The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and ManuscriptsSchoolcraft, Henry Rowe
History
The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Indians of North America
I attempted to cut wood, as usual, but in the effort I fell back on the
snow, from weariness, and lay some time; at last I made an effort and
rose, and went to my lodge and lay down. I again saw the vision, and
each person who had before spoken to me, and heard the promises of
different kinds made to me, and the songs. I went the same path which I
had pursued before, and met with the same reception. I also had another
vision, or celestial visit, which I shall presently relate. My mother
came again on the seventh day, and brought me some pounded corn boiled
in _snow water_, for she said I must not drink water from lake or river.
After taking it, I related my vision to her. She said it was good, and
spoke to me to continue my fast three days longer. I did so; at the end
of which she took me home, and made a feast in honor of my success, and
invited a great many guests. I was told to eat sparingly, and to take
nothing too hearty or substantial; but this was unnecessary, for my
abstinence had made my senses so acute, that all animal food had a gross
and disagreeable odor.
After the seventh day of my fast (she continued), while I was lying in
my lodge, I saw a dark round object descending from the sky like a round
stone, and enter my lodge. As it came near, I saw that it had small feet
and hands like a human body. It spoke to me and said, "I give you the
gift of seeing into futurity, that you may use it, for the benefit of
yourself and the Indians--your relations and tribes-people." It then
departed, but as it went away, it assumed wings, and looked to me like
the red-headed woodpecker.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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