d had there been missionaries
there at the time, their efforts might have proved successful. But the
influence of the "men of medicine," who strenuously withstand a
religion which exposes their delusive tricks, and consequently
deprives them of their gains,--together with the dreadful depravity
everywhere prevalent,--renders the conversion of the Tekallies an
object most difficult to accomplish.

It is a general opinion among Christians, that there exists no nation
or people on earth who are entirely ignorant of a Supreme Being. I
shall contrast the language of this tribe with that of the Sauteux or
Ojibbeway, and let the reader judge for himself.

I have heard a heathen Ojibbeway, when giving a feast, express himself
thus: "The great Master of Life, he who sees us and whom we cannot
see, having done me charity, I invite you, my brother, to partake of
it." On a like occasion, a Takelly describes the manner in which he
killed his game, but never alludes to a deity. When an Ojibbeway
wishes to confirm the truth of what he says beyond a doubt, he points
to heaven and exclaims, "He to whom we belong hears that what I say is
true." The Takelly says, "The toad hears me." You ask a Takelly what
becomes of him after death, he replies, "My life shall be _extinct_,
and I shall be dead." Not an idea has he of the soul, or of a future
state of rewards and punishments. The Ojibbeway answers, "After death
my soul goes either to a happy land, abounding with game and every
delight; or to a land of misery, where I shall suffer for ever from
want. Whether it go to the good or bad place depends on my good or bad
conduct here."

In fact the Takelly language has not a term in it to express the name
of Deity, spirit, or soul. When the Columbia religion was introduced
among them, our interpreters had to invent a term for the
Deity--Yagasita--the "Man of Heaven." The only expression I ever heard
them use that conveyed any idea whatever of a superior Being is, that
when the salmon fail, they say, "The Man who keeps the mouth of the
river has shut it up with his red keys, so that the salmon cannot get
up." One of our gentlemen, a member of the Roman Catholic Church,
teaching the Takellies to make the sign of the cross, with the words
used on the occasion, his interpreter translated them, "Au nom du
Pere, de son Frere, et puis de son petit Garcon!" (In the name of the
Father, his Brother, and his little Boy!)

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