Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume II (1856)

              1816 lockwood's narrative 181 ing their hair hands and face with dirt leaving the hair un combed to mat with the dirt gashing their legs and arms and leaving them to get well without the least attention some of them carry their grief so far as to raise the skin of their arms and pierce holes with their knives and pat pegs through they con tinue their mourning about a year although by giving a feast and performing certain ceremonies they can be relieved from their mourning in a much less tinm religious superstitions c wawkaw in their language sig nifies a spirit or spiritual the french have interpreted or ren dered it medicine but the indians call the great spirit or god waw-kawltong-gaw the latteir part signifying great the devil they call waw-kaw-she-coh the latter part signifying bad it is dif ficult to get an indian to talk on the subject of his religious belief but my inter prefer who was a half breed informed me that they believe that the great good spirit resides in a beautiful country of good hunting ground and where there is everything in abun dance that an indian can desire even a plurality of beautiful wives but to get there they must be good indians in this world and perform all their duties well as hunters warriors c ; that on the way to this happy land there is a deep gulf to pass with a very narrow way to cross it and that only the good can success fully pass over ; that the bad in attempting to pass fall off into the gulf and wander about in a starving condition they are very particular in performing their religious rites by feasts sacri fices c the first fruits gathered are set apart for the purpose of a spiritual or holy feast the first corn or wild rice of the sea son the first duck or goose killed when they appear in the spring are all reserved for the feast ; at which those indians only who are entitled to wear the badge of having slain an enemy are in vited the women and those who have never taken the scalp of a foe no matter how hungry are never invited to participate you will see boys of sixteen or eighteen years of age at the feast while old gray-headed men are excluded with the women