We shall know in time what there is to it." It is said that in no Amerind (the word Amerind is a new word coined by the Bureau of Ethnology to take the place of the three words " North American Indian." You will notice that it is composed or formed from the first four letters of American and the first three letters of Indian) language, could the Jesuit Priests find a word to express the idea of God or His attributes. Although the most charitable of people and showing the utmost aflfection for their children, the Jesuits v^^ere unable, in the Amerind language, to impress upon them or to communicate to them, the idea of an all-loving and charitable Supreme Being. They had their Manitou, but they feared them and gave them the character of the devil, one w^ho should be propitiated by presents, by penances, or by scourges and feasts. In the Amerind's mind, each animal had a king, as the Great Turtle, the Great Bear, etc. The fathers said to them if the animals have each a Supreme Being, why should not man have a great chief

CONCERNING THE MOHAWKS. 99

of men, who lives in the sky ; a Great Spirit. This idea they accepted, and altlioug'h they did not or could not give him tlie attributes of the Christian's God, the Great Spirit became " a distinct existence, a pervading power in the universe, and a dispencer of justice." This idea the Jesuits had to accept, although in exceptional cases, they seemed to impress their idea of God upon some of their converts while they had them at the missions, but they were sure to become apostates when they returned to their people in the wilderness. So you will see that " The Great Spirit " of the Indians is a modern idea received from the whites and not, as some think, a Supreme Being evolved ages ago from the Amerind mind.