Of The Religious Opinions Of The Crees It Is Difficult To Give A Correct
Account, Not Only Because They Show A Disinclination To Enter Upon The
Subject But Because Their Ancient Traditions Are Mingled With The
Information They Have More Recently Obtained By Their Intercourse With
Europeans.
None of them ventured to describe the original formation of the world but
they all spoke of a universal
Deluge caused by an attempt of the fish to
drown Woesackootchacht, a kind of demigod with whom they had quarrelled.
Having constructed a raft he embarked with his family and all kinds of
birds and beasts. After the flood had continued for some time he ordered
several waterfowl to dive to the bottom; they were all drowned but a
muskrat, having been despatched on the same errand, was more successful
and returned with a mouthful of mud out of which Woesackootchacht,
imitating the mode in which the rats construct their houses, formed a new
earth. First a small conical hill of mud appeared above the water; by and
by, its base gradually spreading out, it became an extensive bank which
the rays of the sun at length hardened into firm land. Notwithstanding
the power that Woesackootchacht here displayed his person is held in very
little reverence by the Indians; and in return he seizes every
opportunity of tormenting them. His conduct is far from being moral and
his amours and the disguises he assumes in the prosecution of them are
more various and extraordinary than those of the Grecian Jupiter himself;
but as his adventures are more remarkable for their eccentricity than
their delicacy it is better to pass them over in silence.
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