740 



LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



huts ; and their canoes followed the Hassler 

 several times, but never when it was conven- 

 ient to stop and let them come up with the 

 vessel. This particular set were not in a 

 canoe, but in a large boat of English build. 

 Probably they had stolen it, or had found it, 

 perhaps, stranded on the shore. They are 

 usually, however, in canoes of their own mak- 

 ing. One can only wonder that people ingen- 

 ious enough to construct canoes so well mod- 

 eled and so neatly and strongly put together, 

 should have invented nothing better in the 

 way of a house than a hut built of flexible 

 branches, compared with which a wigwam is 

 an elaborate dwelling. These huts are hood- 

 like in shape, and too low for any posture but 

 that of squatting or lying down. In front is 

 always a scorched spot on the ground, where 

 their handful of fire has smouldered ; and at 

 one side, a large heap of empty sheUs, show- 

 ing that they had occupied this place until 

 they had exhausted the supply of mussels, on 

 which they chiefly live. When this is the 

 case, they move to some other spot, gather a 

 few branches, reconstruct their frail shelter, 

 and continue the same life. Untaught by their 

 necessities, they wander thus, naked and home- 

 less, in snow, mist, and rain, as they have done 



