OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY. 59 



the evening we sent for A-ta-ka-koup's wife and paid her to boil 

 it all night, telling her that it was White man's medicine and 

 sudden death to an Indian (which in its then state it well might 

 be), lest she might be tempted to try it; of course she said she 

 had done what we had paid her for, but it seemed just as hard 

 in the morning. 



There were some five or six Indians encamped in the neigh- 

 bourhood, whose chief amusement consisted in sitting for hours 

 against the wall of our house, not uttering a word the whole 

 time, and we invited all these and the A-ta-ka-koup family to 

 dinner, and on their arrival we ranged them all round the 

 room, we ourselves sitting at the table, and Badger served the 

 dainties to us. 



First we all had a glass of grog and drank to the health of 

 the Queen, the Indians wondering why we stood up as we did 

 it. Then slices of buffalo were handed on the ends of sticks to 

 all the Indians, these being the fasionable substitutes for forks 

 in those regions, and saving a great deal of breakage and conse- 

 quent loss of temper ; and then came the pudding, which had 

 been left in the towels till the last moment so as to give it every 

 chance. On sticking a knife into it, it was hard work to get 

 it out again, and when it was extracted it brought with it 

 more of the pudding than is usual. 



A portion was at last cut for everyone and handed round, 

 but though on most of the slices a plum or a currant, and in 

 some cases two or three, were visible, there was not that enthu- 

 siasm about it which we had hoped for, everyone eating his or 

 her portion in silence. My piece reminded me of what school- 

 boys call " turnpike pudding," plums occurring about as often 

 as turnpikes do in travelling. 



