ENCAMPMENT IN THE WILDERNESS 107 



and an Indian must not be questioned as to feelings and 

 motives. 



It may be of interest to detail our daily life. We 

 did not usually rise before dawn of day. A roaring 

 fire of logs was always kept in at night in front of our 

 huts, which was fed with fuel by whoever chanced to 

 wake, and as early as the beginning of September this 

 was a great comfort, if not an actual necessary ; for the 

 nights were frequently bitterly cold, though the days were 

 quite hot. We had plenty of pelts in addition to our 

 blankets, so that we really did not suffer from the cold ; 

 and a bed of spruce boughs spread on the ground is one 

 of the most comfortable that can be conceived. 



Whoever was first on his pins in the morning put a 

 large iron pot of water on the fire to heat for breakfast. 

 This meal always consisted largely of game : for we were 

 so short of flour that dough cakes, baked in the ashes, 

 had to be sparingly used. The Indians, indeed, ate 

 scarcely any bread. Tea or cocoa was made in tin cans, 

 and drunk without sugar as soon as our limited supply of 

 that article was exhausted. The fat of the bears killed 

 served us in lieu of butter, and was, indeed, even to my 

 taste, superior to it; while the meat was excellent, and 

 some of it, dried in the wind, lasted us for a long time. 

 Bears' meat is, in America, far superior to the venison of 

 either wipiti or moose. Of small game, principally hares, 

 grouse, and ducks, we could daily kill as much as we 

 wanted, so that there was no lack in the quantity of our 

 food, though I certainly for a long time greatly missed 

 the bread and vegetables to which I had been used. 

 There were plenty of wild fruits at this season, and these 

 were useful to counteract the effects of the excessive 

 quantity of animal food which we consumed. So our 

 health did not suffer at all ; indeed, we were all in the 

 very pink of condition. 



As soon as our morning meal was over we started to 

 visit the traps, leaving one of our number to keep the 



