THE DUSKY GKOUSE. 141 



gladly welcomed, and as we had all the heavy game 

 we wanted for that day, we decided to take what we had 

 killed into camp. This was no easy work, as the bear 

 weighed about three hundred pounds, and the stag did 

 not weigh much less. We did manage to get them in, 

 however, and deposited them in our store-room, which 

 was simply a wickmp made of boughs. When they were 

 skinned, the cook built fires in the two holes in the 

 ground, and another near them, in which he placed 

 several stones. 



When the wood was burned down, the coals were taken 

 out of the holes with improvised tongs, made of two green 

 sticks, and the red-hot stones were put in their places. 

 The heads of the stag and doe, with the necks downward, 

 were then laid in one hole, and a piece of the bear, 

 wrapped in a deer skin, was put in the other, and all 

 were covered with layers of hot stones and some grass, 

 and, finally, with a coating of clay, which was packed so 

 closely that no air could pass through it. This is the 

 ordinary method of cooking the heads of animals in the 

 Far West, and an excellent method it is, especially if 

 they are not wanted for ten or twelve hours. While we 

 were resting from the fatigue incident upon bringing the 

 game into camp, we were visited by a band of Stehitswee 

 Indians, who were going to another part of the lake for 

 the purpose of hunting and fishing, and collecting some 

 of the wild roots that grew along the Spokane River. 

 The men seemed to be sturdy fellows, with rather agree- 

 able features — for savages — but the women were anything 

 but attractive, for they seemed a thoroughly degraded 

 lot. We were much interested in a young squaw — who was 

 rather obese — an unusual thing at her age — as she seemed 

 to be proud of her proportions. The doctor was so amused 

 with her that he said she reminded him of a fat heifer. 



*' Would you like to heifer for a wife?" asked Smith, 

 in the most unsophisticated manner. 



