24S An Hîjîorîcal Journ'àî of 



LETTER XXIII. 



Of the Traditicnsy and of the Religion of the Savage^ 

 Canada. 



Madam, At the Fort of the Ri<ver Sr. Joseph, Sept, 8. 



THIS Letter will be very long, if fome unforefeen Acci- 

 dent does not oblige me to put ofF to another Opportuni- 

 ty, what I have to entertain you with concerning the Belief, the 

 Traditions, and the Religion of our Savages. 



Nothing is more certain, than that the Savages of this Conti- 

 cr/ -KT r ï^G^t ^ave an Idea of a firft Beine, but at the 



The Notion of r ryy- .U- • 1 i- rr^i 



the Sa^a es of the Time nothing is more oblcure. They 



r\ ' / 7!/f aeree, in o-eneral, in makinor him the firll Spi- 



Ongm of Man, ^ord and Creator of the World ; but 



when we prefs them a little on this Article, to know what they 

 mean by the first Spitit, we find nothing but odd Fancies. Fa- 

 bles fo ill conceived, Syftems fo little digefted, and fo little Uni- 

 formity, that one can fay nothing regular on this Subjed. They 

 fay that the Sioiix come much nearer than the reft to what we 

 ought to think of this firft Principle. But the little Intercourfe 

 we have had with them hitherto, has not afforded me an Oppor- 

 tunity of learning their Traditions, as far as I could have wiihed, 

 to fpeak of t^iem with any Certainty. 



Almoft all the Algonquin Nations have given the Name of the 

 Great Hare to the hrft Spirit; fome call him Michabou, oÛiqvs 

 Atahocan, Tlie greateft Part fay, that being fupported on the 

 Waters with all his Court, all compofed of four-footed Creatures 

 like himfelf, he formed the Earth out of a Grain of Sand, taken 

 from the Bottom of the Ocean ; and created Men of the dead 

 Bodies of Animals. There are fome alfo that fpeak of a God of 

 the Waters who oppofed the Defign of the Great Harey or at 

 leaft refufed to favour it. This God is, according to fome, the 

 great Tiger, but it is to be cbferved, that there are no true Tigers 

 in Canada y therefore this Tradition might probably be derived 

 from fome other Country, Lailly, they have a third God named 

 Matccmeky whom they invoke during the Winter, and of whom I 

 could learn nothing particular. 



The Arejkoui cf the Hitrons^ and the Agrejkoue of the Iroquois^ 

 is in the Opinion of thefe People the Supreme Being, and the God 

 of War. Thefe People do not give the fame Origin to Men as the 

 Algcnciiinsy and they do not go fo far back as the Creation of the 



Worlds 



