They hold also that there are good spirits of a lesser degree, who have their particular departments, in which they are constantly contributing to the happiness of mortals. These they suppose to preside over all the extraordinary productions of nature, such as those lakes, rivers, or mountains that are of an uncommon magnitude; and likewise the beasts, birds, fishes, and even vegetables or stones that exceed the rest of their species in size or singularity. To all of these they pay some kind of adoration. Thus when they arrive on the borders of Lake Superior, on the banks of the Mississippi, or any other great body of water, they present to the Spirit who resides there some kind of offering, as the prince of the Winnebagoes did when he attended me to the Falls of St. Anthony.
But at the same time I fancy that the ideas they annex to the word spirit, are very different from the conceptions more enlightened nations entertain of it. They appear to fashion to themselves corporeal representations of their gods, and believe them to be of a human form, though of a nature more excellent than man.
Of the same kind are their sentiments relative to a futurity. They doubt not but they shall exist in some future state; they however fancy that their employments there will be similar to those they are engaged in here, without the labour and difficulty annexed to them in this period of their existence.
They consequently expect to be translated to a delightful country, where they shall always have a clear unclouded sky, and enjoy a perpetual spring; where the forests will abound with game, and the lakes with fish, which might be taken without requiring a painful exertion of skill, or a laborious pursuit; in short, that they shall live for ever in regions of plenty, and enjoy every gratification they delight in here, in a greater degree.
To intellectual pleasures they are strangers; nor are these included in their scheme of happiness. But they expect that even these animal pleasures will be proportioned and distributed according to their merit; the skilful hunter, the bold and successful warrior, will be entitled to a greater share than those who through indolence or want of skill cannot boast of any superiority over the common herd.
The priests of the Indians are at the same time their physicians, and their conjurors; whilst they heal their wounds or cure their diseases, they interpret their dreams, give them protective charms, and satisfy that desire which is so prevalent among them of searching into futurity.
How well they execute the latter part of their professional engagements, and the methods they make use of on some of these occasions, I have already shewn in the exertions of the priest of the Killistinoes, who was fortunate enough to succeed in his extraordinary attempt near Lake Superior. They frequently are successful likewise in administering the salubrious herbs they have acquired a knowledge of; but that the ceremonies they make use of during the administration of them contributes to their success, I shall not take upon me to assert.
When any of the people are ill, the person who is invested with this triple character of doctor, priest, and magician, sits by the patient day and night, rattling in his ears a goad-shell filled with dry beans, called a Chichicoué, and making a disagreeable noise that cannot be well described.
This uncouth harmony one would imagine should disturb the sick person, and prevent the good effects of the doctor’s prescription; but on the contrary they believe that the method made use of contributes to his recovery, by diverting from his malignant purposes the evil spirit who has inflicted the disorder; or at least that it will take off his attention, so that he shall not increase the malady. This they are credulous enough to imagine he is constantly on the watch to do, and would carry his inveteracy to a fatal length if they did not thus charm him.
I could not discover that they make use of any other religious ceremonies than those I have described; indeed, on the appearance of the new moon they dance and sing; but it is not evident that they pay that planet any adoration; they only seem to rejoice at the return of a luminary that makes the night cheerful, and which serves to light them on their way when they travel during the absence of the sun.