12 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap xxr. 



were ranked in point of intelligence and in their ap- 

 proaclies to a sedentary life between the Hurons and the 

 Montagnais. 



All Indians, whether of the woods, prairies, or sea- 

 coast, are more or less snperstitious. The Montagnais, 

 inhabiting, as their name implies, a mountainous country, 

 have always been distinguished by the number and 

 variety of their traditions and religious delusions. 



Summer and winter with them were represented by 

 two divinities * — Nipinoukhe and Pipou-noukhe. The 

 first of these brought the balmy spring ; the second 

 ushered in the merciless winter. Tliese divinities were 

 supposed to divide the entire world between them, each 

 occupying half in turn for about five moons ; for the 

 Montagnais only recognised ten moons in the year, and 

 they considered February to be the longest of them all. 

 They beheved in the existence of spirits of the air, which 

 possessed a knowledge of futurity, and presided over 

 their health, feasts, and hunts. One of the chief oc- 

 cupations of their many conjurors was to consult these 

 spirits in cases of sickness or famine, or before any of the 

 band set out on a hunting expedition. The ceremonies 

 then performed, like those which are common at tlie 

 present day among the wild Cree tribes of the valley of 

 the Saskatchewan, were generally accompanied by a 

 great shaking of the conjurors' tents, throwing of fire 

 amidst the spectators, apparent vocal communion with 

 the spirits in the inside of the tent, and other mysteries 

 easily explained. The sacrifices they rendered to these 



* Paul le Jeune, E elation des Jesuites, 1634. 



