I have heard the words of the son of the Chepewyan, and the tale he has
told of the Happy Island, and the Stone Canoe. It is the belief of his
fathers, and he does well to treasure it up in his soul. The Knisteneaux
have too their land of delight. It is in a different clime from that of
the Chepewyan--how could it be, and continue a land of delight? Wars
would arise between these ancient and implacable enemies, and the peace
and quiet of the blessed regions be destroyed by their cries of hatred
and revenge. Ask a Knisteneau to throw away his war-spear with a
Chepewyan in his hunting-grounds? Ask a Chepewyan to wipe off his
war-paint while there was the print of a Knisteneau mocassin in his
war-path? The Great Spirit, knowing the impossibility of reconciling the
jarring tribes of the Wilderness, appointed to each tribe or nation its
place of happiness, and placed, between each, impassable barriers, that
wars enkindled on earth might not be transferred to the Land of Souls.
The "Foot of the Fawn," the most beautiful woman of the nation, and the
beloved wife of the great chief, died suddenly of the labour of nature
in the Moon of Buds. The body of the deceased mother, dressed in the
best garments she possessed, the robe of white fox-skin with the
embroidered sandals of dressed deer-skin, the feathers with which she
used to deck her long black hair, and the bracelets of pierced bones
which encircled her slender wrists, were placed in the grave lined with
pine branches. They buried with her all the domestic utensils she had
used, and all the articles she was known to have prized. While they were
filling in the earth into her grave, and erecting over it the canopy to
protect it from the rains and the winds, loud were the lamentations
which filled the air. They spoke of her patience, her industry, her care
of her family, her love of her husband, her kindness and pity to the
sick and afflicted, her benevolence to the stranger. The child, in
giving birth to which she had died, was buried, according to the custom
of our nation, by the side of the public footpath, or highway, that,
having enjoyed but little life, merely seen the light of the sun to have
its eye pained by its beams, some woman as she passed by might receive
its little soul, and thus it might be born again, and still enjoy its
share of existence. With these rites were the wife and child of the
great chief of the Knisteneaux laid in the earth from whence they
sprung.
It was many suns after the decease of the beloved Fawn's Foot, that two
doves, one of which was of the size of a full grown dove, and the other
a very little one, were seen sitting upon a spray by the side of the
warrior's lodge. Our people, who recollected the tradition of our
fathers, that the souls of the good, after their entrance upon the land
of never-ceasing happiness, were transformed into doves, and that not
always were little children appointed to be received into the bosom of a
second mother[A], and to re-enter into another stage of existence,
immediately conjectured that they were the spirits of the mother and the
child returned to the land of their bodies, on some errand yet to be
learned. They knew by the tradition of their fathers, that they had
entered on the Land of Souls, for the Festival of the Dead[B] had been
celebrated, and all the rites duly observed which release the soul from
its compelled attendance on the body, until the baked meats have been
eaten, and the howling and the piercing of flesh, and the tearing of
hair, and the weeping in secret, have taken place. "They have come! they
have come! The Fawn's Foot and her child have returned from the Land of
Souls," was shouted through the village. "The beautiful Fawn's Foot and
her child, that disdained to be born again, but clung to its first
mother, have returned to visit us, and tell us the secrets of the land
of departed souls. Now we shall hear from our fathers, mothers,
children, sisters, brothers, lovers, and friends. We shall be told the
length of the journey to the _Cheke Checkecame_, and whether the
traveller thither must take him stores of provisions, and go armed. We
shall know if the soul of the Little Serpent, who was taken prisoner by
the Coppermines, and burnt at the stake, is yet subjected to the pinches
and goadings of the bad spirits in the place of torment prepared for
those who die the death of fire; we shall hear about the Great Dog which
stands on the hither bank of the river, over which all must pass who
would enter on the land of spirits, to guard it against the approach of
those who break from their chains in the place of torment before the
expiation is duly made, and attempt, with impure hands, to lay hold of
the pleasures of the happy regions." Thus they ran about the village,
shouting and singing, until all the people were collected together, and
then they moved in a procession towards the tree upon which the doves
were perched. They found them--beautiful birds! but they were not
birds, but souls changed into the form which betokens innocence and
purity; they found them, and long and earnestly did they gaze upon the
tenderly beloved beings they had formerly been, the pure souls they now
were. The happiness they enjoyed in their present state was seen in
their eyes, which were mild and beautiful beyond my power to tell. And
great appeared the love subsisting between them. The little dovelet
hopped on the back of its parent, who playfully pecked it in return, and
often were the eyes of the child turned fondly on its mother, as if
thanking her for the existence she had bestowed upon it, at the expense
of her own life. Glorious birds with soft eyes, and skyey plumage! never
hath aught so beautiful been seen in the land of the Knisteneaux.
