usually in their boyhood days. To be eligible for supernatural favor, the youth had to be _piʹlsŭⁿ_, or pure, which means that not only must he be chaste, but that he must have kept strictly all the taboos against eating food prepared by women in their periodic condition, etc. Old Lenape say that, as the children of the tribe are reared nowadays in the same way as the whites, they can no longer be _piʹlsŭⁿ_, and the Powers will speak to them no more. This is a sad matter, for it means the loss of their principal ancient ceremonies, at which only those blessed with a vision can take active part. The old people feel it keenly that there will be no one left to conduct the rites when the last of their generation has been laid away. INITIATION OF BOYS Parents were especially anxious, of course, that their sons should have supernatural aid, hence, when a boy reached the age of about twelve years, they would frequently pretend to abuse him, and would drive him, fasting, out into the forest to shift as best he might, in the hope that some _manĭʹto_ would take pity on the suffering child and grant him some power or blessing that would be his dependence through life. Sometimes a man who had several sons would take them out into the forest and build them a rude little tent, and here they would remain for days at a time. During the day the boys were not permitted to eat, but just before sunrise every morning each was given a medicine to make him vomit, after which a tiny piece of meat was given him, about the size of a man’s little finger. Occasionally the boys became able to fast in this way for twelve days, at the end of which time, the Lenape say, some had received such power that they were able to rise into the air, or go down into the ground, or prophesy events a year or two ahead, with the magic aid of the supernatural being that had taken pity on them. OTHER VISIONS It sometimes happened also that people received visions of power in natural sleep without fasting, or even when wide awake, while feeling melancholy and heartsick over the death of a loved one, or suffering other misfortune or trouble. As they sat brooding, some _manĭʹto_ might address himself to them, and give them advice and comfort, or endow them with some kind of power. Women occasionally had visions of this kind. THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT