266 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



cher, writing from Three Rivers, says, ''Von dit 

 que la come du pied gauche est bonne pour la mal 

 cadud' Here again evidence that this was con- 

 sidered an Indian belief is entirely lacking. 



That Charlevoix did not attribute the belief 

 to the Indians is indicated by his statement: "I 

 have heard that the Algonquins, who formerly 

 fed on the flesh of this animal, were very subject 

 to epilepsy, and did not employ this remedy. 

 Perhaps they had better ones/'^^ Inasmuch as 

 Charlevoix does not refer to the remedy as of 

 Abnaki origin, we may conjecture that he looked 

 upon it as one which the Abnaki had learned 

 from the Europeans, and which they used in com- 

 mon with the white men. 



It is true some of the writers of that period 

 seemed to consider that this superstition did 

 originate with the Indians. But it may be they 

 were unaware that a similar belief prevailed in 

 Europe. Thus Denys writes: ''The moose is 

 subject to epilepsy. The savages say that when 

 he feels it coming on he stops, and with the left 



" J'aj oui dire que les Algonquins, qui faisoient autrefois leur nourri' 

 ture ordinaire de la Chaire de cet Animal, etoient fort sujets d VEpilepsie, 

 & n'usoient point de ce remede. lis en avoient, peut-etre, de meilleurs." — • 

 {Ubi supra, p. 126.) The Abnaki, among whom Rasle lived, occupied 

 territory east and south of Quebec; the Algonquins lived farther west, 

 on the north side of the St. Lawrence. Charlevoix's journeys took him 

 among the tribes of both groups. 



