308 THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS AND THEIR FOLK-LORE 



is at once decreed, on the pretence that they may 

 become Wendigoes, or man-eaters. These are usually 

 killed by stealth as, for instance, by a blow from be- 

 hind or, at least, were up to a very few years ago. Mr. 

 Peter Mackenzie, when in charge of the Hudson Bay 

 establishment at Ungava, was instrumental in saving 

 the life of a poor lunatic whose death had been re- 

 solved upon. He induced the sufferer's companions 

 to tie him up to a wooden frame so that he could 

 do no damage, and in a short time he recovered his 

 reason. 



The Indian belief in Wendigoes, or Windigoes, is 

 one of the most firmly rooted of their many supersti- 

 tions. Different groups of Indians draw different pict- 

 ures of these fabulous beings, all being creations of 

 their own imaginations. They are always evil spirits 

 and eaters of men. Some even profess to have seen 

 them ; either in the form of a sorcerer, of a man-eating 

 moose, or in that of a Cyclop, whose height and 

 voracity were only equalled by the Polyphemus of 

 Homeric mythology. The Nascapees apply the name 

 Atshem to these monsters, and at times they frighten 

 themselves into believing that they have seen their 

 tracks, and immediately flee to some other part of 

 the country. There is a tributary of the St. Maurice 

 called the Windigo River, of which Mr. A. T. Genest, 

 P.L.S., who surveyed it for the government, says : 



"A legend dear to Indian medicine- men, and respected by the 

 Tetes de Boule, says that the Windigo, a sort of semi-devil, has re- 

 served this river for his own exclusive use, and that he carries on a 

 phantasmagoric hunt while storms are raging. This is the reason 

 why the Indians do not frequent the Windigo River. The otter 



