FRIENDLY NATIVES. 323 



them some little buttons. We then made signs to them that 

 we were very hungry, and they brought us a small piece of 

 reindeer, one old goose, and a iish, which was all the provi- 

 sion that they had with them at that time. There being 

 plenty of drift-wood on the shores of the river, we soon got 

 a fire going and a stew under way. 



While our stew was in process of cooking we showed the 

 natives our rifles, and shot them off once or twice to show 

 them what they were. I also charged my shot-gun, a breech- 

 loader, and fired at a piece of wood, and they were very 

 much interested to see the manner in which the small shot 

 were distributed ; they seemed to think that it would kill a 

 duck very nicely. The manner of loading was the subject 

 of much discussion. They handled this gun almost rever- 

 ently. 



Perhaps a short description of these natives will not be 

 out of place. As soon as they came near so that we could 

 hail them, they bared their heads, bowed, and devoutly 

 crossed themselves. In stature they were small, complexion 

 dark and swarthy, with straight black hair. They had very 

 good features, and were of comparatively happy dispositions. 

 Their names, as we afterward learned, were Theodore, Tomat, 

 and Caranie. Tomat was a young fellow and quite a dandy; 

 his clothing seemed to lit neater than that of the others. 

 He had some ornaments about him, including tobacco 

 pouches and a fancy pipe, and little copper ornaments for 

 holding up his leggings : and knee-pads made of loon-skin, 

 which he afterwards told me were of use to protect the knees 

 when crawling over the ground after game. This idea I 

 would recommend to sportsmen. 



Without waiting for our stew to get as thoroughly cooked 

 as some perhaps would have liked it, we arranged some logs 

 in a semi-circle and sat down without formality. This meal, 

 the first fresh food which we had tasted for a long time, was 

 indeed good, and though the goose was very tough, we 

 rapidly devoured it, and soon the pot was empty. 



I showed our new-found friends some photographs which 



