(1) _Beautiful bird._--p. 104.
The Spirit-Bird or the Wakon Bird is the Indian bird of paradise. It
is held in the utmost veneration by the Indians as the peculiar bird
of the Great Spirit. The name they have given it is expressive of its
superior excellence, and the veneration they have for it; the Wakon
Bird being, in their language, the bird of the Great Spirit. It is
nearly the size of a swallow, of a brown colour, shaded about the neck
with a bright green; the wings are of a darker brown than the body;
its tail is composed of four or five feathers, which are three times
as long as its body, and which are beautifully shaded with green and
purple. It carries this fine length of plumage in the same manner as a
peacock does, but it is not known whether it ever raises it into the
erect position which that bird sometimes does. The Naudowessies
consider it of superior rank to any other of the feathered creation.
(2) _Louder than the thunder of the Spirits Bay of Lake
Huron._--p. 105.
Nearly half-way between Saganaum Bay and the north-west corner of Lake
Huron, lies a Bay, which is called Thunder Bay. The Indians, who have
frequented these parts from time immemorial, and every European
traveller that has passed through it, have unanimously agreed to call
it by this name, on account of the continual thunder they have always
observed here. Whilst Carver was making over it a passage which lasted
near twenty-four hours--it thundered and lightened during the greatest
part of the time to an excessive degree. It is difficult to account
for the phenomenon--perhaps the organic structure of the neighbouring
cliffs invites the concentration of the electric fluid at this spot.