of that shirking soul, who seeks, in some heterogeneous being, a scapegoat for undesirable burdens. Consistently, Milton places his shining Satan enthroned in the same locality: — At length into the limits of the north They came, and Satan to his regal seat But wherever his abode, in ice or fire, his machinations may well be dreaded, as the following myth indicates:- THE WORKS OF THE EVIL SPIRIT. While the Great Spirit had been at work, the Evil Spirit was asleep. He now awoke; and on finding how much the Great Spirit had created, he went to work himself, quite sure of being able to do as much. His first effort was to try to make an Indian; but, through some mistake in the ingredients, a black man was produced. He then endeavored to make a black bear, and it turned out a miserable grizzly creature.1 He then made several serpents, but they were filled with poison. He commenced work in the vegetable line, and created a set of useless herbs; he made a few ugly and distorted trees, and sowed broadcast myriads of thistles. To complete the sum of his machinations, he tempted the creations of the Great Spirit to evil; he made some of the Indians steal and murder and lie. With the Evil Spirit the Great Spirit is to have a battle; and at that time there will be darkness four days and nights, there will be thunders and lightnings, and then the wicked will go to the Evil Spirit. At that time the earth will be destroyed again by a great flood of waters; but the Great Spirit, who will always exist, will restore it again. 1 The grizzly bear was despised by some Indians, who would not eat its meat. But Arimanes, prince of darkness, in Persian story, out-rivals the Winnebago devil: — Ormuzd, the king of light, and Arimanes, the prince of darkness, both emanated from the Eternal One, and consequently were brothers. Arimanes, who was the second emanation, became jealous of Ormuzd, the first born; on account of which feeling, the Eternal One condemned him to remain three thousand years in the realm of shadows, where no ray of light could penetrate. During the time of this exile, Ormuzd made the firmament, the heavenly orbs, and celestial spirits, without Arimanes's knowledge. When the period of his banishment expired, he came forth from the shadowy realms of his exile into the light; and, dazzled by its beauty, his old feelings of envy were excited to such a degree that he resolved to compete with Ormuzd in everything. He found that Ormuzd had created six Amshaspands, Immortal Holy Ones, — guardians of the six planets, and attendants on himself, who presided over the seven. Arimanes now created seven spirits, called Archdevs, in opposition to the Amshaspands; and attached them to the seven planets, to paralyze their efforts of good and substitute evil. Then (finding that Ormuzd had created twenty-eight gentle and kindly spirits, called Izeds, the chief of whom was the radiant Mithras, which presided over sun, moon, and stars, showered beneficent gifts upon the earth, endeavored to protect it from evil influences, and served as messengers between men and the superior spirits, the Amshaspands) he made twenty-eight spirits, called Devs, to defeat the influence of the Izeds, by spreading all manner of disorder and distress; and for their leader he created a serpent, with two feet, named Aschmogh. But his work was not yet completed; for Ormuzd, in the plenitude of his power, had created another order of spirits, called Fervers, who were infinitely more numerous, for they were the ideas which Ormuzd con ceived before he proceeded to the creation of the world. Hence they were the archetypes of everything that existed; the vivifying principles which animated all things in the universe; and the guardians of stars, men, animals, plants, and all other created things. Every mortal had one of these spirits by his side through life, to protect him from evil. Even Ormuzd himself was supposed to have his attendant Ferver. Arimanes had now to set about making a multitude of genii, who opposed the benevolent operations of the Fervers; so that everything had an attendant bad spirit as well as good one. Perceiving the industry of his brother Arimanes, Ormuzd commenced creating again; he made an egg containing kindly disposed spirits. But Arimanes made a counterpart, containing an equal number of spirits of hatred; then, to add to his disastrous work, he broke the eggs together, and good and evil became mixed in the new creation. After this, Ormuzd created the earth and its inhabitants. This was done in six successive periods, when, on the seventh, there was a festival among the good spirits. It seems that in this creation Arimanes was not excluded; he was allowed to aid in creating the opaque elements. But when Ormuzd created, alone, a guardian spirit to watch over every human being, Arimanes, greatly exasperated, made an evil spirit to attend upon and tempt them through life. These wicked ones slipped into their thoughts, and said: "It is Arimanes who has given the sun and moon, and all good things." And when they listened to this suggestion, Arimanes cried aloud from his realm of shadows : "O men, worship us!" To harass and destroy the good animals of the earth, Arimanes made wolves and tigers and serpents and venomous insects. By eating a certain kind of fruit, he transformed himself into a serpent, and went gliding about on the earth to tempt human beings. His Devs entered the bodies of men, and produced all manner of diseases. They entered into their minds, and incited them to sensuality, falsehood, and revenge. Into every department of the world they introduced discord and death. When Ormuzd tried to lead men against Arimanes, they deserted him and joined the enemy, thus enabling him to gain the ascendency three thousand years. 1 This idea, of the body being possessed with evil spirits when diseased, is also the Indian's belief; and we find the same belief in the New Testament. It is rational that both physical and mental disease should be attributed to moral disorder, and consequently to evil spirits. The Evil Priest. CHAPTER X. "Weighed in the path, and found light." LEGENDS OF THE DEAD, AND BURIAL RITES. BLACK was the Indian's symbol of evil, death, and mourning. A black orb signified the departure of the soul, whose transit was believed to be like that of the sun's departure at night. "I shall soon be dead," says the dying Indian, "as is the sun in the great waters, the gitche-gitche-gum-me; but I shall live again, as he lives." Legends of the dead are perhaps the most accurate exponents of the condition of religious thought among ancient peoples. They are the expression of the most earnest powers of the mind. The Indians of our continent had many myths concerning their dead, in which are disclosed their ideas upon the future of the departed soul. These ideas were retained long after conversion. Père Brebeuf, on describing heaven to one of his converts, receives this rejoinder: "That is a heaven for your race; I prefer to go to my ancestors." "And great," says the Jesuit narrator," is the temerity of the Indian who seeks any other than his own class in the Place of Souls." "An Indian," states a chief to Mr. Tanner," was made a convert to the religion of the white people. He died, |