[Footnote A: They (the Chepewyans) have some faint notion of transmigration
of the soul; so that if a child be born with teeth, they instantly
imagine, from its premature appearance, that it bears a resemblance to
some person who had lived to an advanced age, and that he has assumed
a renovated life, with these extraordinary symptoms.--_Mackenzie_,
cxix.]
[Footnote B: See note 4, p. 306 of this vol.]
At length the bereaved husband and father made his appearance, slowly
and with eyes which would have shed tears, had they been other than
those of a warrior. No sooner was he in view, than the little wings of
the doves were rapidly fanning the air towards him. One, the lesser, and
scarce larger than a fly, lighted on his lip, the larger crept to his
bosom, as it was wont to do in life, and was fondly pressed to his
heart, which loved the form it bore when living, and deeply cherished
its memory, and hailed its return to the earth, in a new shape, with
inconceivable delight. Having nestled awhile in his bosom, the soul of
the good and beautiful Fawn's Foot perched upon his shoulders, and thus
addressed the listening Knisteneaux:
"I am one of the souls of the Fawn's Foot, who died of the labour of
nature, in the Moon of Buds, and the little dove at my side is the
spirit of my child. It is an old tradition of our fathers, and will not
therefore surprise you, that every person is gifted by the Great Master
of Life with two souls. One of these souls, which is the breath, never
leaves the body, but to go into another, which nevertheless seldom
happens, save to that of children, which, having enjoyed but little
life, is allowed to begin a new one, and live out a second and more
protracted term of existence. When the breath departs from the body, the
other soul goes to the region which is appointed to be the everlasting
abode of the Knisteneaux. It is situated very far towards the setting
sun, so far, that even those souls which are pardoned are many moons
reaching it. Many dangers are to be encountered before the souls bound
thither arrive. They first come to the place of torment, appointed for
the souls of those who have been taken prisoners and burnt. They pass a
river where many have been wrecked, and at length come to another, at
the hither edge of which lies a dog of immense proportions, which
attacks indiscriminately every one that attempts to cross. The souls
whose good deeds outweigh the bad are assisted by the Good Spirit to
overcome the dog, while the bad, conquered by him in the conflict, are
incessantly worried by him thereafter. The next place of danger and
dread, is the country where the spirits of the beasts, birds, fishes,
&c.--all animate nature which is not man--is found. Here are the spirits
of bears, and wolves, and snakes, all that is cruel, or bloody, or
hideous. And these are sure to give battle to the shades of the human
beings, as they cross the lands and waters where they dwell. The
punishment they inflict consists alone in the terror they excite, for
the jaws, so thickly studded with teeth, are but a shadow, and the claws
could only retain in their grasp a shade. The dwelling place of the
souls of the brutes has its enjoyments and pleasures suited to their
tastes. The snail, that delights to crawl in slime, will have full
permission to do so; the tortoise, and the prairie dog, and the mole,
may still creep into the earth if they choose, and the squirrel still
suspend himself by his tail from the bough of the tree. If the bear
choose to suck his claws, none shall say him nay, and the neeshaw may
bury himself as deep in the mud as he likes.
"At length the souls arrive at the region where they are destined to
spread their tents for ever. I have heard from the lips of our fathers
of its pleasures and its joys; all are well and truly described in your
old tradition. Happiness and rest are for the good, misery and labour
for the bad. Bright skies, eternal springs, and plenty of all things,
reward him who did his duty well; continual storms, endless winter,
parching thirst, pinching hunger, and crying nakedness, punish him who
performed them ill. Men and women of my nation! forsake evil ways, and
earn, by so doing, unbounded happiness. Hunter, dread not the bear, and
be patient and industrious; warrior, fear not thine enemy, and shouldst
thou unhappily fall into his power, bear his torments as a warrior
should bear them, and sing thy death-song in the ears of his tribe. And
thou, my beloved husband, persevere for a few more moons in the course
which made thee the light of my eyes while living, and renders thee not
less dear now I inhabit the world of spirits. Thou wilt soon rejoin the
souls of thy wife and child in the land of unceasing delights. Till
then, farewell."
Having spoken thus, the little doves flung out their skyey wings to
catch the breath of the Great Spirit sent to waft them home, and were
soon swept away from the sight of the Knisteneaux. Not so their tale,
which has resisted the current of time, and survives in the memories of
all our nation.