INDIANS IN WINTER. 179 



smoked — to be afterwards laid away for extreme use only ; the bones 

 are either made into a soup — as they are full of oil and marrow, 

 or roasted, then cracked and eaten ; while the hide is soaked in 

 brine and the hair taken off by a scraper, much like our chopping 

 knife — if indeed there be any difference — but by them called ^^ood- 

 loo,^' or, as pronounced, " hoodloo ;" it is then washed, cleaned, 

 dried, and white-tanned and preserved (dressed) with the brain of 

 the animal, in which the skin is rubbed and kneaded with both 

 hands and feet until rendered quite soft and flexible. 



When the supply of food has been assured the hunters next turn 

 their attention to the traps. They set deadfalls, principally, for all 

 the variety of animals captured, and are usually more successful 

 in capturing martins, than any other game, the number of these 

 animals annually captured being simply enormous. The next most a- 

 bundant species is the beaver ; then come the otter and Canada lynx ; 

 perhaps the red fox should come in after the martin, at least after 

 the beaver, in point of numbers at any rate. In this manner the 

 encampment, consisting perhaps of four men, three women, and five 

 or six children, will continue to work their way five or six hun- 

 dred miles inland in winter, eventually coming out in the spring by 

 the same road — though not always — that they went in on the pre- 

 ceding fall, with a load of valuable furs, and in a half famished 

 condition. They then sell their furs, pay part of their debts — for 

 every one gets large credit from the traders who often charge enough 

 to make up for it — and live in plenty for a time following. It looks 

 strange to see them, as I have, furnish their wigwam, or mishwap ; 

 they borrow a stove, let the chimney run out at the top of the tent, 

 and try to semi-civilize themselves, while they buy large quantities 

 of everything that is eatable from the particular trader of whom 

 they procure their goods — generally each family getting their pur- 

 chases of a different party — and do little for the next month but 

 eat and sleep. They are, generally speaking, a peaceable set, and 

 only savage when their apparent — to them at least — rights are in- 

 fringed on. The whole number on the coast is about 1400 ; they do 



