136 Ross on the Botanical and Mineral Products 



soon dries. It is eaten in times of scarcity by the natives, and is 

 also used as a soap for washing their clothes, and by the whites 

 for white-washing their houses. At the request of Sir John 

 Richardson it was analyzed by Drs. Davy and Prout, but was not 

 found to contain any nutritious matter. 



Mineral Tar is procured at several spots along the Arthabaska 

 or Clear Water River ; it is also found on Great Slave Lake, at a 

 short distance N. E. of Big Island, and also near to Fort Good 

 Hope. It is little used by the natives, except to mix with and to 

 soften gum f « r paying canoes with. It becomes, after being boiled 

 and purified, an excellent tar for boat-building purposes, for which 

 it is used. 



Iron Pyrites is found in the Mountain Ranges. The Gens- 

 des-Bois, a tribe living on the banks of the Pelly River, use it 

 instead of flint to strike fire with. 



Pieces of Agate are used occasionally as flints, and native cop- 

 per has been made into knives, spear and arrow heads. 



Lignite exists in large quantities near the mouth of Bear River 

 where it is seen in a state of combustion. It is of little value as fuel, 

 and quite unserviceable for forge use. The legend told by the Slave 

 and Dog Rib Indians, of the origin of the fire in these lignite 

 beds is rather curious. The story relates that in the days of old, 

 before Indians roamed the forest, or glided over the waters in their 

 birchen canoes, a giant, tall as a pine tree, dwelt at the east- 

 ern end of Slave Lake, then a much larger sheet of water. The 

 giant hungered and he went to hunt. His spear was a tall fir-tree, 

 hardened in the fire, and tipped with native copper. The skins 

 of gigantic elks served him for clothing. Travelling on, he found 

 a beaver-house ; the beavers in those days were of extraordinary 

 size, and their houses of corresponding proportions. With great 

 exertion and toil, the house was broken open : it contained two 

 animals, a female and her young. The latter was killed, but the 

 dam escaped, pursued by the giant, who bore the dead cub over 

 his shoulder on the point of his spear. On they sped, until the 

 western end of the lake was reached, where a rocky barrier then 

 stretched across. Through this, the beaver pushed her way, giv- 

 ing vent to the waters of the lake, and thus forming the Tess- 

 chi or McKenzie's River, the flood of which swept her down- 

 wards, far out of the pursuer's reach. The giant still continued 

 the chase, until hungry and exhausted, he reached the mouth of 

 Bear River, where he stopped to cook the cub, which was the 



