SUMMONED TO A CREE COUNCIL. 61 



with A-ta-ka-koup or Ki-chi-mo-ko-man ; and on Thursday 

 I did what was necessary round the house, shot rabbits, 

 which, by the way, turn white in winter, and on Friday and 

 Saturday I again visited my line of traps. Sunday being a 

 day of rest we employed ourselves mending our clothes, dog- 

 harness, &c., and read once more one of our very few books 

 and newspapers. 



F was very miserable during the whole winter, almost 



living in bed with all the spare skins and rugs heaped upon 

 him. I have come home sometimes and have missed him, and 

 on calling to him have been answered by a small voice coming 

 from under an immense heap of deer- and buffalo-skins ; when 

 it appeared that, the wood giving out, he had dreaded the cold 

 too much to go outside and cut some, and Badger being also 

 away hunting he had crept under the skins and had been there 

 for hours shivering in spite of their weight. 



I found game becoming very scarce, and by the end of 

 January we were very nearly out of meat, and the flour was 

 getting low, so it was determined that Badger and I should pay 

 another visit to his father-in-law's camp, and we were waiting 

 for good weather for our start when a runner arrived to 

 summon me to a big council of the Crees, which was to be held 

 on the north fork of the Saskatchawan. 



He did not know why I was wanted, or said he did not, and 

 returned at once. The day after he left we started, taking a 

 sleigh and four dogs, a little flour, and some presents in the 

 form of beads, brass wire, sham jewellery, and powder and lead 

 for the Indians. The snow was deep and the travelling bad, 

 but by following the tracks of the runner, who was on snow- 

 shoes, we got on fairly and did some twenty miles a day a 



