24 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



loses all its flavour ; but, boiled, it forms a meal in 

 times of scarcity. 



The Indians are also dirty as well as wasteful in 

 their habits, and the ground was soon so filthy around 

 their huts that I was thankful that I had erected my 

 shelter at a convenient distance from them. My desire 

 for cleanliness, and habit of daily bathing, was a source 

 of amusement to many of the Indians, who seemed to 

 think me fastidious on those points. They never so 

 much as wash themselves, but enter the water readily 

 enough while hunting, or fishing, or to swim to an islet 

 in search of ducks' eggs. 



I have never seen the Crees use nets to capture the 

 fish, but they are very clever at impaling them with a 

 kind of dart, called a fish-spear ; and the children would 

 spend most of the day exercising this art on the banks of 

 the pond, or embarked in small canoes. They often 

 upset these canoes ; but as they could all swim, no serious 

 accident occurred. 



Either from continual persecution, or perhaps from 

 natural instinct, the fish in the pond often disappeared 

 into the deep water, and none could be hooked or speared 

 for many days together. At such times, however, they 

 could often be attracted by burning a torch at the bow 

 of the canoe at night-time. That the fish really hid 

 during the day seems to be confirmed by the fact that 

 at such times I noticed the osprey bring large fish from 

 other waters. 



