But we may
be pardoned our scepticism, seeing there are so many chances of error.
It is not so with an anecdote related by Captain Jonathan Carver, a
cool-headed English trader, whose little book of travels is an
unquestioned authority. In 1767, he was among the Killistenoes at a time
when they were in great straits for food, and depending upon the arrival
of the traders to rescue them from starvation. They persuaded the chief
priest to consult the divinities as to when the relief would arrive.
After the usual preliminaries, this magnate announced that next day,
precisely when the sun reached the zenith, a canoe would arrive with
further tidings. At the appointed hour the whole village, together with
the incredulous Englishman, was on the beach, and sure enough, at the
minute specified, a canoe swung round a distant point of land, and
rapidly approaching the shore brought the expected news.[270-1]
Charlevoix is nearly as trustworthy a writer as Carver. Yet he
deliberately relates an equally singular instance.
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