they would be tracked on snow by hunters, and if followed on their
track, however recently passed, they never could be overtaken.
Sometimes when an Indian would be hunting or walking in solitude, he
would suddenly be seized with an unearthly fright, terribly awe
stricken, apprehending some great evil. He feels very peculiar
sensation from head to foot--the hair of his head standing and feeling
stiff like a porcupine quill. He feels almost benumbed with fright, and
yet he does not know what it is; and looking in every direction to see
something, but nothing to be seen which might cause sensation of
terror. Collecting himself, he would then say, "Pshaw! its nothing here
to be afraid of. It's nobody else but Paw-gwa-tchaw-nish-naw-boy is
approaching me. Perhaps he wanted something of me." They would then
leave something on their tracks--tobacco, powder, or something else.
Once in a great while they would appear, and approach the person to
talk with him, and in this case, it is said, they would always begin
with the sad story of their great catastrophe at the Island of
Mackinac. And whoever would be so fortunate as to meet and see them and
to talk with them, such person would always become a prophet to his
people, either Ottawa or Chippewa. Therefore, Ottawas and Chippewas
called these supernatural beings "Paw-gwa-tchaw-nish-naw-boy," which
is, strictly, "Wild roaming supernatural being."

Pine river country, in Charlevoix County, Michigan, when this country
was all wild, especially near Pine Lake, was once considered as the
most famous resort of these kind of unnatural beings. I was once
conversing with one of the first white settlers of that portion of the
country, who settled near to the place now called Boyne City, at the
extreme end of the east arm of Pine Lake. In the conversation he told
me that many times they had been frightened, particularly during the
nights, by hearing what sounded like human footsteps around outside of