THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS 



figures and bright, even handsome faces, most 

 of them of medium height but some noticeably 

 tall; old men with stragglng moustaches and 

 beards, and shrunken but still erect figures; 

 women of all ages, the old, wrinkled and hag- 

 like with dirty gray complexions, the young, 

 clear-eyed and plump, their smooth, olive- 

 brown skins tinged with rose on the cheeks, - 

 attractive to look upon; young boys and girls 

 and stolid papooses. The small slinking fox- 

 like Indian dog, black and tan in colour, was 

 everywhere, each one nervously anxious not to 

 be left behind. Every family possessed a cat, 

 either carried in arms, or harnessed and straining 

 at the leash, or again following free like a dog, 

 anxious not to get its feet wet on the beach, 

 but evidently still more anxious to go with the 

 crowd in the canoes. We were told that the 

 fashion of cats is a recent acquisition by these 

 Mountaineers, and the cats were treated most 

 kindly as pets, in marked contrast to the treat- 

 ment of the dogs, who lead, indeed, a dog's life. 

 The costumes were like those of their relatives 

 at Les Isles des Corneilles, but some of the old 

 men wore long skirt-like coats, and had their 

 heads bundled up in red handkerchiefs, or 

 163 



