54 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. x 



increased by degrees until it formed an Island in the ocean. A wolf was 

 the first animal Chapewee placed on the infant earth, but the weight 

 proving too much, it began to sink on one side, and was in danger of 

 turning over. To prevent this accident the wolf was directed to move 

 round the Island, which he did for a whole year, and in that time the 

 earth increased so much in size that all on board the canoe were able to 

 embark on it. Chapewee on landing stuck up a piece of wood which 

 became a tree and grew with amazing rapidity, until its top reached the 

 skies. 



A squirrel ran up this tree and was pursued by Chapewee, who 

 endeavoured to knock it down with a stick, but could not overtake it. 

 He continued the chase, however, until he reached the stars, where he 

 found a fine plain and a beaten road ; in this road he set a snare made of 

 his sister's hair, and then returned to the earth. 



The sun appeared as usual in the heavens in the morning, but at 

 noon it was caught by the snare which Chapewee had set for the squirrel 

 and the sky was instantly darkened. Chapewee's family upon this said 

 to him, " You must have done something wrong when you left aloft, for 

 we no longer enjoy the light of day". " I have", replied he, "but it was 

 unintentional." Chapewee then endeavoured to repair the fault he had 

 committed and sent a number of animals up the tree to release the sun 

 by cutting the snare, but the intense heat of the sun reduced them all 

 to ashes. 



The effort of the more active animals being thus frustrated, a ground 

 mole, though such a grovelling and awkward beast, succeeded in burrow- 

 ing under the road to the sky, until it reached and cut asunder the snare 

 that bound the sun. It lost its eyes, however, the instant it thrust its 

 head into the light, and its nose and teeth have ever since been brown 

 as if burnt. 



Chapewee's Island during these transactions increased to the present 

 size of the American continent, and he traced the course of the rivers and 

 scraped the lakes by drawing his fingers through the earth. He next 

 allotted to the quadrupeds, birds and fishes their several stations, and 

 endowed them with certain capacities. He told them that in future 

 they were to provide for their own safety, because man would destroy 

 them whenever he found their tracks; but to console them, he said that 

 when they died they should be like the seed of grass which, when thrown 

 into the water, springs again into life. 



The animals objected to this arrangement, and said, "Let us when 

 we die be as stone, which when thrown into a lake disappears for ever 

 from the sight of man". Chapewee's family complained of death being 



