PROVISIONS FOR THE WILDERNESS. 43 



men, in many instances only the hide being 

 taken, and the meat left. Our own Indians, 

 who lived year in and year out in the country, 

 never wasted a particle of meat. If they killed 

 more than the family could consume during the 

 winter months, before the warm days of April 

 set in, it was carefully collected, cut in strips 

 and smoke dried for summer use. While at- 

 tending to the curing of the meat, the thrifty 

 squaw dressed the hides. These were cut up 

 and made into moccasins and traded at our 

 store during their stay about the post in sum- 

 mer. An ordinary sized hide would cut up into 

 about twenty- two pairs of shoes (without tops) 

 and commanded f 1.50 per pair, we selling them 

 for the same price in cash to lumber concerns, 

 making our profit on the goods bartered. 



The young Indian the year prior to getting 

 married always exerted himself to show how 

 many moose he could kill. This was their 

 boast and pride to show they were good pro- 

 viders of food. The Indian nature to kill would 

 manifest itself at this time, and the numbers 

 killed by some of the young slips is hardly to 

 be credited. Older men with families never 

 killed for the sake of killing. 



I knew a young Indian personally whose 

 mother had been left a widow with a large fam- 



