198 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. IV. 



and upon these, after carefully closing the apertures, the occupant porsu 

 some water. The sweat-house is always situated on the banks of a 

 stream or lake, so that on issuing therefrom the bather may at once 

 plunge in the cold water."* One single point — and that a very 

 unimportant one — differentiates the sudatories of the Carriers from thpse 

 of the Shushwap : I mean the covering, which among the former is of 

 spruce bark. Here, as further south, these sweat-houses are invariably to 

 be found near a stream or lake ; but the reason of this is merely that our 

 Indians never dwell away from the water, for I have never heard of a 

 Carrier taking a cold bath immediately after his steam bath. It may 

 also be worth mentioning that, more often than otherwise, steam-bathing 

 was originally practised for quite other than sanitary motives. It was 

 quite commonly prompted by a desire on the part of the "patient" to 

 ensure success during a forthcoming hunting or trapping tour, or to atone 

 through this penitential act, for any transgression, wilful or involuntary, 

 against the traditional laws and customs of the tribe. 



* Notes on the Shushwap People of British Columbia; Trans. R.S.C. Sect. II., 1891, P. 9. 



