[...] [(37)] [...]

"perfectly, the same as I am at present, then my house & all I have shall be yours; but if I succeed,
"& you cannot, then all your possessions shall be mine." Nayhanimis consented; for he was
secretly desirous of humiliating the selfsufficient spirit of North. They tried—North failed,
but Nayhanimis completely succeeded: He deliberately severed his head from his body, put it
down on the Ground beside him, very composedly, & then replaced it, when it be-
came as tho' nothing had happened. But this was owing to the Power & virtue of
his Plume; which, however, the others knew nothing off. It appears that the North also
recovered but by the assistance of his friends, of whom he had a numerous train. North
was faithful to his promise—Gave him his house which was beautiful & spacious,
but mostly underground, or at least in the side of a mountain. All his freinds
turned out, put in Nayhanimis & gave him the full possession. But he was no sooner in than
they secured all the outlets; doors, windows &c. & set it on fire to destroy one whom they
found so much more powerful than themselves! Nays. finding this to be the case was
not in the least dismayed, but took his smoking bag & thus addressed it "Now thou"Badger,—our mutual safety depends upon thy obedience & expedition—Thou
"art made to pass thro' the Earth as quick as upon it: these fools think to destroy
"us, but thou must shew that we are superior to them." During the conflagration they were
enjoying the scene & exulting in the idea of having at last succeeded in destroying so formidable
an adversary: but what was their consternation when they saw him come to them without
even one hair of his head singed!—they were appalled with astonishment & had not
the power of utterance. At last recovering a little they endeavoured to pass it off as a
joke & turn it to his own advantage, by silencing at one blow the envy & malice of his allenemies, pretending to be a staunch friend of his. But he was not thus to be duped; yet
he shewed a superiority of sentiment & generosity equal to his Powers & abilities by
giving them (tho' contemptuous if you please) pardon. So much for this Part.—
Thus did matters pass on for yet a few years. "The indians began to multiply & inha-
bit the world: but the Hairy-breasts, a jealous, envious, and at best foolish people,
could not well behold their prosperity: they made war upon them (the indians) by
stealth & destroyed numbers: their affairs bore a most dismal aspect—no less than the
total extinction of the whole race. At last Nayhanimis pitched off with his wife,
her father, & another one—there were four of them. He found found a Beaver lodge—
here some of the Hairy-Breasts came up with him. Compliments at first, afterwards
Sneers, taunts & revilings; but so ambiguously that no hold could be taken. "How nume-
"rous: how many are there of ye" inquired the Hairy B. "We are twenty of us" replied
Nayhanimis; "& so are we rejoined the others. Now, they here entered into an arrangement that
whoever found Beaver for the future it should be his own; but to avoid any wrangles, he who foundthe Beaver should plant a stick or branch upon the lodge, as a mark. On their return

[...] [(38)] [...]

