CHAP. xxr. 



INDIAN CONJURORS. 



making the woods resound with their songs, shouts, and 

 whoops. Frequently remaining for several hours in the 

 bath, they came out covered with perspiration, and in a 

 very exhausted state. If the bath was used for curative 

 purposes, tliey plunged at once into the neighbouring- 

 lake or river. 



There does not appear to be any change in the use of 

 the vapour-bath at the present day among the uncivilised 

 Crees, Ojibways, Nasquapees, &c,, and the large number 

 of holes with stones lying near them for heating, which I 

 saw on the portages in the country drained by the Moisie, 

 show that this favourite pastime or ' medicine ' is still 

 frequently resorted to by the Montagnais. 



Fasting was common among the Montagnais, and 

 lasted sometimes for eight days. Besides their super- 

 stitions respecting particular bones of the female porcu- 

 pine, the beaver, and certain birds, and the care with 

 whicli they preserved the blood and bones of the bears 

 they had killed, they had a singular observance whenever 

 one of these animals was brought into camp. 



No young children or girls or young married women 

 who had not yet become mothers were permitted to 

 remain in the lodge, either during the cooking of the 

 bear or during the subsequent feast. Bear-flesh, in any 

 form whatever, was only allowed to be eaten by adult 

 males and mothers. They would never permit the 

 Canadian Jay or Whiskey Jack, which they called Ouich- 

 cat-chan, to enter their lodges, lest they should have 

 pains in the head ; but they examined the gizzard of this 

 bird with the greatest care, to see if it contained any 

 fragments resembling the bones of tlie moose, or an_y 



