32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



have souls, and even that inorganic substances, such as kettles, etc., 

 have in them a similar essence. In this land of souls all are treated 

 according to their merits. Those who have been good men are 

 free from pain ; they have no duties to perform ; their time is spent 

 in dancing and singing, and they feed upon mushrooms, which are 

 very abundant. The souls of bad men are haunted by the phantoms 

 of the persons or things that they have injured ; thus, if a man has 

 destroyed much property, the phantoms of the wrecks of this prop- 

 erty obstruct his passage wherever he goes; if he has been cruel to 

 his dogs or horses they also torment him after death ; the ghosts of 

 thosp whom during his lifetime he wronged are there permitted to 

 avenge their injuries. They think that when a soul has crossed the 

 stream it can not return to its body, yet they believe in apparitions, 

 and entertain the opinion that the spirits of the departed will fre- 

 quently revisit the abodes of their friends, in order to invite them 

 to the other world, and to forewarn them of their approaching dis- 

 solution." (Op. cit., pp. 158-159.) 



It is quite evident that the widely separated members of this great 

 tribe held different beliefs regarding the state after death, and it 

 would also appear that such beliefs were influenced or dictated by 

 their natural environment. Thus in the cold, Jbleak forests of the 

 north, where the winters were long and severe, they looked to the 

 south as the home of the departed, where warmth would prevail, and 

 where the days would be passed in dancing and singing. 



Some years earlier, in 1764, an English trader described the death 

 and burial of a child near the north shore of Lake Superior while 

 approaching Michilimackinac. The Indians were engaged in making 

 maple sugar when — 



"A little child, belonging to one of our neighbours, fell into a 

 kettle of boiling syrup. It was instantly snatched out, but with 

 little hope of its recovery. 



"So long, however, as it lived, a continual feast was observed; 

 and this was made to the Great Spirit and Master of Life, that he 

 might be pleased to save and heal the child. At this feast, I was a 

 constant guest; and often found difficulty in eating the large quan- 

 tity of food, which, on such occasions as these, is put upon each man's 

 dish. The Indians accustom themselves both to eat much, and to fast 

 much, with facility. 



" Several sacrifices were also offered ; among them were dogs, killed 

 and liung upon the tops of poles, with the addition of stroud blankets 

 and other articles. These, also, were given to the Great Spirit, in 

 humble liope that he would give efficacy to the medicines em])loved. 



"The child died. To preserve the body from the wolves, it was 

 placed upon a scaffold, where it remained till we went to the hike, 

 on tlie bordei' of which was the burial-ground of the family. 



