nce a flat,
white stone, which lay upon the southern shore of that lake. It
possessed, the mighty Bird said, the power to enable almost any thing
to be done which should be asked of it by men of the Cree nation; by
the great ancestor of which it had been endued with its present power.

The man did as he was bidden. He went to the southern shore of the
Lake of the Woods, and brought away the great white _memahoppa_, or
medicine-stone, which has ever since remained with the Crees. Having
placed this stone in the corner of his cabin, and addressed it as his
tutelar deity, he proceeded to make the transformation of a fine,
handsome, courageous, young dog into the shape of a man. When this was
effected, he led the man to the memahoppa, and first praying the
sacred stone to protect him against the power of change, he placed the
man upon it. The charm was effective. The wonderful properties of the
medicine-stone operated to keep the man a man. And this man married a
woman of the Crees, and from them are the Chepewyans descended.

When the mighty Bird of Ages had finished his work of calling into
existence the different creatures, he made a great arrow to be the
sign of the deeds he had done; with the command that it should remain
lodged in the great council-house of the Chepewyans, until time should
be no more. As long as they should obey this command, they should ever
be victorious over their enemies, and fortunate in all their hunting
expeditions; their word should be law to all the tribes and nations,
from the Frozen Sea to the land of the Shawanos, from the towns of the
Iroquois to the Mountains of Thunder. But, whenever they should by
carelessness lose it, they should be doomed to encounter their full
share of the losses and defeats, and difficulties, and disappointments,
which belong to other and less favoured tribes. They should sometimes
be overcome by a force of inferior numbers; and often seek the beasts
of the chace for many weary days without finding them. And, saying
thus, he gave the arrow into the hands of the chief man of the
Chepewyans.

For many, very many ages, the Chepewyans scrupulously remembered the
injunctions of the mighty Bird respecting the arrow, and kept it
treasured up in the house of the great council. While they did so,
they were the most fortunate tribe on the earth, and became lords over
all, conquerors in every battle, and the most fortunate hunters the
world has ever known. But, at length