its the
human heart in the form of a lump of ice, which must be got rid
of by immersion of the victim in boiling water, or by pouring
boiling fat down his throat. This failing, they destroy the man-eater,
rip him up to let out the evil spirit, cut off his head, and then
pin his four quarters to the ground, all of which was done by his
tribe in the case of Pahayo. Napesosus--"The Little Man"--struck
the first blow, Moostoos followed, and the poor lunatic was soon
dispatched. Arrests were ultimately made, and a boatload of
witnesses was about to leave for Athabasca Landing, _en route_ to
attend the trial at Edmonton, the first of its kind, I think,
on record.

There can be no doubt that such slayings are effected to safeguard
the tribe. Indians have no asylums, and, in order to get a dangerous
lunatic out of the way, can only kill him. There would therefore be
no hangings. But, now that the Indians and ourselves were coming
under treaty obligations, it was necessary that an end should be
put to such proceedings.

Yet the reader must not be too severe upon the Indian for his
treatment of the Weeghteko. He attributes the disease to the evil
spirit, acts accordingly, and slays the victim. But an old author,
Mrs. Jameson, tells us that in her day in Upper Canada lunatics were
allowed to stray into the forest to roam uncared for, and perish
there, or were thrust into common jails. One at Niagara, she says,
was chained up for four years.

Aside from such cases of madness, which have often resulted in the
killing and eating of children, etc., and which arouse the most
superstitious horror in the minds of all Indians, the "savages" of
this region are the most inoffensive imaginable. They have always
made a good living by hunting and trapping and fishing, and I believe
when the time comes they will adapt themselves much more readily and
intelligently to farming and stock-raising than did the Indians to
the south. The region is well suited to both industries, and will
undoubtedly attract white settlers in due time.

The fisheries in Lesser Slave Lake have always been counted the best
in all Athabasca. The whitefish, to be sure, are diminishing towards
the head of the lake, but it is possible that this is owing to some
deficiency in their usual supply of food in that quarter. Just as
birds and wild-fowl return, if not disturbed, to their accustomed
breeding-places, so, it is said, the fishes, year by year, drop and
impregnate