SPECK] A MOHEGAN-PEQUOT DIARY 275 



tiniie with their plans for the annual wigwam festival. This message 

 inspired the people and with renewed courage they set to work 

 determined to carry out the old custom that it might please the 

 spirits of the departed ones. The affair was a great success. 



At the same time, while walldng near our burying ground one day, 

 I had the good fortune to pick up a perfect stone ax. Upon showing 

 it to some of my relatives, several of them remarked that it was the 

 spirit of one of my ancestors which led me to the spot where I found 

 the ax. They believed it to be a sign of good luck and to encourage 

 me in my work. 



Messages from my brother who is in the spirit world are received 

 quite frequently, by members of the family, in dreams. 



To dream of snow and ice denotes good luck. Clear, running water 

 denotes good luck; muddy water, ill luck. 



To dream of vermin warns one of illness in the family. 



Dreammg of snakes is a sign that you have enemies. If you kill 

 the snake you can overcome 3'our enemies. 



Should anyone dream of a snake it is a sign of having an enemy. 

 If on the next day the dreamer should kill a snake he would be able 

 to thwart the evil design. This belief is shared by the Penobscot 

 and their relatives in northern New England. 



To see a broom standing near the door on the outside of a house 

 indicates that the occupants are not at home or that they do not 

 desire to see visitors. 



Divination 



Certain individuals are able to localize water by means of a 

 crotched stick of witch-hazel, wild apple or plum. Witch-hazel is 

 also used as a divining rod for locating buried treasure. 



It is an old custom at Mohegan for the men to carry a long staff 

 when out walking. Years ago, before starting on a hunting trip, a 

 man would stand his staff on the ground and let it fall in order to 

 determine in which direction to go in pursuit of game. 



At Mohegan there remains still a store of superstition and folli-lore 

 covering many aspects of nature as well as human behavior. 



The sayings are current, "When it rains and the sun is shining, 

 dji'bai, 'devil,' is whipping his wife." "When it snows and the sun 

 is shining, djibai, ' devil,' is picking his geese." 



Wliile these are manifestly European in origin, they have pene- 

 trated the traditions of several Algonkian tribes. An elaboration of 

 the same sayings comes from the St. Francis Abenaki.^ 



Several unclassified notes are: 



The Mohegan used to eat turtles, cooking them as other people do 

 crabs, dropping them into a pot of boiling water. 



' Information from Dr. A. I. Hallowell. 



