354 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



The writer was told that there was a special story about these. " Devil " 

 is, of course, a distortion of the native term for supernatural being or 

 spirit, which is ne'ka., and is equivalent to the manitu of the Algon- 

 quians or the yek of the Tlingit. Sometimes people would clothe 

 themselves in alligator skins in order to represent evil spirits and 

 scare others. It is affirmed that the old-time Indians would not kill 

 an eagle, and that some would not eat bear meat because they, thought 

 the bear was related to human beings. The former statement must 

 require certain modifications, however, for otherwise there would have 

 been no way of providing eagle plumes for the w^ar and peace calu- 

 mets. These calumets were also ornamented with feathers of the wood 

 duck {tawVs). A thunder-bird belief appears to have been non- 

 existent, thunder having originated from Ku'tnahin, Coals were 

 saved from the fires used on Christmas eve and a little burned when- 

 ever it thundered. There are said to have been special stories re- 

 garding the horned owl and the screech owl, and also about a " white 

 lion," the lion (^haimasi'ks) being called " the king of the animals." 

 This looks like a European story, and must certainly have been such, 

 unless we are to understand by " lion '' the panther or some other in- 

 digenous animal. The common word for panther is different, how- 

 ever. Tliere was another story of a woman who lived by herself and 

 was guarded by a pet panther. An Indian and a wdiite man were 

 once hunting together and met a white deer. The Indian warned his 

 companion not to kill it, but he did so, and afterward, although he 

 went hunting many times, he was unable to see a single deer. 



A small yellow bird, called tchitc, said to be the wild canary, was 

 able to talk with human beings and foretell the weather. Another 

 bird able to converse with men is a bird called kunsjiu, which appears 

 as cold weather approaches. It is of the yellow color of dry hay, and 

 when it gets into hay can not be distinguished. Since the land has 

 been cleared it has become scarce. The gcpnpohe' stqmon is a bird a 

 little larger than a mocking bird and with a flat head like a chicken 

 hawk. It dives so quickly that it takes a good marksman to kill it. 

 Some call it the devil bird, because it is supposed to break another 

 bird's neck with its wings by flying against it. Clams and hailstones 

 are called by the same name, /.y7c-, " because the germs of clams are 

 contained in hailstones and grow after the hailstones melt." 



There are said to be four great sacred trees in the world, one at the 

 mouth of the Mississippi, one somewhere over east on the seasliore, 

 one at the entrance of Vermilion bay, and one at Hi'pinimc, on Grand 

 lake. This last, at least, is a cypress, and is Avell know^i to both In- 

 dians and wliites. It is believed that if anyone splashes water upon it 

 a thunderstorm will come on and drench him. A white man assured 

 me that he had experienced this himself. He added that on one oc- 



