Still on the Trail with the Dogs 265 



deavouring to get it back into its normal 

 condition. 



The Indians generally provided them- 

 selves with large rabbit-skin blankets, each 

 one requiring about a hundred and twenty 

 skins. They were, without exception, the 

 warmest robes of any description, I ever 

 saw. With one of these apiece, my In- 

 dians would sleep with the greatest com- 

 fort throughout the coldest, wildest night 

 in that wild Northland, and spring up, 

 often literally steaming hot in the morning. 

 I tried these snowy-white rabbit robes one 

 winter, but found them so warm that I had 

 to discard them as I sweat so much under 

 them that I was continually catching cold 

 afterwards. 



We were never sorry if a fall of snow 

 came gently down upon us, of, say, a couple 

 of feet in depth. We did not care for its 

 arrival until we were cosily covered up in 

 our beds. Then, however, it was welcome. 

 Gently and warmly it covered us, as a 

 blanket spread over shivering children by 

 a loving mother's hands. 



The fire at our feet was not kept burning 

 all through the night, unless the cold was 



