132 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



they repeated together, in which they promised to give 

 some of the best meat to the Manitou if he granted 

 success, and to compose a new song in his praise. 



Before daylight Keenamontiayoo started, and at 

 night returned in high glee, for his prayer had 

 proved very efficacious, and he had killed two moose. 

 The moose is a sacred animal, and certain portions 

 of the meat — such as the breast, liver, kidneys, and 

 tongue — must be eaten at once, and the whole con- 

 sumed at a single meal. Women are not allowed to 

 taste the tongue, and all scraps are burnt, never 

 given to the dogs. The Hunter had brought the 

 best part home with him, and Milton had the 

 pleasure of joining in a great feast. Tit-bits w^ere 

 cut off and cast into the fire, as the promised offer- 

 ing to the Manitou, the men chanting and beating 

 drums and rattles the while. Then all feasted to 

 repletion, and Milton was kept from sleep by the 

 persistency with which Keenamontiayoo sang the 

 new song he pretended to have composed for the 

 occasion, which he continued to sing over and over 

 again without cessation till nearly daylight. As 

 he had been out hunting all day, and busily engaged 

 ever since his return, it is shrewdly suspected he 

 attempted to impose upon his Manitou, by making 

 shift vsrith an old hymn, for he certainly could not 

 have had much opportunity for composing the new 

 one he had promised. 



Cheadle had remained at the Fort to await the 

 arrival of the winter express from Fort Garry, 

 which comes once a year, bringing letters for 



