SOCIAL LIFE. 319 



The old way is the best way, and children do not 

 improve on their father's skill and knowledge. His skill 

 in drawing is very slight ; yet, aided by his marvellous 

 knowledge of the ' landmarks,' or natural features of a 

 country, he will, with the ground for his drawing-board 

 and his finger for a pencil, make a map by which any 

 plainsman can travel with certainty. 



During his frequent visits to Fort Chadbourne, Sa- 

 na-co would ask an officer to write on a piece of paper the 

 name of some article, as ' sugar.' This paper he care- 

 fully put away. Next day he would ask another officer 

 to write, say, ' coffee.' He went the rounds of all the 

 officers, and we supposed he was making ' medicine ' of 

 some kind. He left the post. Some weeks after a mes- 

 senger came in with a letter to the post sutler, which 

 was found to be an order written on a slip of paper, each 

 name on a line by itself, for ' coffee,' ' sugar,' and at least 

 a dozen other articles. The order was signed Sa-na-co, 

 and the signature and each name of an article was so 

 exactly counterfeited, that the writer of the original could 

 not have distinguished which was his own writing. 



