(FROM AN OLD TRAVELLER.)
“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]