IN THE NORTH 61

unknown and, as they thought, noxiously inclined
people, strangers who were heard or seen but never
brought to bay.

Father Morice was one evening busy at his work
table and night was well on when two women came in,
out of breath with fear, who told him that a Babine
named Hol, who had lost a nephew he dearly loved,"
was roaming about the outskirts of the village, evi-
dently bent upon avenging on them the death of his
beloved one.”

“‘Impossible,’’ objected the priest; ‘‘Hol must at
this moment be at least one hundred and sixty miles
from here.”’

“He is close to the village,’’ they persistently
asserted. ‘‘Heisthere . . . we have heard him,
so and so has seen him. He is after our lives.”’

What is the use of reasoning with fear? To get
rid of the women, the priest went out with them and
asked them:

“Now, where did you hear him?”’

“Right there, not far from here,’’ they said.
“He is in hiding to do us to death.”

“Then let us go there, and realize yourselves that
you are mistaken.”

Others then joined the trio, all with the same story.
Of course, no stranger, let alone would-be murderer,
could be found anywhere, and Father Morice, thinking
that the women must by this time be convinced of
their error, rebuked them, saying:

‘“ Now I hope you will not disturb me any more with
your idle tales.”’

11 Owing to the matrilineal system of those Indians, maternal

nephews are much dearer to men than their own sons, because the latter
belong to a different clan, that of their mother.

12 Such murders were formerly fairly common.