Old Mackinaw | Page 7

at the top of the lodge, accompanied by singing.
The Indian, who recognized the voice, asked if his child would die. The
reply was, "It will die the day after to-morrow. You are treated just as
you treated a person a few years ago. Do you wish the matter revealed."
The inquirer immediately dropped his head and asked no further
questions. His child died at the time the spirit stated, and reports, years
after, hinted that it had been poisoned, as the father of the deceased
child had poisoned a young squaw, and that it was this same person
who made the responses.
Old Chusco, after he became a Christian, could not, according to the
testimony of Schoolcraft, be made to waver in his belief, that he was
visited by spirits in the exhibitions connected with the tight-wound
pyramidal, oracular lodge; but he believed they were evil spirits. No
cross-questioning could bring out any other testimony. He avowed that,
aside from his incantations, he had no part in the shaking of the lodge,
never touching the poles at any time, and that the drumming, rattling,
singing, and responses were all produced by these spirits.
The following account of Chusco, or Wau-chus-co, from the pen of
William M. Johnson, Esq., of Mackinaw Island, will be found to be
deeply interesting:
* * * * *
"Wau-chus-co was a noted Indian spiritualist and Clairvoyant, and was
born near the head of Lake Michigan--the year not known. He was
eight or ten years old, he informed me, when the English garrison was
massacred at Old Fort Missilimackinac. He died on Round Island,
opposite the village and island of Mackinaw, at an advanced age.

"As he grew up from childhood, he found that he was an orphan, and
lived with his uncle, but under the care of his grandmother. Upon
attaining the age of fifteen his grandmother and uncle urged him to
comply with the ancient custom of their people, which was to fast, and
wait for the manifestations of the Gitchey-monedo,--whether he would
grant him a guardian spirit or not, to guide and direct him through life.
He was told that many young men of his tribe tried to fast, but that
hunger overpowered their wishes to obtain a spiritual guardian; he was
urged to do his best, and not to yield as others had done.
"Wau-chus-co died in 1839 or '40. He had, for more than ten years
previous to his death, led an exemplary Christian life, and was a
communicant of the Presbyterian Church on this Island, up to the time
of his death. A few days previous to his death, I paid him a visit. 'Come
in, come in, nosis!' (grandson) said he. After being seated, and we had
lit our pipes; I said to him, 'Ne-me-sho-miss, (my grandfather,) you are
now very old and feeble; you cannot expect to live many days; now,
tell me the truth, who was it that moved your chees-a-kee lodge when
you practiced your spiritual art?' A pause ensued before he
answered:--'Nosis, as you are in part of my nation, I will tell you the
truth: I know that I will die soon. I fasted ten days when I was a young
man, in compliance with the custom of my tribe. While my body was
feeble from long fasting, my soul increased in its powers; it appeared to
embrace a vast extent of space, and the country within this space, was
brought plainly before my vision, with its misty forms and beings--I
speak of my spiritual vision. It was, while I was thus lying in a trance,
my soul wandering in space, that animals, some of frightful size and
form, serpents of monstrous size, and birds of different varieties and
plumage, appeared to me and addressed me in human language,
proposing to act as my guardian spirits. While my mind embraced these
various moving forms, a superior intelligence in the form of man,
surrounded by a wild, brilliant light, influenced my soul to select one of
the bird-spirits, resembling the kite in look and form, to be the emblem
of my guardian spirit, upon whose aid I was to call in time of need, and
that he would be always prepared to render me assistance whenever my
body and soul should be prepared to receive manifestations. My
grandmother roused me to earth again, by inquiring if I needed food: I

ate, and with feeble steps, soon returned to our lodge.
"'The first time that I ever chees-a-keed, was on a war expedition
toward Chicago, or where it is now located--upon an urgent occasion.
We were afraid that our foes would attack us unawares, and as we were
also short of provisions, our chief urged me incessantly, until I
consented. After preparing my soul and body, by