"It is related that on the arrival of this party [of Ma-se-wa-pe-ga and 'a large number of his people (...) on his second visit to the supposed "white spirits"' in the east] at La Pointe, with the fire-water, none dare drink it, thinking it a poison which would immediately cause death. They, however, to test its virtues, made an experimental trial on a very aged woman who--as they reasoned--had but a short time to live at all events, and whose death would be a matter of no account. The old woman drank it, appeared perfectly happy and in ecstasies, got over the effects of it, and begged for more. On which the men took courage, and drank up the remainder themselves. From that time, fire-water became the mammon of the Ojibways, and a journey of hundreds of miles to procure a taste of it, was considered but as a boy's play" (History of the Ojibway People, William W. Warren, pp. 119-20).