He was about 70
years of age; a small man, of light frame and walked a little bent. He
had an expression of cunning and knowingness, which induced his people,
when young, to think he resembled the muskrat, just rising from the
water, after a dive. This trait was implied by his name. For many years
he had acted as a jossakeed, or seer, for his tribe. In this business he
told me that the powers he relied on, were the spirits [81] of the
tortoise, crow, swan, and woodpecker. These he considered his familiar
spirits, who received their miraculous power to aid him directly from
_Mudjee Moneto_, or the Great Evil Spirit. After the establishment of
the Mission at Mackinack, his wife embraced Christianity. This made him
mad. At length his mind ran so much on the theme, that he fell into
doubts and glooms when thinking it over, and finally embraced
Christianity himself; and he was admitted, after a probation of a year
or two, to church membership. I asked him, after this period, how he had
deceived his people by the art of powwowing, or jugglery.
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