344 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xx. 



sheet. I said to them, " Is Appe-muskis * dead ? " " Not 

 yet," one replied. " Had you not better wait awhile ? " I 

 said to his wives, for I felt sorry for them, and did not want 

 to take the marten skin they brought to pay for it. They 

 shook their heads. " No, no," said one ; " he will die with 

 the setting sun ; give me the winding-sheet." Now to look 



O 3 O tj 



at these women's faces, you would not think that there was 

 much the matter with them ; but then it 's their custom ; 

 both Montagnais and Nasquapees always do it. 



' Well, sir, two days after that poor fellow was buried, 

 I was away in the woods on the other side of the bay. 

 I walked to the beach and saw a canoe lying ; I knew it 

 was one of Appe-rnuskis' wives, so I went into the woods 

 and listened, thinking I heard her coming through the 

 bush. I crept near to look. She was sitting crouched up 

 on a fallen tree ; her head was bent down on her knees. 

 She was crying out some words in Nasquapee, which, 

 though very like Montagnais, I can't always understand. 

 At last I caught her saying several times, " To die so 

 far, far, far from home ! " I knew then what she was 

 sobbing about, and crept back to the beach. 



' When I got there I fired off my gun. In two minutes 

 the squaw came from the woods chewing a bit of gum, 

 but to look at her, you would n't have thought she'd a care 

 on her mind. I glanced at her close to make sure, and I 

 saw where she had brushed off her tears ; but she chewed 

 away at her bit of gum as if nothing was the matter 

 with her.' 



Hanging on the outside of a Nasquapee lodge were 

 a handsome pair of snow-shoes. I took them down to 



* Appe-muskis signifies a ' spit ' or stick cm which game is cooked. 



