274 FOSSIL MEN. 



he was, lie endeavoured to obey, and after long trial 

 his visitor said, " It is enough," and vanished. He 

 returned a second and a third day, and the wrestling 

 match was renewed, but the young man seemed to 

 grow stronger with each contest, notwithstanding his 

 abstinence. At length, on the seventh day of the fast, 

 the youth, with a supernatural access of strength, 

 overcame his visitor, threw him on the ground, and, 

 obeying his directions, stripped him of his vest and 

 plumes, and buried him in the earth. He visited the 

 place again and again, carefully removing every weed, 

 and at length he saw green blades spring up, and as 

 the season advanced, strong stems shot forth, bear- 

 ing ears of grain, and then in triumph the youth led 

 his father to the spot, and showed him the ripened 

 crop of maize. " It is monda-min ! " the spirit's grain 

 exclaimed the father ; and thus the Indians first 

 became acquainted with the culture of bread-corn. It 

 is curious to note in this story the expectation of a 

 heavenly revelation in the fast, the wrestling with the 

 angel and prevailing, and the devout belief of the 

 special provision of food for man all features of a 

 very primitive faith ; while there is a touch of allegory 

 in the green vesture and plume of the heavenly 

 stranger stripped off, and his body buried, as em- 

 blematic of the seed-corn denuded of its green husk 

 and feathery tassel and sown in the ground. Many 

 other Indian tales, often very poetical and touching, 

 are connected with the fasts for manitous. Still more 

 protracted fasts were undergone by those who aspired 



