DREAMS OMENS. 
90 
village is, at times, thrown into a state of the 
greatest consternation by the midnight cry of a 
few old women, who declare that, in their sleep, 
they have seen the spirit of the chief dancing 
before them, or his head placed on a pole, in the 
middle of the village. The interpretation is, that 
he is dead, or that some direful misfortune has be- 
fallen him. All are excited to go immediately to 
the place where he may be visiting, if, perchance, 
they may yet be able to deliver him out of the 
hands of his enemies, or from the machinations 
of his pretended friends. It turns out, after all, 
that the whole has been a trick : the old women 
had consulted together, how they could best 
hasten home the return of their husband, or 
father, or brother, or friend. — Dreams descend, 
from the most momentous affairs, down to the 
most trivial ones. The person who, one night, 
relates his visions concerning the other world, 
or the prospects of a general war, will, with the 
same seriousness of voice and gesture, relate, the 
next night, his dreams concerning shooting a 
pigeon or a sparrow, or going a short and unim- 
portant journey. 
Next to dreams may be mentioned the omens, 
good and bad, and their method of consulting the 
oracle, if it may be so called, to know which tribe 
shall be cut off in any warfare wherein they may 
be about to engage. The omens mostly regarded 
are those of birds. For an owl to utter its cry 
during a consultation, is a bad sign. For a hawk 
