[...] [(27)] [...]

—I am altogether out of the regular track that I had proposed to myself at my first setting
off; my time is to short, & my memory to bad, to read over the whole, so as to resume the regular course
—the remainder shall be composed of fugitive Pieces. Indeed the nature of some of them being a
compound will not admit of their being treated of but in sections if I may use the term.
The first therefore, lest I have not time to enter all, I shall speake of is
The Soul! This seems, to me, at least, a most extraordinary & incomprehensible thing—
yet from the different sources which I have received it, & the manner of relation serves but
more & more to perplex. Whether it is really & absolutely the soul, or some other principleon which the very existence depends I cannot say, but something it is lodged appa-
rently in the Heart or breast, that on these occasions flies off & leaves them; & at the
very instant of its exit it is perceived, & occasions such a derangement of the whole
system, & particularly of the faculties as very soon to deprive the object of life; but
primally a total want of sense, such as we suppose the Soul endows us with.
I shall here relate you one of the many stories of the kind verbatim as I received it.
It was from an Indian of course. He told me that "one summer being on a visit
"rather to a distant part of the country (perhaps 2 or 300 miles) he fell in with one
"of his acquaintances, who (as often happens between strangers, particularly to
"such as come from the Southward) asked to purchase medecines of
"him. I had but a small quantity, & only of 4 Sorts or kinds: he being
"very anxious for them, I sold them all to him: He was not satisfied—he must have more
"tho' I positively assured him I had given him the last. Then he menaced me, & said
"I should feel the effects of his resentment arising from my avarice & uncharitable spirit.
"Knowing his disposition, I returned to my friends, intending to be as far out of his
"way as Possible. One night in the winter he conjured—I was fast
"asleep (& several hundred miles off) & never thought more of him: but he called upon
"his Familiars & demanded my Soul(!)—it was taken to him; but just as it
"was on the eve of entering his conjuring hut I perceived it & sprung from my bed
"in the most dreadful agonies & convulsions insomuch that two men holding
"& pulling of me with all their might, & also had the assistance of the women,
"could not keep me quiet: I was constantly springing forward, rushing hither &
"thither & absolutely (i.e. totally) deprived of my faculties for I have not yet
"the least knowledge of what I was doing, so great was my horor in ob-
"serving this conjuring tent. At last a friendly spirit interfered & forbad the
"conjuror at his peril to do any thing to my Soul, but allow it to return im-
"mediately. He was afraid for his own life & durst not disobey—he let it go.
I cannot tell you how happy I was felt & so easy—The distance was great indeed—
but I soon flew back & re-entered my body; when I became entirely composed

[...] [(28)] [...]

