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. Before we quit
him however we may remark that he converses with all kinds of birds and
beasts in their own languages, constantly addressing them by the title of
brother but, through an inherent suspicion of his intentions, they are
seldom willing to admit of his claims of relationship. The Indians make
no sacrifices to him, not even to avert his wrath. They pay a kind of
worship however and make offerings to a being whom they term
Kepoochikawn.
This deity is represented sometimes by rude images of the human figure
but more commonly merely by tying the tops of a few willow bushes
together; and the offerings to him consist of everything that is valuable
to an Indian; yet they treat him with considerable familiarity,
interlarding their most solemn speeches with expostulations and threats
of neglect if he fails in complying with their requests. As most of their
petitions are for plenty of food they do not trust entirely to the favour
of Kepoochikawn but endeavour at the same time to propitiate the animal,
an imaginary representative of the whole race of larger quadrupeds that
are objects of the chase.
In the month of May whilst I was at Carlton House the Cree hunter engaged
to attend that post resolved upon dedicating several articles to
Kepoochikawn and, as I had made some inquiries of him respecting their
modes of worship, he gave me an invitation to be present. The ceremony
took place in a sweating-house or, as it may be designated from its more
important use, a temple which was erected for the occasion by the
worshipper's two wives. It was framed of arched willows, interlaced so as
to form a vault capable of containing ten or twelve men ranged closely
side by side, and high enough to admit of their sitting erect. It was
very similar in shape to an oven or the kraal of a Hottentot and was
closely covered with moose-skins except at the east end which was left
open for a door.
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