mpment; and that if the
friends kindle this fire upon the spot where the body is laid, the
spirit has the benefit of its light and warmth on its path, while if
the friends neglect to do this, the spirit is subjected to the irksome
task of making its own fire each night.

THE LEGEND OF O-NA-WUT-A-QUT-O.

A long time ago there lived an aged Odjibwa and his wife on the shores
of Lake Huron. They had an only son, a very beautiful boy, named
O-na-wut-a-qut-o, or He that catches the clouds. The family were of
the totem of the beaver. The parents were very proud of their son, and
wished to make him a celebrated man; but when he reached the proper
age he would not submit to the We-koon-de-win, or fast. When this time
arrived they gave him charcoal instead of his breakfast, but he would
not blacken his face. If they denied him food he sought bird's eggs
along the shore, or picked up the heads of fish that had been cast
away, and broiled them. One day they took away violently the food he
had prepared, and cast him some coals in place of it. This act decided
him. He took the coals and blackened his face and went out of the
lodge. He did not return, but lay down without to sleep. As he lay, a
very beautiful girl came down from the clouds and stood by his side.

"O-na-wut-a-qut-o," she said, "I am come for you. Follow in my
footsteps."

The young man rose and did as he was bid. Presently he found himself
ascending above the tops of the trees, and gradually he mounted up
step by step into the air, and through the clouds. At length his guide
led him through an opening, and he found himself standing with her on
a beautiful plain.

A path led to a splendid lodge, into which O-na-wut-a-qut-o followed
his guide. It was large, and divided into two parts. At one end he saw
bows and arrows, clubs and spears, and various warlike instruments
tipped with silver. At the other end were things exclusively belonging
to women. This was the house of his fair guide, and he saw that she
had on a frame a broad rich belt of many colours that she was weaving.

"My brother is coming," she said, "and I must hide you."

Putting him in one corner she spread the belt over him, and presently
the brother came in very richly dressed, and shining as if he had
points of silver all over him. He took down from the wall a splendid
pipe, and a bag in which was a-pa-ko-ze-gun, or smoking mixture. When
he had finished smoking, he laid his pipe aside, and