“We arrived at the village of the Peorias, allies of the Illinois,
through a fine large meadow, which is many leagues long. This village is
situated on the banks of a little river, and surrounded with great pales
and posts: there are many trees on the banks, and the huts are built
beneath them. When we arrived there, I inquired for the hut of the grand
chief: I was well received by him and his first warriors. They had just
been beaten by the Foxes, their mortal enemies, and were now holding a
consultation about it. A young Indian lighted the calumet of peace; then
they brought me a dish of maize flour, called sagamité, sweetened with
the syrup of the maple-tree; and afterwards a dessert of dry fruits, as
good as Corinth raisins. The next day I saw a great crowd in the plain:
they were for making a dance in favour of their new Manitou; the high
priest had a bonnet of feathers, like a crown, on his head. I was at the
door of the temple of their false deity; he begged me to go in. Judge of
my astonishment, for this is the picture of their Manitou: his head hung
upon his breast, and looked like a goat’s; his ears and his cruel eye
were like those of a lynx, with the same kind of hair; his feet, hands,
and thighs were in form something like those of a man.
“The Indians found him in the woods, at the foot of a ridge of
mountains, and the priests had persuaded them to adopt him for a
divinity. This general assembly was called, to invoke his protection
against their enemies. I let the Indians know that their Manitou was an
evil genius; as a proof of it, I said that he had just permitted the
nation of Foxes, their most cruel enemies, to gain a victory over them,
and they ought to get rid of him as soon as possible, and be revenged on
him. After a short time, they answered, ‘Houé nigeié, tinai labé,’—‘we
believe thee, thou art in the right.’ They then voted that he should
be burnt; and the great priest, after some opposition, pronounced his
sentence, which, according to the interpreter’s explanation, was in these
terms: ‘O thou, fatal to our nation, who has wrongfully taken thee for
her Manitou! thou hast paid no regard to the offerings which we have made
thee, and hast allowed our enemies, whom thou dost plainly protect, to
overcome us; therefore our old men, assembled in council, have decreed,
with the advice of the chief of the white warriors, that to expiate thy
ingratitude towards us, thou shalt be burnt alive.’ At the end of this
sentence, all the assembly said, ‘Hau, hau,’ which signified ‘yes.’
“As I wished to get this monster, I went to the priest, made him a small
present, and bid my interpreter tell him that he should persuade his
countrymen, that if they burnt this evil genius, there might arise one
from his ashes that could be fatal to them; that I would go on purpose
across the great lake, to deliver them from it. He found my reasons
good, and got the sentence changed, so that it was strangled. I got it
instantly dissected, in order to bring it to France, where its skeleton
is now in the cabinet of natural history of M. de Fayolles. The assembly
dispersed, and returned to their village by the river side. In the
evening you might see them sitting in groups at their doors, and on the
shore, with many fires made of the branches of the trees, whose light was
on the water and the grove; while some of them danced the dance of war,
with loud shrieks, that were enough to strike an awe into the heart.”
[Illustration]