[Footnote 8: Michili, pronounced "Mishili", means "great", and
Makinak, "turtle", in the translation of some Canadian writers. The
turtle in question is, of course, not the turtle of sea waters, but
the Snapping Turtle (_Chelydra serpentina_) found in most Canadian
lakes and the big rivers of North America, east of the Rocky
Mountains.]
For invoking and consulting the Great Turtle, the first thing to be
done was to build a large house, within which was placed a kind of
tent, for the use of the priest and reception of the spirit. The tent
was formed of moose skins, hung over a framework of wood made out of
five pillars of five different species of timber, about ten feet in
height and eight inches in diameter, set up in a circle of four feet
in diameter, with their bases two feet deep in the soil. At the top
the pillars were bound together by a circular hoop of withies. Over
the whole of this edifice were spread the moose skins, covering it at
top and round the sides, and made fast with thongs of the same, except
that on one side a part was left unfastened, to admit of the entrance
of the priest.
The ceremonies did not commence till the approach of night. To give
light inside the house several fires were kindled round the tent.
Nearly the whole village assembled in the house, Alexander Henry among
the rest.
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