DFX'RKASE OF INFANTICIDE. 319 



dames and their little ones, whose untimely fate 

 himself had hastened, and then he succeeded hi 

 being very dismal. When he feasted well or had 

 been fortunate in his trapping results, he sang in 

 notes of rejoicing, and that his good luck might 

 be repeated, and sometimes he certainly sang de- 

 votionally, but to what power I am quite in the 

 dark. Talking of the dark, that was his favourite 

 time for this sort of devotional exercise : I have 

 often been awakened in the dead hour, by the 

 not very musical emanations of the old gentleman, 

 who when his solo was concluded, generally rose 

 and took an extensive smoke, besides alleviating 

 an unfortunate irritation of the skin which occurs 

 among Indians, nearly as much as with the Tuski, 

 and from the same causes. 



Infanticide, which was at no distant period uni- 

 versally prevalent as regarded the female' children, 

 appears to have much diminished ; the "Slaves" have 

 the worst character for this crime, which it is to 

 be hoped will soon cease entirely. 



The medicine-men must be tolerably clever 

 fellows if their aptitude reach the pitch for which 

 they have credit. When one is about to conjure, 

 a tent is constructed of poles, inclining to each 

 other at the top, which are encircled by hoops at 



