“A remarkable instance of this belief in the power of these sorcerers, and of the wonderful effects of imagination, is related by Hearne, as having occurred during his residence among the northern or Chepewyan Indians. Matonabbee, one of their chiefs, had requested him to kill one of his enemies, who was at that time several hundred miles distant. ‘To please this great man,’ says he, ‘and not expecting that any harm could possibly arise from it, I drew a rough sketch of two human figures on a piece of paper, in the attitude of wrestling; in the hand of one of them I drew the figure of a bayonet, pointing to the breast of the other. This, said I, to Matonabbee, pointing to the figure which was holding the bayonet, is I, and the other is your enemy. Opposite to those two figures I drew a fine tree, over which I placed a large human eye, and out of the tree projected a human hand. This paper I gave to Matonabbee, with instructions to make it as public as possible. The following year when he came to trade, he informed me that the man was dead. Matonabbee assured me, that the man was in perfect health when he heard of my design against him, but almost immediately afterwards became quite gloomy, and, refusing all kinds of sustenance, in a very few days died.’[69] “Bartram, in his account of the manners and habits of the tribes which inhabit Florida and the south of the United States, relates, as their general belief, that their seer has communion with powerful invisible spirits, who have a share in the government of human affairs, as well as of the elements. His influence is so great, as frequently to turn back an army when within a day’s journey of their enemy, after a march of several hundred miles. ‘Indeed,’ he adds, ‘the predictions of these men have surprised many people. They foretell rain or drought, pretend to bring rain at pleasure, cure diseases, exercise witchcraft, invoke or expel evil spirits, and even assume the power of directing thunder and lightening.’[70] “The power, then, of these imposters, is supposed to consist in the miraculous cure of diseases; the procuring of rain, and other temporal blessings, in the same supernatural manner; the miraculous infliction of punishment upon the subjects of their displeasure, and the foretelling of future events. It will immediately be seen, that these are, in fact, the characteristics of the prophetic office; those I mean, which are external, which produce therefore, a lasting impression on the senses of men, and from the force of ocular tradition, would naturally be pretended to, even after the power of God was withdrawn.” _Of the mode in which the North American Indians educate their children._