522 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in time with a palm that has been blessed, he gradually yields to 

 a weird fascination, his eyes dilate, his voice grows feeble, and 

 before morning dawns his body lies stiff and stark in death, while 

 his soul has flown to join in the giddy whirl of Jes lusfrions. 



Fireflies, known as feu-follets, called by country people /z-/oZ?e/s, 

 are also considered to be lost souls, whose goblin lights lure the 

 unwary to destruction ; a sad prerogative possessed by fireflies in 

 common with other lights of the century less brilliant, perhaps, 

 but whose seductions are quite as much to be dreaded. A simple 

 charm will curb the malicious designs of these airy, glittering 

 imps. If the object of their j^ersecution can retain sufficient 

 presence of mind to thrust either a needle or a sharp knife into 

 the nearest fence, the ^/z-/oZZe^ is obliged to stop short in his course. 

 One of two things must then happen : either the fi-foUet will im- 

 pale himself upon the sharp instrument, and thus find deliver- 

 ance ; or else he will exhaust himself in frantic efforts to pass 

 through the eye of the needle, an attempt which proves quite as 

 difficult to the fantastic spirit as to the most substantial of mor- 

 tals ; this gives the traveler time to seek the shelter of a dwelling. 



The Ltd in is a tricky spirit, delighting in mischief. How 

 often may it happen that, on entering his stable in the morning, 

 the habitant finds his best horses exhausted ! One must be stupid 

 indeed not to guess that this is a trick played by Lutin, who 

 enjoys a ride at other people's expense, and is not at all likely to 

 spare the animals of which he takes possession. A remedy for 

 this imposition exists. Lutin is most orderly in all his ways and 

 methods, and is forced to leave everything in its place exactly as 

 he found it. To prevent the horses from being taken out, it is 

 onl}^ necessary to scatter a quart of bran before the stable door. 

 The imp will be obliged to step on the bran, the grains of which 

 will naturally become disarranged by the pressure of his footsteps. 

 In scrupulous fulfillment of his obligation, he must replace them 

 one by one ; the night passes in the fulfillment of this tedious 

 task, and, when once morning dawns, farewell to Lutin's hope of a 

 gallop. 



The early French missionaries ascribed a very diabolical char- 

 acter to the sorcery practiced by the Indians, and many tradi- 

 tional beliefs held by the French Canadians can be traced directly 

 to the influence of these heathens. It is said that the taking of 

 Canada by the English was predicted by an Indian witch many 

 years before the event actually happened. The French believed 

 that several different descriptions of sorcerers existed among the 

 savages, and that various degrees of magic were practiced among 

 them. It was always agreed that savage magic could exercise no 

 power over a baptized Christian except when that person hap- 

 pened to be in a state of mortal sin. One kind of Indian wizard 



