out as quick as he could. Very shortly after they heard the same cries of pain, faintly, at first, but
the voice soon entered. The Conjuror said he was carried to where the people were "They are all
aslepp, at such a place & tomorrow will be here" &c. He said there were 4 (spirits) of them,
that carried him off: Each held him by the little finger & little toe! I shall here relate
a couple more of these stories. And indian told me that several years back he left his lodge
on the borders of a large Lake to go to the house for some necessaries he wanted. He took
a traverse for some islands,—the weather was dull but mild: a storm very soon set in—
but he persevered: thinking the wind had changed, he also changed his course. He became
very much fatigued & laid down on the ice to rest himself & wait for day light, for
the night had overtaken him. He was not long down before reflecting on his situation
he became extremely uneasy & was afraid of freezing. At last he heard a curious noise near
him that he could not account for: at first his fears increased greatly dreading it was
some malignant spirit; but having no alternative he resigned himself to his fate "& I became
"as composed as tho' I were safe; & I was too: for an animal much resembling a Wolf
"& black, came up & covered me; I was very cold, shivering in every limb, but I soon
"became quite warm: he rose from off me & went on as if inviting me to follow—his
"eyes appeared like 2 candles.—I followed—he led me to an island where I made a fire
"& warmed & dried myself; & as soon as I was rigged I followed him, for he went off & looked at
"me so earnestly I took it for an order: he led me straight to the water hole:—
"there happened to be people at the time there going for water—They saw these lights
"& asked me what occasioned them, or who it was that came with me,—I told
"them it was a compassionate spirit that retrieved me from a dreadful death."—
—2nd! A young man lately told me the following "I was returning home with my
"uncle when come to that point we heard something crying behind us he! he! ha! ha!
"& whistling alternatively. My uncle told me it was a Pah-Kack (Skeleton) & wanted to
"destroy us. It came up with us very soon & kept constantly buzzing & whistling in our
"ears so that indeed we were quite bewildered at last: it was at night & dark, but
"we kept strait on as we thought; we were mistaken, for after
"walking a long time, we at last came to the water hole again from where we had
"set off. We were both of much afraid; but finding this path we minded it no
"more tho' it pursued us making more & more noise the nearer we got home."
Many of these stories bear a great resemblance to those extravagant tales of
la Béte a la Grande Queue, Loup Garoup, Chasse Galerie & many others
natural to superstitious people, it requires therefore a great deal of caution &
attention to get at the true ones. I have here inserted more than I originally intended,
but they will serve to give you an idea of the notions of these people; & except a few, I have
selected those that appeared most rational: however they will all come in time.

[...] [(44)] [...]

There is a kind of disease(or distemper rather, & of the mind, I am fully persuaded,) peculiar to the
Crees & Sauteux's & of which they have the greatest dread & horor; & certainly not without the
very greast cause, the consequences 49 times out of 50 being death unfortunately to many be-
sides the subjects or objects themselves. They term this Wen-di-go (according to the
french pronunciation, which is more correct than the English, in this word)—the pro-
per signification of which, to me at least, & no one I think can doubt it, is Giant of the
Anthropophagi Genus, sect, tribe, or kind &c. The stories related of these are as extravagant
& fantastatic as those we read in our old romances in the days of Chivalry; differing in no one
circumstance hardly but the means used in their destruction, which of course is often done by
the intervention or assistance of their Guardian Genii. However, there are some few more ra-
tional than those of ours & tho' still beyond all bounds of credibility, are as devoutly be-
lieved by these poor creatures as the Gospel is by the most orthodox among us. I do not
remember any of these sufficiently correctly to give you a few of the stories, one excepted:—
—Suffice it to say that they are of uncommon size—Goliath is an unborn infant to them;
& to add to their dread, they are represented as possessing much of
the Power of Magicians. Their head reaching to the tops of the highest Poplars (about 70, or 80,
feet) they are of proportionate size, of course they must be very heavy: their gait tho grand
& majestic, at every step the Earth shakes. They frequently pursue their Prey (indians of
course) invisibly, yet they cannot so completely divest themselves of all the incommodi-
ties of nature as to prevent their approach being known. A secret & unaccountable horor pervades
the whole system of one, several, or the whole band, of those of whom he is in pursuit:
Phenomena in the heavens, earth &c. &c.—"In the days of Noah (or near them at least) there
were a large party of indians collected together for mutual safety: many camps
had been already destroyed by him, & the indians were in great danger being entirely ex-
terminated. At last they bethought themselves of a plan. "It is needles to go to war upon him—
"—what can we do to him with our arms! Let us make an immense Large trap (of wood)
"& draw lots which of us shall serve as bait: it is a dangerous assay indeed, but will any
generous one amongst us refuse sacrificing his life for the safety of so many?"—They made
this trap on the opposite side of a small opening in the woods, so that he might see the
person seated from afar. it was between large trees which were made to serve as Posts.
It was finished. An old woman stepped up & said "My Grandchildren! I am now
"old & of no more account among ye: we are all in danger of being devoured by this insatiable
"& terrible beast, why should I then regret sacrificing a life that at best I can now
"enjoy but only for a short time, seeing it will in the end be productive of so much good?
"I will go & be bait." The others were extremely touched at her generosity, but they had no
alternative, & circumstances admitted of no delay. The old lady seated herself very com-

[...] [(45)] [...]

