[...] [(47)] [...]

"kiss as is customary but would have given it a bite had they not taken it from her. They wat-
"ched her narrowly. All the men slept in one tent with her: she pretended to be asleep 'till
"she imagined the others were, then rose very cautiously & was beginning to prepare herself for action"—One of the men perceived this—rose upon her with an axe; tho' the blow was violent &
"upon the head she would have killed him had not the others interfered: her wretched fate
"was soon decided." There is such a singular, strange, incomprehensible contradictoriness in
almost all these cases, & many I have heard, that I do most verily believe they are denun-
ciations, witch, or wizardisms: in any other manner they are not rationally to be account-
ed for, unless we suppose all those who feed on human flesh to be thus possest,—then it
is natural to man in those cases; but why then not the same with us as with these people?
—The 3d Kind, or delegated, which by what follows, I believe may be allowed to be
the term, are those who dream of the North, or the Ice, or both. Every one knows
where the North resides, but only few know the abode of Ice, or the Ice. This they pretend is the
Parent of Ice, is in the bowels of the Earth, at a great depth & never thaws—all ice originates
from this. These 2 they are much afraid of, because they are both highly malignant spi-
rits: there is no joking or jesting with them. Those who at any future period are to become
cannibals thus dream of them. After the certain things usual in all dreams "I was
"invited by the North to partake of a feast of ducks, the most beautiful I had ever seen
"& well cooked—the dish was before me, I set too: a stranger by me touched me with his elbow & said, Eat not thou
"of that; look into thy dish; behold that which I had taken for the wing of a duck was
"the arm of a child! 'he! what a narrow escape'! said I. Then he took me into another
"room & gave me most excellent meat, the most delicious in appearance I had ever seen
"I would not eat—I discovered it was the flesh of indians thus served up to me! He
"took me into a 3d room & gave me Tongues: These I also perceived were the Tongues of in-
"dians. 'Why refusest thou what I offer thee? is it not good?' 'I feel no inclination
"'to eat' I replied. Then he took me in a fourth room where fine beautiful
"hearts were served up, & I was desired to eat, but I perceived that it was still the same
"I therefore refused. Then said he 'it is well done—thou hast done well!' Heh! had I unfor-
"tunately eaten of this then had I become a cannibal in addition to all my other misfortunes."
Those who eat at these feasts are frequently, but not universally told thus: " This is a sign to
"thee that thou shalt one day become a cannibal & feed on the flesh of thy fellows—When
"thou shalt see children play with, & eat, ice (or snow) in thy Tent say 'my time is near';
"for then thou shalt soon eat indian (human) flesh." They have such dread & horor of
this that it is constantly in their minds. "You white people! who live at your ease, get your
"living out of your Nets or from your indians, & besides are not otherwise troubled as we,
"make light of these Things:—I do not make much account of them either, but I tell you that he
"who thus once dreams of either of those Dogs are for ever after continually troubled with them

[...] [(48)] [...]

