March 29th- I feel but very indifferently disposed to write; but I am on the eve of an accumula-
tion of business & may not, after a few days, have the necessary time, so that I shall risk.
A Couple of days back I have been conversing with a Cree (indian) who by peace-mealgives me the following account of their mythology:—"The North-(wind) apparently one of
oldest of created rational beings thus addressed his daughter, his only child "My
"daughter! be very careful, & remember that anything you do, or wherever you go, on turn-
ing yourself, turn always in the same direction with the Sun, & never in a contra-
ry direction." Now women are a compound of Perverseness, obstinacy & curiosity; & withall
forgetful enough too, sometimes. This Girl one day she was chopping fire-wood, without
thinking of her fathers admonition, in going to another Tree, turned round
to the right, in a contrary direction to the Sun, & instantly fell to the Ground, &
died. The time she used to take up in this occupation, being expired, her Parents became
very uneasy, & after some search found her on her back, dead, & her belly swolen to an enor-
mous size. The father & mother, on each or opposite sides, contemplated her si-
tuation with great grief. At last the Father arose, stood up, & made a long
speech, praying to "The Father of Life" to have mercy & compassion on his child.
His speech was not ineffectual: the Girl was delivered of a Boy, & shortly after, of another—
The Elder was called Wee-suck-a-jock; the younger "Mi (or Mee) shaw-bôse"—
After this the Girl recovered & became as aforetime. These two young men immedi-
ately attained "mans estate"—i.e. to manhood, &c. and became hunters. The
younger of the two one day was in pursuit of a Grey, or rein Deer (Carriboeuf) after
which also pursued a Wolf. The Deer having thus no hopes of escape fled to a
rock on the edge of the waters & plunged in, Mishabôse & the Wolf followed; but they
all three became a prey to the Michi-Pichoux, or Great Lynx, i.e. water Lynx,
water-Cat, or water Dog. Wesuckajock was very uneasy for his brother, was
anxious to revenge his death, but scarcely knew-well how. At last one day seeing
a Kings-fisher hovering in a certain spot addressed him thus "My younger
"Brother! what art thou there looking at?" "I am looking at Mishabôse, your
"brother, lying in the bottom of the deep, drowned" &c. After some further con-
versation, Weesuck. discovered the means of avenging himself. He accordingly set to
work & made himself a large Canoe, on board of which he embarked the Moose, Deer,
Bear, otter, Beaver, muskrat, wolf &c. &c. & repaired to the place where the
Sea Lynxes used to resort to sleep; this was a fine pleasant place on
the Land. Here he observed several of them & began his work. It is not related
how many he did kill, but the waters upon their death came rushing upon
him in a violent torrent; as he expected this, he had bro't his canoe near hand,
but before he reached it, after killing his enemies, he was already knee-deep in the

[...] [(14)] [...]

in the water: however he got safely on board; but in his hurry forgot to embark a little earth.
—Now the waters swelled immensely, & in a very short time the highest land was cover'd
& Weesuckajock was tossed about by the wind & water. It appears that he had not the fore-
sight either of taking with him a sufficiency of Provisions for he became very hungry,
& thus expressed himself to his crew. After some time he saw some-
thing on the water, very large & moving towards him: He thus addressed it, "Who,
"or what, art thou my younger brother? (for he being the first born, always addressed
the rest of the creation, whether animate, inanimate, or rational or not, as his younger"Brothers) & whither art thou going?" "Why! my Elder (brother) I am a water Lynx,
"& am sent by Confrers in search of Weesuck. & to destroy him" "Aye! is it so indeed?
"& how or with with instrument do you intend to destroy him?" "I have a large &
"very strong Iron-tail, with which if I smite his Canoe, he must perish?" Wee-
suckajock seeing his danger tho't to get off by duplicity & dissimulation & thus
continued: "Indeed you must have a very extraordinary tail my Younger ....
"come near, & let me see it, how it is made &c."—The Lynx drew up, present-
ed his tail, Weesuck. took hold as to look on it, & placed it on the Gunnel
of his Canoe & with a stone cut it off saying,"Now go to thy friends, & tell
"them how Weesuck. has served thee."—He retired doubled quick, grieved,
ashamed, & not with a little pain. "Ha!" said the water Lynxes on perceiving
the situation of their companion, "ha! weesuck. is cunning, & too powerful,
"we must destroy him for our own safety." "Come, now, who amongst us will
"volunteer, & go to destroy that enemy of ours?" —They at last pitched upon an enor-
mous Beaver & thus addressed him at his departure "Go thou our Brother, Destroy
"that mutual enemy of ours, be not afraid of him for he is not worthy of fear; but still be cau-
"tious, for he is very artful." Weesuck. descryed him also, & the same addresses &
compliments passed as with the first. And how do you intend to destroy Weesuck?"
"with my teeth." Well then do come near & let me see them." x x x The beaver
drew up, & shewed his teeth: weesuck. put his hand on his head & while exclaiming "What
"terrible teeth!—how immensely broad & sharp—they are like large axes!" he
with his other hand took up a large stone & with a dreadful blow broke them
all in his head. "Now go to thou too friends & tell them how Weesuck. hath served
"thee." Indeed the beaver did go, sniffling & blowing & yelling. The Lynxes were
astonished, & durst no more attempt anything at him. His situation however
was very disagreable, very uncomfortable, & what added to it was his want of
food. He thus addressed his companions one day. "Come now we very repre-
"hensibly forgot to bring earth with us, & who knows how long this will conti-

[...] [(15)] [...]

