TRADITION OF THE DELUGE. 19 



supported by good authority. We have heard of a 

 husband, travelling towards a post of the Hudson Bay 

 Company in search of relief, packing up his wife as 

 provision for the journey. This supply becoming ex- 

 hausted, the monster next sacrificed one of his children. 

 This, too, being consumed before he reached the fort, 

 the cannibal was found by an officer of the Company 

 roasting the remains of his last child at the fire ! A 

 little forethought during the season of plenty would 

 prevent this terrible distress: but everywhere savage 

 man seems incapable of foresight; he lives only for 

 the present, and allows the future to take care of 

 itself. 



It is singular that among these aborigines of the 

 North-West Territory the tradition of the Deluge should 

 exist although they preserve no legend of their migra- 

 tion from other lands to their present home. Thus, if 

 questioned as to whence they originally came, their 

 usual reply is : " For hundreds of moons since the lands 

 were covered with water our fathers have hunted here ; 

 and the white man it was who first told us that other 

 countries existed." The Algonquins in Canada pre- 

 serve a similar tradition ; and among the savages of 

 the Orinoco, in South America, Humboldt found the 

 story of the Deluge. Surely this is strong confirmation 

 of the truth of the sacred narrative. The rocks and 

 mountains, too, bear their testimony in its favour. And 

 yet people who accept without question other his- 

 torical narratives are sometimes but too ready to be led 



(786) 2 



