BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

276
JOHN MCDONNELL
make a passage for it. The body is gathered up with its knees
in the belly to make it as short as possible, and every thing,
he used about his person, is interred with him, viz: his arms,
accoutrements, provisions for his journey, tobacco to smoke, a
dish and a wooden spoon, shoes and his best clothing upon his
back. Their favorite manner of disposing of their dead is upon
scaffold.; raIsed a man's height above the ground, Iho' they
sometimes inter them in the ground.
Medecines. After the funeral succeeds the funeral feast, which is eaten
sitting around the grave or scaffold, of which he is supposed to
partake as well as of the Calumet, of whieh the stem end is
pointed towards him that he may smoke. A lock of his hair,
cut off before the interment, is carefully wrapped up and carried
about with them for the space of twelve months, wrapped in a
piece of the best cloth to be had and garnished with porcupine
quills &c., &c., after their fancy.
Almost every great man or chief among the Indians is a
juggler or doctor of physic,-their medecines being simples
they collect themselves-and when one teaches to another the
vitue of an herb he knew not, there is scarce any bound to his
liberality in repaying his instructor; but since traders frequent
these posts several Indians make use of European medecines.
The" jon- Every juggler pretends to have a familiar spirit who pays him
[flerie". frequent visits when his attendance is required and, in emergencies,
directs by his answers, which are generally as dark and ambiguous
as those of the ancient oracles among the heathen, and
which may be interpreted in many different ways. This spirit
never appears but in the jongierie, a small circular appartment
raised a man's height, inclo,sed with raw hides and bound with
thongs. Into this place the juggler is trust, sometimes tied neck
and heels, and a few minutes after, the Tabou and Chichiquoi
begin beating and he kicks the cords that bound him out of the-