The Antelope-Goat of the Pacific Slope. 107 



known among the tribe, and, as high water would soon oblige the 

 whole tribe to vacate their present camping place, and disperse on 

 hunting and fishing expeditions, I had no trouble in finding what I 

 wanted, i.e., two Indians and a good roomy canoe wherewith to 

 reach the northern end of the great lake into which the river 

 emptied, from where we would " pack " to good goat-ground on the 

 mountains which rise steeply from the lake. Half an hour's 

 consultation produced the man : a youngish " buck " of smiling 

 face and fine physique, his bristly jet black hair covered by the 

 usual cone-shaped hat adorned with more tails than I had seen on 

 any other. In his arms, nursing it as a woman would her baby, 

 he fondled one of the few Winchester rifles then to be found in the 

 tribe, while his brawny chest showed very distinctly the marks of 

 a bear's claw. He was, as I at once surmised, a noted hunter, and 

 really belonged to the Canadian Kootenays whose hunting grounds 

 I was intending to visit. 



Terms were soon arranged, a dollar a day for him and the same 

 for his " clootchman." a Chinook term which I did not understand 

 at the time, but which I thought meant a friend or relation. The 

 start was to be made early next morning, and the interval was 

 occupied in re-pitching the cance and collecting the required simple 

 provisions for the month's hunt, and in writing a few letters, for 

 which there was at present, however, no known means of convey- 

 ance, for Fry's pack-train to Walla Walla would not be starting for 

 another fortnight or three weeks. 



It was only as I was about to step into the canoe at dawn next 

 morning that the identity of the " clootchman " was revealed ; it was 

 "my friend's squaw ! Unlike the horse Indians of the Plains, whose 

 squaws occupy a far more subservient position towards their 

 lords and masters, the squaws of the Kootenays accompany the 

 males on all their hunting expeditions and are better treated. 

 Noticing my discomfiture at the discovery, Fry, who was watching 

 our start, explained to me that this was the usual order of things, 

 and assured me that I wouldn't be long in finding out that, so far 

 as willingness to work and general handiness went, the clootchman 



