NORTHERN OCEAN 233 



When these jugglers take a dislike to, and threaten a 1771. 

 secret revenge on any person, it often proves fatal to that 

 person ; as, from a firm belief that the conjurer has power 

 over his life, he permits the very thoughts of it to prey on 

 his spirits, till by degrees it brings on a disorder which puts 

 an end to his existence : * and sometimes a threat of this 

 [222] kind causes the death of a whole family; and that 

 without any blood being shed, or the least apparent molestation 

 being offered to any of the parties. 



Having dried as many fish and fish-roes as we could con- 

 veniently take with us, we once more packed up our stores, 

 and, on the first day of December, set out, and continued our December, 

 course to the South West, leaving Anaw'd Lake on the 



1st. 



* As aproof of this, Matonabbee, (who always thought me possessed of this 

 art,) on his arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort in the Winter of 1778, informed 

 me, that a man whom I had never seen but once, had treated him in such a 

 manner that he was afraid of his life ; in consequence of which he pressed me 

 very much to kill him, though I was then several hundreds of miles distant: On 

 which, to please this great man to whom I owed so much, and not expecting that 

 any harm could possibly arise from it, I drew a rough sketch of two human 

 figures on a piece of paper, in the attitude of wrestling : in the hand of one of 

 them, I drew the figure of a bayonet pointing to the breast of the other. This 

 is me, said I to Matonabbee, pointing to the figure which was holding the 

 bayonet ; and the other, is your enemy. Opposite to those figures I drew a 

 pine-tree, over which I placed a large human eye, and out of the tree projected 

 a human hand. This paper I gave to Matonabbee, with instructions to make it 

 as publicly known as possible. Sure enough, the following year, when he came 

 in to trade, he informed me that the man was dead, though at that time he was 

 not less than three hundred miles from Prince of Wales's Fort. He assured me 

 that the man was in perfect health when he heard of my design against him ; 

 but almost immediately afterwards became quite gloomy, and refusing all kind 

 of sustenance, in a very few days died. After this I was frequently applied to 

 on the same account, both by Matonabbee and other leading Indians, but never 

 thought proper to comply with their requests ; by which means I not only pre- 

 served the credit I gained on the first attempt, but always kept them in awe, and 

 in some degree of respect and obedience to me. In fact, strange as it may 

 appear, it is almost absolutely necessary that the chiefs at this place should profess 

 something a little supernatural, to be able to deal with those people. The 

 circumstance here recorded is a fact well known to Mr. William Jefiferson, who 

 succeeded me at Churchill Factory, as well as to all the officers and many of 

 the common men who were at Prince of Wales's Fort at the time. 



