CHAP. vi. MONTAGNAIS SLEEPING-PLACE. 89 



whom we called Ignace, came to me, gleefully, and said 

 that the water was falling fast : ' It has fallen four inches 

 since we came here ; it will have fallen eight before morn- 

 ing.' ' But the Indians say it must fall two feet before 

 we can get through the gorge, Ignace,' I replied, ' and we 

 cannot wait ; we shah 1 consume all our provisions before 

 we reach the Big Lake, at this rate ; we must start after 

 breakfast to-morrow, and see what we can do.' 



At sunrise I went to Domenique's camp. They were 

 just waking ; but I was in time to see how they had 

 spent the night. Ranged in a semicircle before the fire, 

 placed at the foot of a large balsam spruce, the whole 

 family lay side by side, the mother and father occupying 

 the outer ends of the curve with the four children, and 

 the young Nasquapec between them. The children were 

 covered with a blanket. The father and mother had 

 each a sheet of birch-bark over them ; the Nasquapee a 

 couple of reindeer skins. Two dogs were lying under the 

 birch-bark, close to the fire, at the feet of Domenique. 

 The family bed consisted of spruce boughs laid on the 

 wet moss, with the frozen soil beneath ; their roof was 

 the black sky, with twinkling stars coldly glittering be- 

 tween the motionless branches of the spruce, as silent, as 

 lifeless, and as uncharitable as the grave. 



Domenique rose as I approached, and saluted me with 

 the customary ' bonjour." We lit our pipes and smoked ; 

 he said some words to me in Montagnais, but I could not 

 understand them ; so we sat and smoked in silence. 

 Meanwhile the mother rose, put the little baby Indian in 

 a sitting posture on the eider-down pillow, and commenced 

 to rake the ashes together and arrange fresh wood on the 



