THE SHUSHWAPS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 241 



their legs and feet being naked, and their long black 

 hair the only covering to their heads. These Shush- 

 waps of the Bocky Mountains inhabit the country in 

 the neighbourhood of Jasper House, and as far as 

 Tete Jaune Cache on the western slope. They are 

 a branch of the great Shushwap nation, who dwell 

 near the Shushwap Lake and grand fork of the 

 Thompson Eiver in British Columbia. Separated from 

 the main body of their tribe by 300 or 400 miles of 

 almost impenetrable forest, they hold but little com- 

 munication with them. Occasionally a Eocky Moun- 

 tain Shushwap makes the long and difficult journey 

 to Kamloops on the Thompson, to seek a wife. Of 

 those we met, only one had ever seen this place. This 

 was an old woman of Tete Jaune Cache, a native of 

 Kamloops, who had married a Shushwap of the moun- 

 tains, and she had never re-visited the home of her 

 youth. 



When first discovered by the pioneers of the 

 Hudson's Bay Compan}^, the only clothing used 

 by this singular people was a small robe of the skin 

 of the mountain marmot. They wandered barefoot 

 amongst the sharp rocks, and amidst the snow and 

 bitter cold of the fierce northern winter. When 

 camping for the night they ^are in the habit of 

 choosing the most open spot, instead of seeking the 

 protection of the woods. In the middle of this they 

 make only a small fire, and lie in the snow, with their 

 feet towards it, like the spokes of a wheel, each in- ■ 

 dividual alone, wrapped in a marmot robe, the wife 

 apai-t from her husband, the child from its mother. 



Q 



