Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a TouristLanman, Charles
History
Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a Tourist
Lanman, Charles
Fishing -- North America; United States -- Description and travel
disappeared, as if borne upward by the evening wind. And then it was
that they discovered her clasped in the embraces of the moon, for they
knew that the spots which they saw within the circle of that planet were
those of her robe, which she had made from the skins of the spotted
fawn.
Many summers have passed away since the Sweet Strawberry became the
Maiden of the Moon, yet among all the people of her nation is she ever
remembered for her beauty and the mystery of her being.
THE GHOSTLY MAN-EATER.
There is an idea existing among the Chippeway Indians, which
corroborates a statement made by the early travelers on this continent
relative to the belief that there once existed among the aboriginal
tribes, a species of vampire, or ghostly man-eater. The Chippeways do
not assert that there ever lived more than one of these unearthly
beings; but they pretend that such an one did, and does exist, and that
he has his residence upon an island in the centre of Lake Superior—which
island can never be seen by mortal man, excepting when darkness has
settled upon the world. The stories they relate of his appearance and
deeds, are horrible in the extreme, and resemble much the creations of a
mind suffering under the influence of the nightmare. For example, they
describe this monster as possessing the material appearance of the human
form—but of such a nature as not to be susceptible to the touch. He is
said to have the body of a serpent, with human legs and arms—all
supplied with immense nails, which he employs for the double purpose of
digging up the earth, and dissecting the bodies upon which he feeds; his
head is like that of the wolf, and his teeth of a peculiar sharpness.
The deeds which he performs are worthy of his personal appearance—and
some of them are as follows: When the Indian mother, during a long
journey, has lost her infant child, and placed it on the rude scaffold,
that she may return to it at some future day, the Ghostly Man-Eater only
waits until she is fairly out of his sight, and then proceeds to the
sacred place, and feasts himself upon the tender flesh and blood of his
victim. And therefore it is, that the traveler sometimes sees, in the
remote wilderness, fragments of human bones scattered on the ground, as
if a wolf had been suddenly interrupted, while devouring his prey. But
the Man-Eater sometimes enters the house, or half-buried receptacle of
the dead; and, after digging his way to the decaying body, coils himself
up, as if in delight, and gluts his appetite with the unholy food. How
it is that he travels, with lightning speed, from one distant place to
another, has never been ascertained; but the strange sounds which the
Indian occasionally hears, high in the air above his wigwam, is thought
to be the song of the Man-Eater, as he hurries upon the wings of the
wind, from a recent banquet, to his mysterious island on the lake.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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