156 A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



A more pleasing sight is the smart white tent 

 on the top of the river-bank, inside which are 

 beds of bear-skins, covered with good blankets, 

 and even clean white sheets, while woman's love 

 of colour has asserted itself in smart quilts, 

 prettily pieced together from remnants of various 

 bright-hued calicoes. A foot from the door a 

 canvas tablecloth is spread, though the only table 

 is mother earth, and upon this stands the pride 

 of the woman's heart, a gaily-coloured little china 

 tea-service. On the fire hard by sputters the 

 morning meal of beans and bacon, the tea simmers 

 in the bright tin pot, and a greedy-eyed little 

 papoose tied up to a stick is propped against the 

 tent watching the progress of breakfast. By- 

 and-by the chickens attack the frying-pan, or 

 the dog knocks the papoose off his perch, and 

 up comes mamma from the river, where she has 

 been making her toilette, her black hair in long 

 braids gleaming with drops from the river, and 

 her whole person looking bright and clean. Young 

 as she is, the gentleman in black broad-cloth, 

 with a silver watch in his pocket, of which he is 

 inordinately proud, is her seventh husband, the 

 other six having parted with her for various con- 

 siderations, or having exchanged her for more 

 serviceable helpmates. 



A lady's estimate of the Indian women of this 



