26 LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. [1633. 



\dnes, and crossing streams no longer -sdsible, they 

 toiled on till the day began to decline, then 

 stopped to encamp.^ Burdens were thrown down, 

 and sledges unladen. The squaws, with knives 

 and hatchets, cut long poles of birch and spruce 

 saplings ; while the men, with snow-shoes for shov- 

 els, cleared a round or square space in the snow, 

 which formed an upright wall three or four feet 

 high, inclosing the area of the wigwam. On one 

 side, a passage was cut for an entrance, and the 

 poles were planted around the top of the wall 

 of snow, sloping and converging. On these poles 

 were spread the sheets of bu'ch-bark; a bear-skin 

 was hung in the passage-way for a door ; the bare 

 ground within and the surrounding snow were 

 covered with spruce boughs ; and the work was 

 done. 



This usually occupied about three hours, during 

 which Le Jeune, spent with travel, and weakened 

 by precarious and unaccustomed fare, had the 

 choice of shivering in idleness, or taking part in 

 a labor which fatigued, without warming, his ex- 

 hausted frame. The sorcerer's wife was in far 



1 " S'il arriuoit quelque degel, 6 Dieu quelle peine ! II me sembloit 

 que ie marchois sur vn chemin de verre qui se cassoit a tous coups soubs 

 mes pieds : la neige congelee venant k s'amollir, tomboit et s'enfon^oit par 

 esquarres ou grandes pieces, et nous en anions bien souuent iusques aux 

 genoux, quelquefois iusqu'k la ceinture Que s'il y auoit de la peine a 

 tomber, il j en auoit encor plus a se retirer : oar nos raquettes se charge- 

 oient de neiges et se rendoient si pesantes, que quand vous veniez a les 

 retirer il vous sembloit qu'on vous tiroit les iambes pour vous demem- 

 brer. I'en ay veu qui glissoient tellement soubs des souches enseuelies 

 soubs la neige, qu'ils ne pouuoient tirer ny iambes ny raquettes sans 

 eecours: or figurez vous maintenant vne personne chargee comme vn 

 mulet, et iugez si la vie des Sauuages est douce." — Relation, 1634, 67. 