composedly in the trap & awaited his arrival: the others fled off of course. It was time too, for he soon hove in
sight!—Stalking along in all the stile & terror of Imperial Gradeur, his head equal with the tops
of the highest trees, & the ground shaking at every step, tho' froze, it being then depth of winter,
& his countenance denoting an assemblage of pity, contempt, rage & voraciousness. All this
did not dismay the old Lady: she remained quiet:—he perceived her—"What! What
"old woman, art thou doing there?" But changing his tone, which he did several times thus
continued; "Thou art of my natural enemies & I shall presently Grind thee." "Ah! my
"Grand Child! I am an old woman, abandoned & deserted by those whom I have suckled & bro't
"up: they are fled off in dread of thee, & being old & helpless they thrust me in this tuft of trees
"so as to be the less embarrassed: come now & assist me out & in acknowledgement I shall
"inform thee of their precautions, otherwise thou'lt lose thy life by their deceptions." He
was in no dread of the indians, so far as regarded their own Power, but he thought a little
salutary advice would not be amiss, intending after this to Grind the old thing as he had pro-
mised himself. He drew up: "what a devil of a place they have put thee indeed—did they
think to conceal thee from me?"—He stooped to enter: when she found he had entered
far enough she touched a stick & down came all the weights & cross bar upon his
back. Tho' he was uncommonly strong the weight, & suddenness of the blow was such
that he gave way & was jamed between the two beams or bars—here he struggled denouncing
vengeance & eternal destruction to the whole of the human race. The great bellowing
he made was a signal to the men who were in ambush not far off: they came
running up & soon dispatched him with a multitude of blows from axes & Chissels
&c. &c."—Thus were they for one time releived: the women & children returned
to the camp & enjoyed themselves as usual without further apprehensions. These Gi-
ants as far as I can learn reside somewhere about the North Pole; & even at this day
frequently pay their unwelcome visits, but which however, are attended with a complete
fright only. It seems also that they delegate their Power to the indians occasionly; &
this occasions that cannibalism which is Produced or proceeds rather from a sort of
distemper much resembling maniaism. There are 3 sorts or kinds that I
know of, & beleive there are no more. The first I have already related as above, & the
2 I am going to give you are sometimes compounded together & sometimes independent;
but they are both equally true & melancly & distressing in whatever light we may view
them: However, I shall not pretend by any means to palm all that is said about
them upon you as true—of this you'll by & bye be able to judge as well as myself
& not doubt. The first of these are such as are driven to this dreadful extremity by
starvation. In all woody countries where the inhabitants lead a wandering, roving life, & whose
subsistence depend upon the Game they procure, they must of necessity be frequently pinched, & some-
times bro't very low. All People cannot bear this privation alike & tho' there is perhaps not a

[...] [(46)] [...]

a people in this world who take this so patiently as those people do, yet there are not wanting in-
stances where even with them that nature gives-way. They vanish as a dying Candle; but others can-
not stand it out so long: they must have something to eat, be it what it may: sometimes, tho' with
the most extreme reluctance at first, they feed upon the flesh of such as have died. Any kind of
animal substance at such times, must come very grateful to the Stomack; & hence it is I be-
lieve that those who have once preyed upon their fellows, ever after feel a great desire for the
same nourishment, & are not so scrupulous about the means of procuring it. I have seen
several that had been reduced this distressing alternative, & tho' many years after there ap-
peared to me a wildness in their eyes, a confusion in their countenances much resem-
bling that of reprieved murderers....Now if we consider how very precarious their
mode of subsistance is, how devoted they are to superstition & prejudice, we, i. e. such of usas know more about them, we, I say, may wonder how they stand out so well: very many
instances I have known seem to be far beyond the power of human nature to stand:—Yet
notwithstanding this dreadful privation lasts not for a few days, but even to weeks & months,
during all which time the men are out from star-light to star-light & have never
anything more to eat than some bits of leather, moss, bark & such like, it is very rare they
will kill a fellow to live upon him. This is not universal, there are unfortunately still
too many exceptions; but these again would seem as denounciations from their Gods—
—They appear so to me--- I can scarcely doubt it! and the indians themselves seem to think
the same tho' in another way. At this place where I am now writing (Lac La Ronge, English River) but
a few years back several instances occurred. An old Canadian is said to have lost one of his
Sons thus, tho' an excellent hunter: the old man sometimes speakes to me of that son: and the
second died on his way to the house, & not far off. The same year an indian killed all
his family but 2 daughters whom he compelled to partake with him, & for the rest of the
route he ........—I shall here give you a few stories of the kind. "That same
"year (I do not know precisely when but only a few years back) a woman alone arrived at the
"house. Her appearance was haggard, wild, & distressed: However she was taken into the house—
"questions put as usual, but the answers, vague, indefinite & contradictory: they
"handed her something to eat—she acted as if eating it indeed, but let the whole fall in
"the inside of her gown: this rose suspicion. But what added to this was the extra-
"ordinary stench she emitted from the heat of the chimney; & shortly after her entrance, a
"part of a human shoulder the Dogs bro't in from upon her road. She went off—being
"directed upon a road leading to a camp not far off. As soon as she made her appearance the indians
"immediately conceived what was to matter; but thro' charity as well as for safety & to find the
"truth they gave her to eat, principally marrow-fat." Now these people pretend that cannibals
cannot bear this fat or grease, of course it was a kind of ordeal. "Every thing she did & said, notwithstand-
"ing her great caution, betrayed her. She took up some of the children of her acquaintances to kiss