Note BS — {304} CHAP. IX.

Their ideas in this respect are founded on a principle one would not imagine. Experience has shewn them, that when a hairy deer-skin is briskly stroked with the hand in a dark night, it will emit many sparks of electrical fire, as the back of a cat will. The idea which the Southern Indians have of this meteor is equally romantic, though more pleasing, as they believe it to be the spirits of their departed friends dancing in the clouds; and when the Aurora Borealis is remarkably bright, at which time they vary most in colour, form, and situation, they say, their deceased friends are very merry.