deeper in the earth, till it dashed headlong into rapids, among rocks
and ravines, and under cataracts which were so horrible that death
seemed to come and go with every plunge of the canoe. And the water
grew narrower and the current more dreadful, and fear came upon Marten
and the woman, so that they died. But the Master sat with silent soul,
though he sang the songs of magic, and so passed into the night, but
came forth again into sunlight. And there was a lonely wigwam on the
bank, into which he bore Marten and the grandmother, and saying,
"_Numchahse_! arise!" lo, they arose, and deemed they had only
slept. And now Glooskap had gained the greatest power. [Footnote: This
incident of the passage underground is deeply suggestive of Wabeno
mystery and initiation. It will strike every student of classic lore as
almost identical with much that he has read. If it has not the same
symbolical meaning here, it has apparently none whatever.]

This incident of passing through darkness, on a roaring stream in a
frail bark, before emerging to sunlight or illumination, was not only
in the ancient heathen myths. We are reminded of it by the storm
through which Jesus passed with the disciples. That it made a great
impression upon the Indians is shown by its being told of Pulewech, the
Partridge, who is a type of Glooskap, and who, like him, makes war on
the powers of evil, set forth in the Porcupines. The Indians, who
imagined and selected so many wild and terrible tests to form the
Shaman, or sorcerer, as well as the warrior, would hardly neglect that
of _de profundis clamari_, the storm, the waves, darkness, and the
roaring flood.

If there is really any Norse influence in this tale, this river must be
the one mentioned in the Vafthrudnismal,--