118 TUENEE ON THE INDIANS 



done him personally. The rock jumped from its bed and sprang after him ; and, while springing 

 over a log, he had stumbled and the rock pounced upon him while ho was bandaging his toe. The 

 wolves and foxes shook their heads and said it could never be true. The rocks of the fields were 

 the friends to all the beasts, and they doubted his word so much that they concluded it served him 

 right for some meanness he had done. The wolverine cried bitterly, but they gave him no help. The 

 pain increased so much that the wolverine said to the rock, " If you do not get off from me I shall call 

 my brothers, the thunder and lightning. They can take you off, if the wolves and foxes cannot do 

 so." These animals tried to push the rock away, but it was so heavy they gave up the attempt. 



The wolverine called to the thunder and lightning to come. A huge black cloud appeared in the 

 south-west sky ; the air was still and hot ; while the crushed brute lay panting under the load on his 

 limbs. In a moment the trees bent their heads, and the grass and bu.shes lay low on the ground as a 

 gust of wind swept by. The sky became black, and the muttering of the thunder caused the wolves 

 and foxes to slink back to the depths of the forests where they would be sheltered by friendly rocks, 

 and the storm would pass unheeded by. The vivid lightning flashed as it sped on the wings of the 

 wind, darting here and there its fiery tongue, blasting a tree or shattering a rock that dared to obstruct 

 its path. It paused a moment, when nearing its brother, the wolverine, and perceiving his misfortune, 

 it rushed back to gather force; then, with a dash, it struck upon the rock and shattered it into a 

 thousand pieces, while an appalling burst of thunder announced the release of the wolverine. The 

 flying pieces of rock tore the skin completely from its owner's back; and, as the wolverine gathered 

 up the shreds of his garment, he shouted to the retreating lightning, "You might have struck the 

 rock easier. You have caused my coat to be torn to pieces." The thunder laughed and the lightning 

 flashed, as they sped on their journej' down the plain. 



The naked wolverine picked up all the pieces of his coat and said, " Well, now, I must go to my 

 sister, the frog, who dwells in the swamp, and get hor to sew my coat." He repaired to the swamp at 

 the head of the plain, and there found his sister, the frog, sitting on the bank of the pool that was 

 her home. The frog was amazed at the pitiable condition of her brother, and gladly consented to 

 mend his garment. The wolverine lay down to take a nap while she was sewing. After awhile 

 she woke him with the good news that the work was finished. He took the coat, looked at it, saw 

 that the stripes had been put on the wrong way. He was so angry that he slapped her ears and 

 knocked her headlong into the pond. He now started to the home of his sister, the mouse, who dwelt 

 on the hill-side. 



Arriving at her home he found the tiny creature at the door ready to welcome her big brother. 

 She laughed at the grotesque pattern of his coat, and inquired, " Who sewed your coat ?" The wol- 

 verine replied that his silly sister, the frog, had put the pieces together in that manner, and that ho 

 now wanted her, the mouse, to sew it as it should be. The. mouse set to work and in a short time had 

 the coat sewed so that all the brown pieces were on the sides and the black was on the back of the 

 coat. The wolverine was so pleased with his sister's work that ho said, "You have sewed it very well. 

 You shall live in the green grass in the summer and in a grass house for the winter." He put on his 

 coat and walked away, determined never to speak again to a rock. 



III. — The Trading-station of Fort Chimo. 



Fort Chimo was established as a trading station by the Hudson's Bay Company about 

 the year 1828, and continued until 1841, when it was abandoned, and reestablished in 

 1866. It had a precarious tenure, during the first score of years, chiefly on account of the 

 dangers of navigating the waters of Hudson Strait and Koksoak Eiver, on whose right 

 bank the place is situated, some twenty-seven miles from the mouth of that stream, and at 

 the head of navigation for large vessels. 



