fire, except in smoking, which amounts to almost nothing. They eat baked
Indian meal, which they soak in water, when it becomes a kind of porridge.
They provide themselves with such meal to meet their wants, when they are
near their enemies, or when retreating after a charge, in which case they
are not inclined to hunt, retreating immediately.

In all their encampments, they have their Pilotois, or Ostemoy, [341] a
class of persons who play the part of soothsayers, in whom these people
have faith. One of these builds a cabin, surrounds it with small pieces of
wood, and covers it with his robe: after it is built, he places himself
inside, so as not to be seen at all, when he seizes and shakes one of the
posts of his cabin, muttering some words between his teeth, by which he
says he invokes the devil, who appears to him in the form of a stone, and
tells him whether they will meet their enemies and kill many of them. This
Pilotois lies prostrate on the ground, motionless, only speaking with the
devil: on a sudden, he rises to his feet, talking, and tormenting himself
in such a manner that, although naked, he is all of a perspiration. All the
people surround the cabin, seated on their buttocks, like apes. They
frequently told me that the shaking of the cabin, which I saw, proceeded
from the devil, who made it move, and not the man inside, although I could
see the contrary; for, as I have stated above, it was the Pilotois who took
one of the supports of the cabin, and made it move in this manner. They
told me also that I should see fire come out from the top, which I did not
see at all. These rogues counterfeit also their voice, so that it is heavy
and clear, and speak in a language unknown to the other savages. And, when
they represent it as broken, the savages think that the devil is speaking,
and telling them what is to happen in their war, and what they must do.

But all these scapegraces, who play the soothsayer, out of a hundred words,
do not speak two that are true, and impose upon these poor people. There