period that the young men and the young
women "see visions and dream dreams," and fortune or misfortune is
predicted from the guardian spirit chosen during this, to them,
religious ordeal. The hallucinations of the mind are taken for
divine inspiration. The effect is deeply felt and strongly
impressed on the mind; too deeply, indeed, to be ever obliterated
in after life. The father in the circle of his lodge, the hunter
in the pursuit of the chase, and the warrior in the field of
battle, think of the guardian genius which they fancy to accompany
them, and trust to his power and benign influence under every
circumstance. This genius is the absorbing theme of their silent
meditations, and stands to them in all respects in place of the
Christian's hope, with the single difference that, however deeply
mused upon, the _name_ is never uttered, and every circumstance
connected with its selection, and the devotion paid to it, is most
studiously and professedly concealed even from their nearest
friends.

Fasts in subsequent life appear to have for their object a
renewal of the powers and virtues which they attribute to the
rite. And they are observed more frequently by those who strive
to preserve unaltered the ancient state of society among them, or
by men who assume austere habits for the purpose of acquiring
influence in the tribe, or as preparatives for war or some
extraordinary feat. It is not known that there is any fixed day
observed as a general fast. So far as a rule is followed, a
general fast seems to have been observed in the spring, and to
have _preceded_ the general and customary feasts at that season.

It will be inferred from these facts, that the Indians believe
fasts to be very meritorious. They are deemed most acceptable to
the Manitoes or spirits whose influence and protection they wish
to engage or preserve. And it is thus clearly deducible, that a
very large proportion of the time devoted by the Indians to
secret worship, so to say, is devoted to these guardian or
intermediate spirits, and not to the Great Spirit or Creator.

[19] The tuft feathers of the red-headed woodpecker are used to
ornament the stems of the Indian pipe, and are symbolical of
valor.

[20] Abbreviated from Neshomi