On the twenty-fourth of November, the Sorcerer assembled the Savages, and entrenched himself with some robes and blankets in one quarter of the Cabin, so that neither he nor his companions could be seen. There was a woman with them, who marked on a triangular stick, half a spear in length, all the songs they recited. I [83] begged a woman to tell me what they were doing in this enclosure, and she answered me that they were praying; but I believe she made this response because, when I prayed and they asked me what I was doing, I told them, _Nataïamihiau missi ca Khichitât_, "I am praying to him who made all things;" and so when they sang, when they howled, and beat their drums and their sticks, they told me that they were making prayers, without being able to explain to me to whom they were addressed. The renegade told me that this superstitious rite, which lasted more than five hours, was performed for a dead person; but, as he lies oftener than he tells the truth, I give it for what it is worth. They call this superstition _Ouechibouan_. After these long orisons, the Sorcerer gave the pattern of a little sack, cut in the form of a leg, to a woman, to make one of leather. This she filled, I thought, with Beaver hair, for I felt the leg and it seemed to me light and full of soft hair. I asked often what it was, [84] and why they made this little crooked sack, but they never told me. I only know that they call it _Manitoukathi_; meaning, leg of the Manitou, or of the Devil; for a long time it was hung in the Cabin, at the place where the Sorcerer was seated; afterward, it was given to a young man to wear hung from his neck. It was one of the accompaniments of these long prayers, which I have just described; but I have not been able to find out for what purpose it was used. Ils gardent par fois encore vn ieusne fort rigoureux, non pas tous, mais quelques vns qui ont enuie de viure long temps; mon hoste voyant que ie ne mangeois qu'vne fois pendant le Caresme, me dit que quelques vns d'entre eux ieusnoient pour auoir vne longue vie; mais m'adjousta qu'ils se retiroient tous seuls dans vne petite Cabane à part, & que là ils ne beuuoient ny mãgeoient quelquefois huict iours, quelquefois dix iours durant: d'autres m'ont dit qu'ils sortent comme des squelets de cette Cabane, & que par [85] fois on en rapporte à demy-morts, ie n'ay point veu de ces grands ieusneurs, si bien de grãds disneurs: vray est que ie n'ay point de peine à croire cét excez, car toutes les fausses religions sont pleines de puerilitez, ou d'excés, ou de saletez.