302 



ACCOUNT OP THE INDIANS. 



as a kind of supernatural beings, who know all that 

 is past, and who can see into futurity. 



For a considerable time after we had been 

 among them, they were fully of the opinion, that 

 the white people had neither fathers nor mothr 

 ers ; but came into the world in a supernatural 

 way, or were placed on the earth by the sun or 

 moon. 



As a further specimen of their limited concep- 

 tions, they now firmly believe that a watch is the 

 heart of the sun, because it is ever in motion, as 

 they say, like that great body of light. They add 

 further, that unless a watch and the sun were 

 nearly related, it would be impossible for the 

 watch, considering the distance which there is be- 

 tween them, to point out so precisely the minute 

 when the sun is to make its appearance and to 

 leave us. In short, they say that the one must 

 know perfectly well what the other is about, and 

 that there must be some connexion between them, 

 as between the members of the human body. 



The Carriers give the following account of the 

 tradition, which they believe, respecting the form- 

 ation of the earth, and the general destruction of 

 mankind, in an early period of the world. Water 

 at first overspread the face of the world, which is 

 a plain surface. At the top of the water, a musk- 

 rat was swimming about, in different directions. 



