3 words in the Sauteux & Cree languages,
which signify "I want to marry"! "I want to marry"! "What! & will you never
"have done marrying?—you were marrying all last Summer & still want to"—will some
outside say, & every one has his word to put in. Hercules also comes in—he is per-
haps as much revered by those people as even he was by the Spartans or Athenians—
His name is Strong Neck (& every body knows how strong hercules was)—he does
not seem over fond of Jokes—& when the other Spirits announce his coming all
those on the outside must cover their heads & not look up; for it appears that he
cannot come invisible as the others do, or will not, but still does not chuse
to be seen. "Once upon a time his arrival was announced, & every body was ordered
"to cover themselves, so as not to see (this, & all such like orders are commands sent to
"the Conjuror, & which he, (being inside) must Promulgate to those on the outside)—
"—there was one young Buck however who wanted to shew himself supe-
"rior to these orders & divert his freinds, would not cover himself—Hercules
"entered—& at that time, as at all others, he was not in too good a humor—Some alter-
"cation ensued & "I am Strong Neck" said he "Pah! says the young man at last,
"the neck of my os-Pubis indeed is strong"! This raised a most violent laugh, but
"the young man was lost—he disappeared from amongst them, & was never after
"heard of. Since that time they are rather more cautious. Some of the Ancientsalso enter—they are called "O-may-me-thay-day-ce-cee-wuck" i.e. Hairy breasts