ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE 11 



blanket, and calling upon the other to match him. If the latter 

 is holding his stick in the wrong hand, he loses; and so the game 

 goes on. Two sets of drummers are playing continuously and 

 all the while there is much chanting. In this simple wise they 

 gamble away their belongings, even to their clothing, and, 

 sometimes, their wives. When the wives are at stake, however, 

 they have the privilege of taking a hand in the game. 



The women, in addition to their regular routine of summer 

 camp duties, occupy themselves \vith fishing, moccasin mak- 

 ing, and berry picking. The girls join their mothers in picking 

 berries, which are plentiful and of great variety — raspberries, 

 strawberries, cranberries, blueberries, gooseberries, swamp- 

 berries, saskatoonberries, pembinaberries, pheasantberries, 

 bearberries, and snakeberries. They gather also wild celery, 

 the roots of rushes, and the inner bark of the poplar — all 

 which they eat raw. In some parts, too, they gather wild rice. 

 Before their summer holidays are over, they have usually 

 secured a fair stock of dried berries, smoked meats and bladders 

 and casings filled with fish oil or other soft grease, to help out 

 their bill of fare during the winter. The women devote most 

 of their spare moments to bead, hair, porcupine, or silk work 

 which they use for the decoration of their clothing. They 

 make mos-quit-moots, or hunting bags, of plaited babiche, 

 or deerskin thongs, for the use of the men. The girl's first 

 lesson in sewing is always upon the coarsest work; such as 

 joining skins together for lodge coverings. The threads used 

 are made from the sinews of the deer or the wolf. These 

 sinews are first hung outside to dry a httle, and are then split 

 into the finest threads. The thread-maker passes each strand 

 through her mouth to moisten it, then places it upon her bare 

 thigh, and with a quick movement rolls it with the flat of her 

 hand to twist it. Passing it again through her mouth, she ties 

 a knot at one end, points the other, and puts it away to dry. 

 The result is a thread hke the finest hair-wire. 



