Ixxiv INTRODUCTION. 



sent him as marrying a female musk-rat, by whom he 

 became the progenitor of the human race.^ 



Searching for some higher conception of supernatural 

 existence, we find, among a portion of the primitive 

 Algonquins, traces of a vague beUef in a spirit dimly 

 shadowed forth under the name of Atahocan, to whom 

 it does not appear that any attributes were ascribed or 

 any worship offered, and of whom tlie Indians professed 

 to know nothing whatever ; ^ but there is no evidence that 

 this belief extended beyond certain tribes of the Lower 

 St. Lawrence. Others saw a supreme manitou in the 

 Sun.^ The Algonquins believed also in a malignant 

 manitou, in whom the early missionaries failed not to 

 recognize the Devil, but who was far less dreaded than 

 his wife. She wore a robe made of the hair of her 

 victims, for she was the cause of death ; and she it was 



diver floated to the surface senseless. The otter next tried, and failed 

 like his predecessor. The musk-rat now offered himself for the desperate 

 task. He plunged, and, after remaining a day and night beneath the 

 surface, reappeared, floating on his back beside the raft, apparently dead, 

 and with all his paws fast closed. On opening them, the other animals 

 found in one of them a grain of sand, and of this the Great Hare created 

 the world. — Perrot, Me/noire, Chap. I. 



1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16. — The musk-rat is always a conspicuous 

 figure in Algonquin cosmogony. 



It is said that Messou, or Manabozho, once gave to an Indian the gift 

 of immortality, tied in a bundle, enjoining him never to open it. The 

 Indian's wife, however, impelled by curiosity, one day cut the string, 

 the precious gift flew out, and Indians have ever since been subject to 

 death. — Le Jeune, Relation, 1634, 13. 



2 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16 ; Relation, 1634, 13. 



3 Biard, Relation, 1611, Chap. VIII. — This belief was very prevalent. 

 The Ottawas, according to Ragueneau {Relation des Hurons, 1648, 77), were 

 accustomed to invoke the " Maker of Heaven" at their feasts ; but they 

 recognized as distinct persons the Maker of the Earth, the Maker of Win- 

 ter, the God of the Waters, and the Seven Spirits of the Wind. He says, at 

 the same time, " The people of these countries have received from their 

 ancestors no knowledge of a God " ; and he adds, that there is no senti« 

 iiient of reUgiou in this invocation. 



