110 EXPEDITION TO THE 



the immortality of the soul, he unhesitatingly replied that 

 lie had heard the white men talk of those things, but had 

 no belief whatever in them. He thought that after death 

 both body and spirit decayed and disappeared ; nor would 

 he at all acknowledge a belief in the doctrine which we 

 liad heard asserted by the interpreter, as generally enter- 

 tained by the Indians, that the spirits of the departed re- 

 turned after death to the Master of Life. In replying to this 

 question he made use of a strong expression, " as a dog dies, 

 so man dies — the dog rots after death, so does man decay 

 after he has ceased to live." Being asked if it was true 

 that they placed provisions near the dead, both at the time 

 of death and afterwards, and if true, wherefore this was 

 done, if both spirit and body decayed together ? He replied, 

 that this custom really prevailed, but he knew of no other 

 foundation for it, than a dream of one of their ancestors, 

 that a departed friend had appeared to him, and told him 

 he was hungry, which induced him to take provisions to 

 the grave of that man — ^he knew of no other cause for 

 it. We felt some anxiety to obtain a more satisfactory 

 answer from Metea on this point, as we knew that at the 

 funeral of a nephew of his, he had once expressed himself 

 thus in the presence of Mrs. Hackley,* who repeated it to 

 Major Long. " His spirit has fled upon a long journey, and 

 you must give him provisions that he may feed upon 

 during his journey." Although all our attempts at obtain- 

 ing a different answer from Metea proved abortive, we in- 

 cline to the opinion that the doctrine of the immortality of 



• Mrs. Hackley is the daughter of the late Captain Wells, by a Miami 

 squaw, who was either the daughter or adopted chihl of Little Turtle. 

 Having received her education among white men, she unites to the 

 manners of civilized life, many of the interesting peculiarities which 

 distinguish mankind in its primitive state. 



