Page:Life and journals of Kah-ke-wa-quo-na-by.djvu/25

 origin from the same causes. No wonder the Indians pine away and die; their life after all is a hard one.

At one time I accompanied an Indian by the name of Old Peter, in his hunting excursion. Whilst traversing the howling wilderness, all at once he said that he heard from a distance the shouts of Pahguk, a flying skeleton, a description of which will be found in my Indian history. I was greatly alarmed at the idea of being so near this powerful Munedoo, who is said to cause the stoutest heart to quail at his war-whoop.

In my youth I was frequently alarmed in common with my native brethren, at the supposition that the Nahdoway's, or Iroquois, were lurking about for the purpose of killing some of the Ojebways. A strict watch used to be kept up during the night at each wigwam, in order to prevent our being fallen upon by surprise. In my opinion these alarms were purely imaginary: for whenever the watch was abandoned, and their fears somewhat abated, the noise of footsteps, and the appearance of strange Indians immediately subsided.

In the war which took place in the year 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, my people and many other Indians came from the Western Lakes, joined the British, and rendered them great service, as has been repeatedly testified by men of understanding.

I was too young to take up the tomahawk against the enemy, and therefore was not engaged in the war. Well, however, do I recollect being told that the “Yankees” were coming into Canada to kill all the Indians, and wondering what kind of beings the Yankees could be, I fancied they were some invincible munedoos. My old grandmother, Puhgashkish, was supposed to have been killed at the time York, now Toronto, was taken by the Americans, for being a cripple she had to be left behind when the Indians fled into the backwoods, and nothing was ever afterwards heard of her.