looker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 105 



sweat house containing a great many stones that had been heated red 

 hot. All sang, occasionally stopping to get their breath. Then they 

 dranlv many jugfuls of water (C 153) . 



During the curing ceremony, the place was kept as dark as possible; 

 all openings that admitted light from above were covered. Only those 

 who were invited might be present (S 200) . 



In one case, a blind man named Tsondacouane, having dreamed it 

 was necessary for him to fast 6 days, resolved to fast for 7. An apart- 

 ment was partitioned off for him at the end of the house and there he 

 fasted, drinking only a little tepid water to warm his stomach. After a 

 few days, he began to see the spirits dancing around the fireplace. On 

 the sixth day, they spoke to him and said, "Tsondacouane, we come 

 here to associate you with us. We are the spirits, and it is we who 

 have ruined the country through contagion." Then one of them 

 named all the others by name, "That one is called Atechiategnon ('he 

 who changes and disguises himself) and is the spirit of Tcmdehou- 

 aronnon (a mountain near the village of Omientisati) ." After 

 he had named five or six of the spirits, he said, "But you must know 

 that the most evil is he of Ondichaouan (a large island nearby) ; 

 this spirit is like a fire. It is he who feeds upon the corpses of those 

 who are drowned in the great lake and who causes the storms and 

 tempests and swamps the canoes. But now we wish to take pity upon 

 the country, and to associate you with us, in order to stop the epidemic 

 which prevails." Tsondacouane agreed and they taught him some 

 remedies to cure the sick. Among other things, they recommended to 

 him the feasts of awataerohi^ saying that they feared nothing so 

 much as those. They pretended to try to carry him away, but he 

 resisted so well that they left him to make a dog feast, threatening 

 to come and get him the next day if he failed to make the feasts. After 

 the spirits had disappeared, Tsondacouane told all this to the chief, 

 who reported it in council. A dog was immediately found with which 

 he made a feast the same day. When all the people had assembled, 

 the man began to cry out that the spirits were coming to carry him 

 away, but that he did not fear them, only that all should sing a 

 certain song. While they were singing, he said, "There! Two of 

 them are approaching and what I say is not imagination, but the 

 truth." A little while later, he told those who were preparing the 

 feast, "Withdraw; here they are, quite near." The spirits then re- 

 proached him for failure to do several things he had been ordered to do 

 and said that they had come to carry him off. They said, "Tsonda- 

 couane, you are now safe. We can do nothing more to you. You 

 are associated with us, you must live hereafter as we do ; and we must 

 reveal to you our food, which is nothing more than clear soup with 

 strawberries." In order not to get sick, the people ate dried straw- 

 berries (this was in January) and hung large masks at the doorways 



