uoESET.l DWARFS OR ELVES BOGS. 481 



tlu' cam]) ill sulitaiy places. Should a youth yield to the woman's 

 solicitations the result will be a sad oue. As soon as he leaves her she 

 will resume her natural shape. The youth will appear as if drunk or 

 insane, and he will reach home with difficulty. His health will become 

 impaired, and he will soon die. So now the hunters avoid any female 

 tliat they see on the way. They hate the Deer women. The Deer 

 women never speak, but in all other respects they resemble Indian 

 women. 



DWARFS OB ELVES. 



§ 253. Dwarfs or elves are probably referred to in the following . 



This [i. e. the object souKlit by Lewis aud Clarke's party] was a large mouiul in 

 the midst of the plain, about N. 20^ W. from the mouth of Whitestoue River, from 

 which it isO miles distant. The base of th(^ mound is a regular parallelogram, the 

 longest side being about 800 yards, the shorter liU or 70; from the longest side it 

 rises with a steep ascent from the north and south to the lieight of ()5 or 70 feet, 

 leaving on the top a level plain of 12 feet in breadth aud 90 in lengtli. The north 

 and siiiitli cxtrennties are connected by two oval borders, which serve as new bases, 

 and divide the wh(de side into three steep but regular gradations from the iilain. 

 The only thing characteristic in this hill is its extreme symmetry, and this, together 

 with its lieing wholly detached from the other hills, which are at the distance 

 of 8 or 9 miles, would induce a belief that it was artlticial; but as the earth and 

 loose pebbles which compose it are arrauged exactly like the steep grounds on the 

 liorders of the creek, we concluded from this similarity of texture that it might be 

 natural. But the Indians have made it a great article of their 8uperstiti(m; it is 

 called the Mountain of the Little People, or Little Spirits, and they believe that it 

 is the abode of little devils in the human form, of al>out 18 inches high, and with 

 rcmarkalily large heads; they are .armed with sharp arrows, with which they are 

 very skillful, aud are always on the watch to kill tliose wlio should have the hardi- 

 hood to approacli their residem^e. The tradition is that many have suffered from 

 these little evil sjiirits, and, anu)Ug otlicrs, three Maha Indians fell a sacrifice to them 

 a few years since. This has inspired all the neighboring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and 

 Ottoes, with such terror that no consideration could temptthem to visit the hill.' 



BOGS. 



§ 2.">4. Bogs are very mysterious. There are various strange objects 

 covered with thick hair which remain at the bottom of a bog. These 

 objects have no eyes, but they are able to devour anything, and fi'om 

 their bodies water is ever flowing. When one of these beings wishes, 

 he abandons his abode and reclines under ground at another place; 

 then there is no water i.ssuing from the jdace where he used to lie, btit 

 a spring gushes forth from the new resting place. The water of this 

 spring is warm in winter, but as cold as ice in summer, and before one 

 dares to drink of it he ])rays to the water, as he does not wish to bring 

 illness on himself by his irreverence. In the olden days one of these 

 strange beings was pulled uj) out of a bog and carried to the camp, 

 where a special tent was erected for him. But water flowed all around 

 him, which drowned almost all of the people. Then the survivors 



'Lewis and Clarke, Expedition, ed. Allen, Dublin, 1817, vol. i, pj). 65,06. 

 11 ETH 31 



