Note 118 — Chapter XII

This habit—unfortunately not peculiar to the Indians—is still occasionally indulged in. The reason they give for it is, that when the great flood covered the earth—a tradition that is found among other North-West American Indians—they escaped in their canoes, and had to eat lice for lack of any other food, and now practise it out of gratitude. The superstitious observances of these tribes are so numerous that the merest account of those known would fill a volume. One or two interesting instances may be mentioned:—Thus, in sneezing, there is good luck if the right nostril is alone affected. But if the left, then evil fortune is at hand. When they pare their nails, which is not often, they burn the parings, and if the smoke from them goes straight up, their latter end will be good; if not, they will go to the place of punishment. They used to regard—and perhaps still regard—the whites not as human beings, but as a sort of demons.