The Miama chieftain, to appease him, showed him the cross, which was planted in the ground at the end of his lodge, and said to him: "Behold the tree of the Black Gown; he teaches us to pray and not to lose our temper,"-- of course, referring to the missionary in the black gown who had been amongst them.

Before the cross was planted here these Miamis kept in their houses one or more bogies, to which they appealed in times of distress or sickness.

One of these was the skull of the bison with its horns.

Another was the skin of the bear raised on a pole in the middle of the hut and retaining the head, which was usually painted green.

The women sometimes died of terror from the stories told them by the men about these idols, and the Jesuits did a great deal of good by getting them abolished in many places.
The Supreme Being of the Eskimos was a goddess rather than a god: a mother of all things who lived under the sea.