"continue?—which of you all will endeavour to get a little earth for me out of which I
"shall try to make Land for us to live on?—whoever will go shall be amply rewarded."
They all said it was very deep. There was scarcely an hopes. Then he said to the otter
"Go thou my Younger (brother) & if thou diest in the attempt, I shall restore thee to life,
"& make thee immortal". Saying this he tied a long leather thong to his tail & sent him
down: he found the otter was dead, hauled him up in to the canoe, rubbed him dry
& blowed in his nostrils, when he revived. Then he sent the Musk rat: "Come my
"little brother, go thou, thou art small & very active, art fond of the water, & goeth to great
"depths—thy reward shall be as that of the otter." The rat was secured with a thong
also & down he went. Weesuck found he was dead: hauled him up, & was extre-
mely happy to find he had some earth in his little paws & mouth: he restored
him to life as he did the otter, & sent him down again, when he bro't up his mouth as
full as it could hold & a good deal in his hands which he held pressed to breast.
Now weesuck. took this earth & made a ball of it, & blew in it a considerable
time & sent off the Wolf to make its circuit to see if it was large enough. After
four nights he returned & thus spake "My Elder, the earth is indeed Large & beautiful; but our
"number now is small: when we will increase it will be too small for us: we
"will be all upon top of each other (i.e we will be in each others way &c.), & if you
"make man as you contemplate,...it will be much moreso." Weesuck then blew
it out again & once more sent the Wolf-- He was 8 nights absent, & reported it
still too small. Weesuck then blew it out for a long time & sends the wolf
again. But before he went off he said "My Elder, the Earth must now be very
"large, & I shall possibly be too much wearied to make its circuit: I shall traverse,
"& if I find any thing to assure me of its being large enough I shall howl,
"which will be a sign to you; & whatever place may suit me there will I make my resi-
dance." After several nights absence they heard him howl, wherefore they all
concluded the Earth was sufficiently Large. Weesuck. then blessed the others & sent
them away telling them to multiply "& be good, not vicious or ill inclined, nor se-
"cret, or hide themselves too much from My little brothers (the human beings
which he was about to create) when they might want to eat" &c. &c. Now
after this he became very lonesome & bethout himself of making Indiansi.e. human beings. He in consequence took up a stone & fashioned it into
the form of a man; but whilst at this work it struck him that by forming
them of so strong & hard a substance that in time when they would become to
know their nature, they would grow insolent & rebellious & be a great a great an-
noyance to each other & of course also, would never die. "This will not do, I must

[...] [(16)] [...]

"I must make them of a more weake & fragible substance, "so that they may live a reas-
"reasonable time & behave as becomes human beings." Upon this he took up a handful
of common Earth & made the form of a man, & blew into his nostrils the breath of life.
The Moon formed the Female, as Wesuck. did the Male, hence the reason of the Pe-
riodical return of their sickness with that of the moon, "as also among the Sluts." (Bitches).
Hence also all women are forbidden when they go out from the calls of nature, & that one in
particular, to look at the moon while thus employed. Those who are thus for-
getful, ignorant, or obstinate immediately find the effect by the return &c. x x x.
I should have said that he bruised the stone to Pieces, altho' a great part of it was
already formed. For the white (I believe it was the Moon again) he made a Part-
ner for him of one of his ribs & another piece, which he wrapped in a handker-
chief & laid beside him saying "this, by the time thou risest, shall be a full
"grown Woman & shall be thy companion" &c.——After all this done, he
made a separation in the Earth, one part of which was a beautiful
plain meadow Ground, & the rest Woody; & then set off travelling in the
Earth. He took a partner to himself, by whom he had a son. This soon got to mans
estate, but had a great aversion to the female Sex, which gave his Parents a great
deal of anxiety, all their trouble, all their remonstrances were to no effect: at
last the father betho't of a plan in which he was sure of success. "He transformed him-
"self into a most beautiful woman & when the Son was returned from his hunting
"well Son! said the Mother, here is a young & handsome woman we have procured
"merily for thee; does she please thee?"—Her charms were so great the young man
immediately became extremely fond of her. But this, in the end, became the
source of much trouble to both Parents & of disgrace to the father particular-
ly. The mother became jealous & vexed on her son's account that he should so
be imposed upon, & done many shameful things to her husband." Here follows
a train of Stories the most indecent, & shameful & sometimes obscene, that one can
well imagine. But these people are yet, so far as regards their faculties, in a
state of Nature. Every thing appears reasonable & natural & must be very
gross & palpable indeed when they do not give credit to them. Their language
is also that of nature, & they speake out what they think—they do not use circumlocu-
tion to avoid an indecent term, nor have they flourishes to embellish their dis-
courses; & their speeches, to my taste, at least, are far more pleasing & natural
than those strained & laboured compositions we meet with amongst ourselves. But this is
not the place for these discussions.——