e brook. They continued
the labour or sport, whichever it may be called, till the pale-faces
came to the country, when, deeming themselves in danger from a people
who paid no reverence to the spirits of the land, they bade adieu for
ever to _Coatuit, or the Brook of the Great Trout_.

THE SPIRITS OF VAPOUR.

There was, among the Knisteneaux, in the days that are past, a very
wise chief, who was also the greatest medicine-man that ever dwelt in
the nation. He knew all the herbs, and plants, and roots, and barks,
which were good for the curing of diseases: and, better still, the
words, and charms, and prayers, and ceremonies, without which they
were not effective. He could call down rain from the clouds, and
foretell the approach of storms, and hail, and tempests, beyond any
man that ever lived in the nation. Had not his worship of the Ki-jai
Manitou, or Great Spirit, been sincere, frequent, and fervent, these
things had not been; he would have found his prayers unheard, or
unheeded, or unanswered--he would have seen his skill baffled, and his
charms and medicines impotent and ineffective. But he was beloved by
the Great Spirit, and thence came his wisdom, and power, and strength,
and success; and thence, my brother knows--for he is himself a wise
priest and a cunning man--come the wisdom, and strength, and power,
and success, of all men, whether white like him, or red like myself.

But, if this good and prudent priest of the Knisteneaux was beloved by
the Great Spirit, he was equally hated by the Matchi Manitou, or
Spirit of Evil. This bad being, who is the opposite to him that sends
good gifts to the Knisteneaux, delights in mischief, and is best
pleased when he has wrought injury or distress to mankind, and brought
upon them ruin and dismay, hunger, nakedness, want, sickness, pain,
disgrace, seeing how much Makusue, for that was the name of the
priest, interfered with his schemes of testifying his hatred to men,
was always making him feel the weight of his vengeance, and thwarting
his plans for the benefit of the nation by every means in his power.
If Makusue went to gather _Moscharnewatchar_[A], he was sure to find
the Evil Spirit perched near, trying to frighten him away; if he went
to dig the _Ehawshoga_[B], his enemy had certainly caused the earth to
freeze, that he might be defeated of his object. If Makusue wished to
cross the lake, the wind was sure to blow violently the moment he
entered his canoe, a