we had a guide for our journey between st. john and quebec , a man of mixed blood ( he had a most remarkable head of hair , thick and curly as sheep 's wool and the color of cinnamon bark ) who told us that some of the native people think that the sky is a dome , separating earth from heaven , but that there are holes in the dome , and that the lights of the aurora are the torches of heaven , sent out to guide the spirits of the dead through the holes .