LOUISIANA. igi 



fence, or at leaft as a contempt. This difcourfe 

 determined me and I went in * : this is the pic- 

 ture of their Manitou ; his head hung upon his 

 fbomach, and looked like a goat's, his ears were 

 like a lynx's ears, with the fame kind of hair, 

 his feet, hands, thighs and legs were in form 

 like thofe of a man : this falfe divinity feemed 

 to be about fix. months old, the Indians found 



it in the woods at the foot of a ridge of moun- 

 tains, called the mountains of Saint e Barbe^ 



which communicate to the rich mines of Santa 



Fe in Mexico, The general aflembly was called 



together on purpofe to invoke the protection of 



this monfter againft their enemies. , 



I let thefe poor people know, that their Ma- 

 7ntou was an evil genius, as a proof of it, I 

 added, that he had permitted the nation of 

 Foxes^ who were their mod cruel enemies, to 

 gain a vidory over fome of their countrymen ; 

 that they ought to quit him as foon as pofTible, 



and 



* The mafter of the ceremonies, or priefl, that is ap- 

 pointed to guard the temple, before he made his offerings, 

 anointed his body with rofin ; he then llrewed the foft fea- 

 thers of a fwan, or the hair of a beaver all over this melted 

 gum, and in that ridiculous plight he danced in honour of 

 ;^e falfe deity. 



