74 MYTHS OF THE IROQUOIS. 



After some moments the old man said that it was he, himself, whom 

 they had been chasing, and by this the boys knew that he was a witch. 



WITCH TRANSFORMATION, 



A Canadian Indian says he saw, one evening, on the road, a white bull 

 with fire streaming from its nostrils, which, after it had passed him, he 

 pursued. He had never seen so large a bull, or in fact any white bull, 

 upon the reservation. As it passed iu front of a house it was transformed 

 into a man with a large white blanket, who was ever afterward known 

 as a witch. 



A SUPERSTITION ABOUT FLIES. 



There was once a species of fly so poisonous that sometimes merely the 

 smell of them would eat the nose from a man's face. A certain species 

 of woodpecker was the only thing that could destroy them. Their 

 homes were iu trees, on which their poisouons tracks could be traced. 

 They often entered the horns of a deer; hence, the Indian hunter's first 

 move after shooting a deer was to examine its horns, and if they were 

 infected, the hunter would run away, since he knew that the moment 

 the animal died th^ fatal insect would emerge from the horn. 



Around the trees in which they lived deer ever congregated, seem- 

 ingly bewitched by these fierce and noxious little flies. 



Buckskin and deerskin were used to catch them. The bird that killed 

 them for food was colored black and yellow. In the evening it came 

 forth from its home in a hollow tree and scoured the forests for them. 



These birds were caught with buckskin traps and their feathers were 

 used as charms, being fastened to the arrows of the hunter. An arrow 

 thus made potent would surely bring down the deer. 



