4ft w . T/ x, , . 4;^- 



M'Keecor s Voyage to Hudson s Bay. 63 



down the top of the finger. I recollect Mr. Swaine, one of 

 the inland governors, mentioning to me that a Bungee woman. 

 came to his house last winter. Observing that she had several 

 joints of her fingers cut off, he enquired of her the cause ; 

 when she immediately burst into tears, and told him, that for 

 each of those joints she had lost a relative. It is probable, 

 that these horrible practices are resorted to under the impres- 

 sion that the malignant powers delight in groans and misery, 

 and that they are not to be appeased but by human blood. 



When about to depart this life, they meet their approaching 

 fate with firmness and resignation ; not unfrequently, indeed, 

 especially when advanced in life,* they long* for the expected 

 summons. " It is better,'' said an aged Indian, " to be seated 

 than standing; to be asleep than awake: to be dead than 

 alive." After putting- on their best clothes, the family is called 

 around, and addressed in a firm manly tone, exhorting them to 

 lead peaceable industrious lives ; to be obliging and friendly 

 towards the Europeans; and if they bear any revenge to- 

 wards another tribe, they are exhorted to carry it to the 

 last. He endures his tortures with the greatest composure ; 

 tells them he is going to the land of spirits, that blissful 

 abode where he will have plenty of fowling and fishing; and 

 desires them to bury with him his gun, shot-pouch, kettle, as 

 also his skippertoggan, containing his flint, steel, and touch- 

 wood. All this is faithfully complied with. If, however, 

 they should at any time stand much in need of any of these 

 articles, as a gun, for instance, they very often take it from 

 their graves, and leave in its place a long pole. 



With regard to their religious sentiments, there is, I believe, 

 but little difference. They all believe in a great good Being, 

 and in a great bad one. They generally pray to the bad one 

 that he may not injure them; to the good one they think it 

 unnecessary to pray, as they are confident he will not injure 



* One custom they have, which is very extraordinary : When their pa- 

 rents grow so old as to be incapable of supporting themselves by their own 

 labour, they require their children to strangle them, and this is esteemed an 

 act of obedience in them to perform. The manner of discharging this last 

 duty is thus: the grave of the old person being dog, he goes into it; and, 

 after having conversed, and smoked a pipe, or perhaps drank a dram or two 

 with his children, the old person signifies that he is ready ; upon which two 

 of the children put a thong about his neck, one standing on one side, and 

 the other opposite to him, pull violently till he is strangled, then cover him 

 with earth, and over that they erect a kind of rough monument of stones. 

 Such persons as have no children, request this office from their friends ; 

 though, in this last case, it is not always complied with. See ELLIS'S Voyage 

 to Hudson's Bay. 



