The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1890-08-08
FOLLOWED BYACURSE.
AN INTERESTING INDIAN
LEGEND FROM THE
OTY0WA.
Manahchinty TOmah aWked
Mahingan Because the
Latter Ate The Sacred
Lamb-A Curse.

When the first white mission
aries cnleavored to explain 10 In
dians The Christian religion the eff
feet was at times rather startling.
The Indians mistook the sub
stance for the symbol, the object
i've for the subjective. 1t is not
surprising, therefore, that an OJib-
way Chief who once Travelled in
the early dawn Of Canadian civili-
cation as far as Montreal, and met
there jesuit missionary, having
received from him lamb as Il
present, mistuok il for the Lamb
of God, concerning whom The mis-
sionary had talked much, and,
taking it with him when he return
ed To his people, impressed upon
them the sacre1ness of This won
derlul and, to them, strange beast,
enioining upon them the necessity
of worshiping it with honor and
reverence. A small island was
chosen as suitable dwelling place
for this new manltuu, writes a
Quebec correspondent of the Buf-
fao ETpreSS, and the Indians were
happy in pO, sessing an animal at
once so sacred and so easily kepl.
Unfortunately the owner was the
object Of much jealousy on the
part of one who had always laid
counter claim to The position OF a
leader OF The people. The name
of This uan was Mahingan. lie
was a good hunter and bold man,
but he had the reputation Of be-
inu what is called Bad Indian"
very vague term of disapproba-
lion, but very common among In
,lians. He saw that the possession
Of this lamb gave much power to
his rival and lie determined to de-
prive him Of it, and, being some
what Of a ulilitarian, he consider
ed that the best way TO do This was
to eat it, which he did suTeptI-
tiously and at night. On the fol
loving day CONSERVATION reigned
in the Indian camps-the sacred
lamb was gone.
The owner was furious, but tried
to turn the matter to account by
sta ing that no manilOu of such i'm
portance would stay where "bad
Indians were allowed to live with
impunily, which explanation was
accepted as satisfactory until the
bones of the lamb were found,
clean picked and bearing unmis-
taxable evidence OF having been
boiled. This upset the supernat-
ural Translation theory altogether,
and evidently pointed TO The muir
der of a manilou, but the question
then arose, "Who was The sacrei-
grous wretch who had dared to fill
himself with a god Z" Manahchin-
ty, the owner, openly accused Nah
ingan to his face, but Mahingan
laughed at him, saying:
mo one can eat real manitou.
The manltou would more likely
eat hm. If your animal was
truth, then it would have saved
itself if a fraud, the soonerlt was
eaten The better"
So true did this saying appear
that some Of The Indians sided
with Mahlngan, for all recognized
that il was he who had eaten The
lamb, and there were not wanting
those who began To murmur at
Manahchiniy for inducing them to
worship false gods; and Manah-
chiniy saw that strong measures
were neces ssary in order TO main
Tain his reputation as "Big Injun, "
so he tomahawked his rival on the
sly, aud the people at once return
co 70 their allegiance, probably
fearing lest they themselves should
be lomahawked. Strange 10 say,
after this Manahchiniy became
lislless and depressed come
thought il was on account of the
loss of his sacred lamb bnt final
lv il leaked out that Mahingan,
before dying, had found lime 10
curse his murderer, 10 threaten
him with his vengeance, even
though he were dead, aud 10 prom
ise him that he would pursue him
and his heirs relentlessly and for
many generations. Strange 10 re-
late, Manahchiniy soon joined his
viclim, having been upset from his
came and drowned during a loon
hunt. For several generations his
descendants in the male line died