The consumption of such a large amount of liquor in the past has, in a great many cases, absolutely destroyed the health of the Indians. Their constitutions always have been weak, subject to tuberculosis, pneumonia, and all pulmonary diseases, and when the consumption of large amounts of alcohol is added to this, little wonder is it that the death rate is high among them, and that so many weak, diseased Indian children come into the world. In the matter of religion, the Puget Sound Indians are in an evolutionary stage. On the whole, the old form of religion, called Tamahnous, in which the evil spirit was worshipped in order to appease it, and hence not to be visited by it, has been replaced by the Christian religion, or by a mixture of the Christian and the old. The Puget Sound Indians are peculiar in one respect, viz: that they are indolent and lazy, are easily persuaded to accept and follow any belief, but are usually unwilling to make an effort to think or reason out a question. They are indolently and willingly superficial. The result of this has been that while a great many have been converted to the Christian religion, still that conversion has been very superficial in character. They have been satisfied with the content that external forms and actions would make them right with God, and secure to them a future happiness, and, at the same time, have utterly disregarded the true inner spirit of religion. Hence, they have readily taken up anything that appeals to the sensuous in their religious nature. In 1882 or 1883, a Mud Bay Indian, named John Slocum, who had been converted to Catholicism, but who had led a rather desultory life, fell sick and apparently died. The usual death ceremonies took place. But to the great surprise of the Indians, Slocum came to life again on the second or third day after his death. He brought with him a wonderful tale. He affirmed that he had indeed died, gone up to the pearly gates and there met St. Peter, who refused him entrance on the grounds that he had led too loose a life. There was one way, however, so St. Peter informed him, by which he could yet earn his way into Paradise, and that was to go back to earth and teach his fellow Indians a new form of religion, which was to be the same as that in the white man's book, but better adapted to the needs of the Indians. Hence his return to life.