It
resembled the sounds of their own drum. It was therefore considered as
the residence of some powerful spirit, and deemed sacred. To mark their
regard for the place, they began to deposit at its foot bows and twigs
of the same species of tree, as they passed it, from year to year, to
and from their hunting-grounds. These offerings began long before the
French came to the country, and were continued up to this time. Some
years ago, the tree had become so much decayed that it blew down during
a storm, but young shoots came up from its roots, and the natives
continued to make these offerings of twigs, long after the original
trunk had wholly decayed. A few days ago, Colonel Brady directed a road
to be cut from the cantonment to the hill, sixty feet wide, in order to
procure wood from the hill for the garrison. This road passed over the
site of the sacred tree, and the men, without knowing it, removed the
consecrated pile of offerings. It may serve to show a curious
coincidence in the superstitions of nations, between whom, however,
there is not the slightest probability of national affiliation, or even
intercourse, to remark that this sacred manito tree was a very large
species of the Scottish rowan or mountain ash.
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