VOYAGE IN THE WINNIPEG REGION 87 



reception, and the same may be said of the Indian huts ; 

 but we usually eschewed these latter on account of the 

 filth that always made them an abomination inside and 

 out ; for an Indian has not even an elementary notion of 

 cleanliness. Should he gut a fish, or a small animal, 

 for instance, he will throw down the offal close to the 

 entrance to his lodge, and there leave it to ferment and 

 rot. Not unfrequently his children will amuse them- 

 selves by scattering the horrible filth all over the place ; 

 and both they and their parents will handle their food 

 after mauling the most abominable corruption that can 

 be conceived. So I need hardly mention that I was 

 always chary of accepting Indian hospitality, though it 

 is but just to say that the poor people of this region 

 were always, not only willing, but anxious, to show 

 kindness. 



Neither settlers nor Indians, however, were often met 

 with in the wilderness. The latter seem never to have 

 been very numerous in this northern district; and 

 yearly they display a greater tendency to congregate 

 near the townships and settlements, where they some- 

 times follow similar small trades and professions to those 

 of the Gypsy vagabonds of Europe. The squaws, or 

 women, particularly, hawk trifling articles about the 

 settlements ; and there is, or used to be, always a 

 party of them at Niagara, selling moccasins and bead- 

 work; and not unfrequently winning the hearts of 

 susceptible trappers and backwoodsmen, who often take 

 Indian wives. 



On the 28th August we passed a deserted post of 

 the Hudson Company, situated at the bottom of a creek. 

 The place was in ruins, and the stone-built chimney 

 standing alone had a weird and saddening effect on the 

 spirits. We passed the night at this place as it fur- 

 nished us with a convenient cooking-place; and just 

 after dusk I killed a musquash on the bank of the 

 creek. This was the first of these animals which we 



