body to a blister on this side, he turned him with his back toward the fire, and when this had also been cruelly burned, he untied him, and turning him loose, he bade him to 'return home and tell the Ojibways how the Foxes treated their uncles.'"
The uncle recovered from his fire wounds, and in a subsequent war excursion, he succeeded in capturing his cruel nephew. He took him to the village of the Ojibways, where he tied him to a stake, and taking a fresh elk skin, on which a layer of fat had purposely been left, he placed it over a fire till it became ablaze; then throwing it over the naked shoulders of his nephew, he remarked. "Nephew, when you took me to visit the village of your people, you warmed me before a good fire. I now in return give you a warm mantle for your back."
The elk skin, covered with thick fat, burned furiously, and "puckering," it tightened around the naked body of his nephew—a dreadful "mantle" which soon consumed him.[1] This act was again retaliated by the Foxes, and death by fire applied in various ways, soon became the fate of all unfortunate captives.
- ↑ It is not unnatural to suppose that the tale of this occurrence being spread amongst the surrounding tribes, gave the name of Ojibway—"to roast till puckered up," to this tribe. Tribes have derived their names from circumstances of lesser note than this.—Author.