"But I had been so dreadfully agitated that I found myself in a profuse sweat, my whole
"frame so shaken, debilitated, & weake, that for several days I could not move but with pain.
"Heh! said I, what a narrow escape!—The other indians asked what ailed me? I told them
"where I had been—they would scarcely credit; but in the ensuing summer upon enquiry
"they found it true; & were now fully convinced that this Power doth lodge with indi-
"ians"! They represent the soul as being small: not very dissimilar in size & shape
from the yolk of a large Hen, or duck, Egg:—some of them very hard, & much of the na-
ture & substance of a stone, but still not of that substance; & others again much more soft
& tender: some are easily kept & bruised, but others are with difficulty taken & continually in motion;
but all are extremely impatient of restraint & cannot bear it; & confinement is death to the
body from which it has issued! Some conjurors possessing sufficient power, & influence,
take a soul, if they want to destroy the body, (in the conjuring box or tent) & wrapping it in
a piece of leather, rub & bruise it between both hands 'till they destroy its subtility or
subtilty. As soon as it comes within view of the conjuring tent its agonies are ter-
rible as also those of the body, however distant that may be; but as soon as its motion is
destroyed the body dies likewise. Others again, take it & put it in a Jappand Tobacco box, & tie
the lid or cover securely tied with a womans Garter, from whence, if not loosened by someone it can
never escape—any other lashing is not, anything near, so completely effectual as this: reflect,
& you will guess immediately the reasons they give. As I do not know latin, & you dont
understand indian I must suppress this & many other things. Others again take a different
method, thus: But by-the-bye, this has but very little relation to the Soul. I shall therefore
refer it 'till afterwards & give you another Story as received from a Canadian an eye
witness. He was passing the winter with the indians & one night the head man
of the tent he lodged in gave a feast. He was in the habit of doing it & was himself ap-
parently a good & peaceable man, but not to be trifled with by other indians. Every
thing being prepared the guests were just going to eat when the feast-man's mother
dropped suddenly as if dead: every one was struck with consternation: they had re-
course to their medicines, songs, rattlers &c. as usual; at last he fell to sucking his
mother in one of her temples, suddenly they heard something crack: the indian
drew back, his mother arose perfectly recovered & all became well. However that
which occasioned the crack, the indian took out of his mouth, wrapped carefully up & gave
it to his wife to put in a tobacco box, which she did: it had all the appearances of a
Bean (un fêve)—the wife wanted to tie the lid but the husband said there was no
necessity—they resumed their meal. But the old woman was not long in possessi-
on of her senses. She very soon relapsed, & as instantaneously as at the first "ho! exclaim-
"ed the indian, the Dog is off"—They looked into the tobacco box but nothing was found—They
continued conjuring 3 nights, & the last especially, the man told me he thought the devil was

[...] [(29)] [...]

was amongst them from a certain kind of undescribable noise in the air, round about their tent,
& the sudden flashings of light. This was Powder (Gun Powder): they had carefully thrown out
all the fire, thrown a great quantity of snow & water on the hearth, & then put fresh
Earth upon it—it was perfectly dark in the lodge, there being no other light than what is
usually emitted from the heavens: upon this hearth of fresh earth they would throw some
Powder & then retiring to the bottom of the tent would say "come! let me see if I be a
"manito"—? then singing &c. off the Powder would fly! They continued this way 3
nights but all to no purpose: the old woman yet lived 2 years but never spoke &c.
He said (the indian) that this bean was "the Soul or Spirit of another indian, then at
a vast distance, which he darted at my mother to render her pitiful & miserable;
but I shall make the Dog suffer." However , after this, the Canadian enquired why
he did not revenge himself & kill him "No; said he, that wont do: he has got back
"his soul it is true, & I cannot get it again, yet I might easily kill him if I chuse,
"but this wont do—he is somewhat justifiable, for I took both his wives from
"him." There are many other instances of a like nature but different in the
proceedings, that I do not recollect sufficiently to commit to Paper.—
Now again for the other way. If an indian has a spite against another, & is
induced to it for the preservation of his own life, or from motives of revenge, he takes
the following plan or method. He takes a piece of leather & cuts it into the shape
of his enemy; & if he wants him to die speedily he places a little Powdered medecineopposite the heart, or upon it. This medecine is I believe a root, & very inflammable,
he holds a small spark of fire near it—it immediately explodes & that part
of the leather on which it was becomes burnt & shrivelled: when he performs this,
he generally utters words like these "Let the Heart of such a one become like this
Leather, let it shrivel & die within him"! If it is a leg, an arm, the head,
or any other particular part, or parts, or even the whole body, it is the same, &
the words also; unless he doth not wish for the death; then he will say "Let
"such a part, become lame, useless, ulcerous" &c. &c. according to his disposi-
tion; & that part, or parts become thus affected according to his wish, "But
"how is it possible that such things can be? Do you really think that an insig-
"nificant root, of no apparant power or virtue whatever can effect such things?"
Thus I would frequently question, & their answers with little variations uni-
"versally the same." Yes, most certainly it is not the root alone, but with the assistance
"of that one of his Dreamed that is most powerful & most fond of him: he! you white people
"you know not; you are consummately ignorant of the Power of our Great medecine men
"many things might I tell you much more surprising—but you do not believe these trifles,
"how much less then those you do not know?"—What then is to be done! how do with