44 CANADIAN WILDS. 



ily. He was the eldest of the children, and that 

 summer began to strut about the post in fine 

 clothes and mix with the men of the tribe. This 

 is one of the traits that shows itself before mat- 

 rimony is contemplated. The killing of many 

 moose was sure to follow these signs. That 

 young boy actually killed to his own gun ninety 

 moose. Averaging the butchered meat of each 

 moose at the low estimate of 600 pounds, we 

 have a gross weight of 54,000 pounds of good, 

 wholesome food. 



This section of country was in those days, I 

 venture to say, the richest in game on the con- 

 tinent of America. Every little creek or lake 

 had its beaver lodge, and even on the main 

 routes of travel one would see beaver swimming 

 two or three times in the course of a day's 

 paddle. 



At the posts we lived on fish, game and pota- 

 toes. Our allowance of flour was only 100 

 pounds for each man for the twelve months, 

 and we used to spin this out by eating only a 

 pancake or so on Sundays and a pudding on 

 Christmas. 



The choice bits of the moose the tongue 

 and muzzle the Indians brought us in quan- 

 tities, the trade price of each being half a "made 

 beaver," equal to a supposed sum of fifty cents. 



