BEATER " MEDICINE." 157 



always used), and at the end of the chain a strong piece of 

 twine is fastened. 



As it is necessary to go into the water to trap, you must 

 be clothed accordingly; I have no doubt but that water- 

 proof trousers (the stockings would not come high enough), 

 such as are used for fishing, would be admirable for the 

 purpose ; but we trapped in a country where such things 

 were ~not, and so equipped ourselves as follows : Thick 

 woollen trousers, woollen socks, blucher boots, two thick 

 woollen shirts, and a felt hat. Thus dressed, we waded in 

 and out of the water, regardless of wet and cold ; and as 

 the streams were melted snow-water, often with a skin of ice 

 over, or blocks of it floating down them, it was bitterly cold. 

 A belt round the waist with a long-handled tomahawk and 

 sheath-knife stuck in it, and the " medicine " bottle slung 

 therefrom, completed the " rig." 



The " beaver medicine," for so the bait is called, 

 requires extraordinary care in its preparation. The great 

 danger in compounding it is that of its acquiring a human 

 taint. 



The medicine is not something to eat ; it is its smell 

 alone that attracts the beaver, and he is an animal endowed 

 with extreme acuteness of the olfactory organs, carefully 

 avoiding any place or thing giving the least scent associated 

 in his mind with danger. 



The first thing is to procure your materials, principally 

 roots, and sappy branches of several different aromatic 

 plants and herbs. These, though I know them well by 

 sight, I am not a sufficiently good botanist to be acquainted 

 with the names of, except the Indian ones ; nor, were I 



