88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



(JR 17: 159, 161, 187). The ceremonies, including the songs, were 

 for the most part dictated by the spirit, who cautioned and threatened 

 that the ceremony would not be effective if they failed to carry out the 

 least detail (JK 17: 155). ^^ 



The dreams or desires did not exclude the Christians. Some- 

 times, the dream indicated that the ill person should be baptized; 

 the Jesuits won some converts this way (JR 15: 73; 17: 137; cf. JR 

 10 : 13 ; 13 : 191 ; 23 : 171) . In fact, the Huron sought baptism almost 

 entirely as an aid to health ( JR 10 : 13) .°° But, some Huron believed 

 that baptism killed people (JR 17: 97). In one case, a girl dreamed 

 that she would die if she was baptized (JR 13: 225). In another, 

 the Jesuits were accused of killing a woman who had been baptized 

 and were asked if presents had been given to satisfy the relatives of 

 the woman (JR 15: 105). ^'^ [It should be remembered that these 

 French Catholics believed that baptism could cure the ill and that 

 they most frequently baptized the dying.] 



In one instance, after a sick man complained to the comicil that 

 the Christians did not attend the ceremony to cure him, the chiefs 

 criticized the Christians for their conduct (JR 23: 45). In another 

 instance, a man dreamed that a particular Christian should say three 

 words in favor of his spirit else misfortune befall him. To fulfill his 

 dream, he invited the Christian to the sweat house to torture these 

 words out of him (JR 26: 245-249). 



In general, if the desires were not granted (were not satisfied), 

 the soul became angry and not only did it not permit the person 

 happiness but might revolt against the body, causing illness ( JR 33 : 

 189). Failure to satisfy the desire might incur the risk of some 

 great misfortune (JR 17: 163; cf. JR 10: 169). As a result, most 

 Hurons were very careful to note their dreams so that they could 

 provide the soul with what it desired. If, for example, a man had 

 seen a spear in his dream, he tried to get it. Or, if he had dreamed 

 that he gave a feast, he would give one if he could ( JR 33 : 191) . 



Sometimes dreams foretold propitious events. For example, a man 

 might dream that he captured an enemy and killed him with a war 

 hatchet. He would then give a feast at which he related his dream 

 and asked for a war hatchet, which one of the guests gave him. This 

 feast compelled the soul to keep its word and to do it sooner. If it 

 were not given, the soul might not keep its word. Similarly, songs to 



"^ Mistakes in the performance of the ritual are still of concern to the Iroquois and 

 can be dangerous if they are not explained to the spirit force (Shimony 1961 a: 141; 

 Koe note 41, p. 80). 



** It is possible that at this time the Huron thought that Roman Catholicism was 

 just another medicine society with its curing rituals, especially baptism, and that if the 

 ritual of the society was performed when called for in a dream, it would cure. 



"^ The implication here is that the Jesuits were being accused of murdering the woman 

 by witchcraft, and as murder necessitated the giving of gifts to the family of the mur- 

 dered person (see above, "Crime"), the Jesuits were asked for them. 



