NEW-YEAR'S AT LA BICHE 29 



felt convinced we were " in for it." We were a day in 

 advance of our schedule, having taken but three instead 

 of four days from Edmonton, but as an ''express" had 

 been sent Gairdner two weeks before to warn him of our 

 arrival, and as the preparations were only the making of 

 two pairs of snow-shoes and the engaging of two trains of 

 dogs and drivers, I could not see that our coming was ill- 

 timed. 



I think, nevertheless, he was glad to see us (especially 

 Grierson, who had brought along a flask), and he certajn- 

 ly shared the best of his house with us. He told us we 

 had come at the best time of the year to see the Indians; 

 that they were always given a feast and a dance on New- 

 Year's, and that some of them, hearing of our arrival, 

 would probably drop in that night to dance a little for us. 

 Well, they did " drop in," and they did dance, though not 

 a " little." How those creatures danced, and what an at- 

 mosphere and a racket they created in that house ! They 

 began to arrive shortly after we had finished supper, shak- 

 ing hands with us solemnly on entrance, and eying us 

 stealthily after seating themselves in rows against the 

 walls. Then one of them produced a fiddle, and from the 

 time the first measure was sounded there was no cessation 

 until about two o'clock the following morning. 



For a while the exhibition was rather interesting, though 

 never very novel. The common dancing of Indians ap- 

 pears to be about the same the country over; there is but 

 one type, though it may assume different expressions, ac- 

 cording to prejudice or locality. Either they shuffle 

 around in a circle, or they hop from one foot to the other 

 in lines or separately, or they do all three, with more or 

 less vigor and with or without costuming. At La Biche 

 the dancing is not of the Indian type, but rather of the 

 kind one sees in the half-breed camps of Canada, and con- 



