and often disgusting, designed for the cure of the sick or for the
general weal of the community. Most of their observances seem originally
to have been dictated by dreams, and transmitted as a sacred heritage
from generation to generation. They consisted in an endless variety of
dances, masqueradings, and nondescript orgies; and a scrupulous adherence
to all the traditional forms was held to be of the last moment, as the
slightest failure in this respect might entail serious calamities.
If children were seen in their play imitating any of these mysteries,
they were grimly rebuked and punished. In many tribes secret magical
societies existed, and still exist, into which members are initiated with
peculiar ceremonies. These associations are greatly respected and
feared. They have charms for love, war, and private revenge, and exert a
great, and often a very mischievous influence. The societies of the
Metai and the Wabeno, among the Northern Algonquins, are conspicuous
examples; while other societies of similar character have, for a century,
been known to exist among the Dahcotah.

[ The Friendly Society of the Spirit, of which the initiatory ceremonies
were seen and described by Carver (Travels, 271), preserves to this day
its existence and its rites. ]

A notice of the superstitious ideas of the Indians would be imperfect
without a reference to the traditionary tales through which these ideas
are handed down from father to son. Some of these tales can be traced
back to the period of the earliest intercourse with Europeans. One at
least of those recorded by the first missionaries, on the Lower
St. Lawrence, is still current among the tribes of the Upper Lakes.
Many of them are curious combinations of beliefs seriously entertained
with strokes intended for humor and drollery, which never fail to awaken
peals of laughter in the lodge-circle. Giants, dwarfs, cannibals,