The Wahconda is believed to be the greatest and best of beings, the creator and preserver of all things, and the fountain of mystic medicine. Omniscience, omnipresence, and vast power are attributed to him, and he is supposed to afflict them with sickness, poverty, or misfortune, for their evil deeds. In conversation he is frequently appealed to as an evidence of the truth of their asseverations, in the words Wahconda-wa-nah-kong, the Wahconda hears what I say; and they sometimes add Mun-ekuh-wa-nah-kong, the earth hears what I say. Whatever may be the notions of other Indian nations, we did not learn that the Omawhaws have any distinct ideas of the existence of the devil; or at least we always experienced much difficulty and delay, when obtaining vocabularies of this and some other languages in ascertaining corresponding words for _Devil_ and _Hell_: the Indians would consult together, and in one instance the interpreter told us they were coining a word. They say that after death, those who have conducted themselves properly in this life, are received into the Wa-noch-a-te, or town of brave and generous spirits; but those who have not been useful to the nation or their own families, by killing their enemies, stealing horses, or by generosity, will have a residence prepared for them in the town of poor and useless spirits; where, as well as in the good town, their usual avocations are continued. Their Wahconda seems to be a Protean god; he is supposed to appear to different persons under different forms. All those who are favoured with his {247} presence become medicine men or magicians, in consequence of thus having seen and conversed with the Wahconda, and of having received from him some particular medicine of wondrous efficacy. He appeared to one in the shape of a grizzly bear, to another in that of a bison, to a third in that of a beaver, or owl, &c., and an individual attributed to an animal, from which he received his medicine, the form and features of the elephant. All the magi, in the administration of their medicine to the sick or afflicted, mimic the action and voice, variously exaggerated and modified, of the animal, which, they say, is their respective medicine, or in other words, that in which the Wahconda appeared to them. When a magician is called to attend a sick person, he makes preparations for the visit by washing and painting with red clay; some of them dress fantastically, but others retain their ordinary apparel, which does not distinguish them from their neighbours; they take with them a dried gourd or skin, in which are some pebbles or plumstones, to make a rattling noise; the medicine bag is also an indispensable requisite, not for the active properties of its contents, but for the mystic virtues ascribed to them.