"—we do every thing in our Power to drive him away from us, but still he hovers about us & we can-
"not avoid him. You are very fortunate—you live as you please, never care for him nor does he molest
"you."—Such I am told are the sentiments of these people in General. I look upon this
as a sort of mania, a fever, a distemper of the brain. Their eyes (for I have seen thus perplexd)
are wild & uncommonly clear—they seem as if they glistened—It seems to me to
lodge in the Head. They are generally rational except at short, sudden intervals when the
paroxysms cease them: their motions then are various & diametrically contrary at one
time to what they are the next moment—Sullen, thoughtful, wild look & perfectly
mute:—staring in sudden convulsions, wild incoherent & extravagant language.
There was one a few years back infected with this not far from where I was at
the time: the accounts given of him, tho' I shall not vouch for their truth are
thus. One night towards the latter end of December he began staring at his daugh-
ter with an extraordinary intenseness: "My daughter! I am fond of thee! I love
"thee extremely"—"I know thou dost" replied the woman abashed, for she was then
very young"—Yes! I love thee—I think I could eat a piece of thee, I love thee
"so much". The Girl exclaimed at his rashness—there were but 3 of them
the father, daughter & her husband. When it was dark he put himself stark-naked &
uttering a strong tremulous noise, & his teeth chattering in his head as if thro' cold, rose
up & walked out of the Tent & laid himself curled as a dog in a heap upon the wood
that his daughter had that day bro't to the door. Here he remained all night in-
spite of what they could do. A little before day he returned. Thus did he every
night for about a month & every time slept out naked; nor would he eat,
excepting at times a little raw flesh. In the day time he was more composed,
but his face &c. bore the appearance of one possessed of the Devil. He recovered &
became as usual, composed, & good natured—I knew them all well, but had no
dealings with them from the year before (1812)—A young indian a few years
back had one of the above Dreams. He became very uneasy & thoughtful finding it recur
so very frequently: & he would have willing undergone any torments any death rather than
become an anthropophagi: he also frequently desired his friends upon any, the least appear-
ance of these symptoms in him to kill him. "For if you do not kill me 'till I have eaten of human"flesh, you'll perhaps not be able to do it afterwards; but my Children! Oh! my children!
"how grieved am I to leave ye! but it must be so—I have no alternative." "Spare me
"not, my friends I conjure you"! He had been a good hunter & a peaceable indian, & of course
much loved by his friends: this business depressed them a great deal. At last the time approach-
ing fast his brother one day remained behind with him to watch him, whilst the others pitch-
ed off: about the time this one thought the others had finished the encampment he proposed their
setting off to join them. But before long he left his brother behind & laid an ambush for him not

[...] [(49)] [...]

not far from the Tent. This was a preconcerted scheme, the other men of course were not far off.
The sick one drew near, in a very slow & thoughtful manner: however when he came near to where
his brother was hid, he stopped, looked up & called out "Thou thinkest thyself well hid from
"me my brother, but I see thee: it is well thou undertakest, it had been better for thee however
"hadst thou began sooner. Remember what I told you all—it is my heart; my heart, that is
"terrible, & however you may injure my body if you do not completely annihilate my heart"nothing is done." The brother was sure that he was not discovered, this knowledge being the
information of some of the spirits: he therefore did not answer. Some of the other men had
gone to meet him & endeavoured to amuse him that the brother might give the first
blow: accordingly he shot, straight for the heart—he dropped, but rose immediately,
& continued towards the camp that was within sight laughing at their undertaking. "The
"Ball went through & through, but not a drop of blood was seen—his heart was alrea-
"ready formed into Ice." Here they seized & bound him & with ice chissels & axes
set to work to dispatch him. "According to his desire they had collected a large pile
"of dry wood & laid him upon it.—The body was soon consumed, but the heart remained perfect
"& entire" it rolled several times off the Pile—They replaced it as often: fear ceased them—
"then with their (Ice) chissels they cut & hacked it into small bits, but yet with diffi-
"culty was it consumed"!!! They fancy that blood which circulated thro' the heart
first turns into water, then coagulates or congeals, & shortly after becomes into solid
imperforable or impenetrable ice. The only antidote or remedy for this, is to give them
large draughts of high-wines; double distilled spirits, or the spirits of wine, if any
can be had the better: this taken in large draughts & frequently, & kept beside a large
fire, flows to the heart & thaws the ice: if a profuse sweat ensues it is a happy
omen. An indian with me this winter gave out his apprehensions that he was thus
tormented—I communicated it to 2 others who happened to come in about that time: "Why do you not give him
"large draughts of your strongest spirits to drink & keep him in the room beside a large
"fire." I replied that I was afraid it would burn him "Oh! no—if he is a real
"Wendigo it will only do him good by driving out the ice; but if he lies to you indeed,
"then it certainly will injure him; but it will be good for him, & teach him for the future
"not to impose upon people to frighten them." However, they are in general kind &
extremely indulgent to those thus infected: they seem to consider it as an infliction &
are desirous of doing all they can to assist. There are however many exceptions: but these
again depend upon the circumstances &c. attending them. One of my best hunters here
is thus tormented, or at least thus torments himself; & very often desires his friends in
compassion to put a period to existence the first symptoms he may shew of cannibalism.
A young girl lately maried, & scarcely worth a Filip, so small & diminutive, was this winter
seized with this phrensy—the consequence was that the men durst not leave the tent for any