anging them, without attempting
to reconcile his self-contradictions.

Some of the southern tribes, who were more settled in their religious
faith, exhibited a remarkable degree of bigotry and spiritual pride.
They called the Europeans "men of the accursed speech," while they
styled themselves "the beloved of the Great Spirit." The Canadian and
other northern nations, however, were less intolerant, and at any time
easily induced to profess the recantation of their heathen errors for
some small advantage. Among these latter, the hare was deemed to possess
some mystic superiority over the rest of the animal creation; it was
even raised to be an object of worship, and the Great Hare was
confounded in their minds with the Great Spirit. The Algonquins believed
in a Water God, who opposes himself to the benevolent designs of the
Great Spirit; it is strange that the name of the Great Tiger should be
given to this Deity, as the country does not produce such an animal, and
from this it appears probable that the tradition of his existence had
come from elsewhere. They have also a third Deity, who presides over
their winter season. The gods of the Indians have bodies like the sons
of men, and subsist in like manner with them, but are free from the
pains and cares of mortality; the term "spirit" among them only
signifies a being of a superior and more excellent nature than man.
However, they believe in the omnipresence of their deities, and invoke
their aid in all times and places.

Besides the Great Spirit and the lesser deities above mentioned, every
Indian has his own Manitou, Okki, or guardian power; this divinity's
presence is represented by some portable object, often of the most
insignificant nature, such as the head, beak, or claw of a bird, the
hoof of a deer or cow. No youth can be received among the brotherhood of
warriors till he has placed himself, in due form, under the care of this
familiar. The ceremony is deemed of great importance: several days of
strict fasting are always observed in preparation for the important
event, and the youth's dreams are carefully noted during this period.
While under these circumstances, some object usually makes a deep
impression upon his mind; this is then chosen for his Manitou or
guardian spirit, and a specimen, of it is procured. He is next placed
for some time in a large vapor bath, and having undergone the process of
being steamed, is laid on the ground, and the figure of the Ma