home each recounted to his family what he had met with in the course of the day. "Now said Nay-
"hanimis, addressing his family, we must take 20 Beavers, one for each man of them (meaning the
"hairy-breasts) & make a feast. If it turns out that we be able to eat these 20 Beaver, & they
"not, then we shall be superior to them & have the upper hand." The Beaver were cooked
accordingly:—he took his rattler which he shook to the tunes of his Songs,—performed the
usual ceremonies, & they eat the whole 20 B. with ease. Then addressing his family
thus, said "These Hairy-Breasts are great boasters, but cowards—They are a people of
no account—tomorrow will decide all." The Hairy Breasts on their return did
the same as Nayhanimis & cooked also 20 B. thinking that his band did really con-
sist of that number. They eat: but every one was already full & yet more than 3/4
of the feast remained—"Give me my rattler (said one of the oldest) that I sing &c. it may
"happen that we find grace". He sang & shook his rattler, but it would not sound—
After frequent repeated trials to no effect he became vexed & threw it out of doors
among the Dogs "This dog of a rattler will not sound in spite of all my endeavours: but
"hold! hear how it rattles now that it is out—go for it one of ye, perhaps it was
"owing to some fault in me." They bro't it to him: but still as before: he threw
it out again in a rage; it was no sooner out than it sounded well as before:
it was bro't in again: but as before again. Then he threw it out for good, vexed
& disappointed to the utmost degree. But his freinds were not pleased; they considered
this a portentious omen & his behavior foolish; & by no means calculated to reconcile their Deitiesto them. He comforted them by telling them the numbers of "the adverse party must be few,
"otherwise we had surely been able to eat the whole of this feast: they are few & we shall sub-
"due them." The next day they all pitched off. Nayhanimis came first to a Beaver
lodge & marked it—came another & marked that one also. But making a circuit, in
which he hung up his Bow, quiver &c. &c. in a tree, at his own height, came round
to the same lodges & found that the Hairy-B had put marks of their own & thrown
his one away:—exasperated he threw theirs away & replaced his, & made another
circuit, when he found the H.B. had replaced their own again: He also
remarked that the HB. had hung up their Bows &c. &c. in the tops of very hi trees, trusting
to their numbers. At last they met—greeted each other at first, then sneers, quarrels,
a challenge & then the battle: they were to fight man to man—Nayhanimis killed 19
right out, but the 20th had near killed him: however this was but an accident
usual in battles—he soon killed him also. The women were coming up when raising
his voice to a pitch to be distinctly heard by heard by all said "Such of ye indian"women as have been taken from your homes, had your husbands killed &c. such
"of ye indian women as are willing to return to your nation, take all axes & others
"arms out of the hands of these H. B. women,—seperate yourselves from them; attack

[...] [(39)] [...]

"& destroy them all: leave not one alive to carry the news to the others. They seperated accordingly &
killed every soul. Then he took them to his tent & finding by their answers to his queries
that there were still another band not far off consisting of 40 young & 2 old men of the HB.
he ordered a quantity of poles or pickets to be cut very long & made a kind of Fort of
them round his own tent:—gave orders to them to gather a vast quantity of snow
round all the sides of it, to come over the points, so that neither the pickets nor
tent might be seen, & that this rising might have the appearance of a natural
hill, something in short in the form of a pit. He immediately made a
number of lances & spears & walked off in quest of his enemies. He soon reached
their camp—drew near & found that there were but 2 old men, all the others were
out a hunting. Here he listened to their conversation & was burning with indignation
at the stories these 2 old men told each other of the cruelties they had done to
the Indians—They were chukling at this when he sprung into the tent, took each
by the head & thrust their faces in the fire & sprang out again to listen. One
of them returning to his senses, for they had both fainted during the ceremony, exclaimed thus "my
"old freind! what is the matter with me? I lost my senses quite suddenly & now
"that I am come to, I feel my face quite sore & cannot see"—"It is the same with me"
replied the other one—"Then it must be some evil spirit that has pounced upon us"
resumed the first. At last Nayhanimis addressed them thus "I shall tell ye old men a story too.
"There were two old men formerly seated in their tents relating to each other the exploits
"of their younger days & the cruelties they committed upon the Indians—Nayha-
"nimis was near—he pounced upon them & thrust both their heads together
"into the fire. When your children & young men be returned from their hunting
"tell them this Story, in the mean time I shall return home & make ready for them—
"—my name is Nayhanimis & I reside at such a place" (i.e. I am called (or
named) Nayhanimis &c.). The old men as may be imagined, were Thunder Struck with this & durst
not say a word more. But in the Evening the young men came home—They were astonished to see
their fathers in such a plight. "Children! behold your fathers! said they—Had any miscreant"durst act in such a manner to our fathers, their villanny should certainly not have
"passed off thus: but we are now old men & of no more account!!!" This last apostrophe
above all the rest roused them to vengeance: they merely scraped the snow off their feet
&legs & went immediately in quest of him, vowing vengeance all the way of a most cruel & ex-
emplary nature. Nayhanimis was on his guard, every soul able to weild a weapon had one in
his hand, besides an infinite number of spears & sharp stakes stuck in the Ground, The H.
B. came, but not perceiving the trap on account of the snow that was bro't over ends of the
stockades they all fell in one upon the other & impaled themselves in their fall on those sticks &c.—
All of them but 2 or 3 met with instantaneous death—The few that were not injured were put to