pected by those most indifferent to all
other festivals throughout the year.

Precisely such a fast, with similar motives, and nearly at the same
period of the year, is kept by the Indian natives generally.

Adair, after stating the strict manner in which the Indians observe the
revolutions of the moon, and describing the feast of the harvest, and
the first offerings of the fruits, gives a long account of the
preparations in putting their temple in proper order for the great day
of atonement, which he fixes at the time when the corn is full-eared and
ripe, generally in the latter end of September. He then proceeds:

"Now one of the waiters proclaims with a loud voice, for all the
warriors and beloved men whom the purity of their law admits, to come
and enter the beloved square and observe the fast. He also exhorts the
women and children, with those who have not been initiated in war, to
keep apart according to the law.

"Four sentinels are now placed one at each corner of the holy square, to
keep out every living creature as impure, except the religious order,
and the warriors who are not known to have violated the law of the first
fruit-offering, and that of marriage, since the last year's expiation.
They observe the fast till the rising of the second sun; and be they
ever so hungry in the sacred interval, the healthy warriors deem the
duty so awful, and disobedience so inexpressibly vicious, that no
temptation would induce them to violate it. They at the same time drink
plentifully of a decoction of the button snake root, in order to vomit
and dense their sinful bodies."

"In the general fast, the children and men of weak constitutions, are
allowed to eat, as soon as they are certain that the sun has begun to
decline from his meridian altitude.

"Now every thing is hushed. Nothing but silence all around. The great
beloved man, and his beloved waiter, rising up with a reverend carriage,
steady countenance and composed behaviour, go into the beloved place, or
holiest, to bring them out the beloved fire. The former takes a piece
of dry poplar, willow, or white oak, and having cut a hole, but not so
deep as to reach through it; he then sharpens another piece, and placing
that in the hole, and both between his knees, he drills it briskly for
several minutes, till it begins to smoke--or by rubbing two pieces
together for a quarter of an hour, he collects by friction the hidden
fire, which they all consider as pr