acquaintance with any one, but kept by himself and appeared to be mild
and humble. At length this man became very sick with putrefying sores
from head to foot and was very loathesome. Nobody knew who he was or
where he came from: he had no home; he gave his name as Qua-ra, or
Rabbit: he went from house to house of all the different clans or tribes
in the nation, as for instance, the Eel, Snipe, Beaver, Turtle, Wolf,
Deer. When he would approach the house, seemingly to go in, they would
loathe him to enter, and when he came to the doorstep he would seem to
hear their thoughts and then return; thus he was repulsed from all the
houses of the above clans, he finally came to the house of the Bear clan.
When the mistress of the house observed him coming, she had pity on him,
and presently prepared a bed for him with the best deerskins she had;
when he came to the door he knew her hospitable heart and went in. She
immediately assured him of his welcome in her meanly hut, and that she
was ready to do everything in her power to relieve his distress, and
appointed his lodge where he had laid himself nearly exhausted. He then
told her to go and get the root of a certain kind of plant, which she
immediately did and prepared according to his direction, which he took
and readily recovered. He then went through a series of diseases,
directing her as before to get the different kind of medicines for the
different diseases. Lastly, he became sick with that fatal disease,
consumption. This he said was incurable, and he must die. He then told
her he was a messenger from Tarenyawagon, to show them the diseases that
they should be subjected to, and also the medicine to cure them. And also
to tell them the predictions of their fate and doom. Said he could not
withhold the water from his eyes, or keep from quaking when he thought of
their irrevocable doom to which they were destined, and said: "There is a
habitation beyond these great waters towards the sun-rising, which are
inhabited by beings of very pale faces, and are looking only to
themselves, have pity for nobody, and make their delight in doing