demons, et esperions que Dieu preserueroit nostre petite maison de cette
maladie contagieuse."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 150. ]
The Indians, on their part, anxious that their scarecrows should do their
office well, addressed them in loud harangues and burned offerings of
tobacco to them. [ Ibid., 157. ]

There was another sorcerer, whose medical practice was so extensive, that,
unable to attend to all his patients, he sent substitutes to the
surrounding towns, first imparting to them his own mysterious power.
One of these deputies came to Ossossane while the priests were there.
The principal house was thronged with expectant savages, anxiously
waiting his arrival. A chief carried before him a kettle of mystic water,
with which the envoy sprinkled the company, [ 1 ] at the same time
fanning them with the wing of a wild turkey. Then came a grand
medicine-feast, followed by a medicine-dance of women.

[ 1 The idea seems to have been taken from the holy water of the French.
Le Mercier says that a Huron who had been to Quebec once asked him the
use of the vase of water at the door of the chapel. The priest told him
that it was "to frighten away the devils". On this, he begged earnestly
to have some of it. ]

Opinion was divided as to the nature of the pest; but the greater number
were agreed that it was a malignant oki, who came from Lake Huron. [ 1 ]
As it was of the last moment to conciliate or frighten him, no means to
these ends were neglected. Feasts were held for him, at which, to do him
honor, each guest gorged himself like a vulture. A mystic fraternity
danced with firebrands in their mouths; while other dancers wore masks,
and pretended to be hump-backed. Tobacco was burned to the Demon of the
Pest, no less than to the scarecrows which were to frighten him. A chief