ENTERTAINED BY CREE INDIANS 208 



was customary, and they in their turn, as they 

 invariably do, reserved some of these dearly 

 loved delicacies for their women and children, to 

 whom the leavings of the men's repast is always 

 finally passed. 



The full meal over, pipes were brought out and 

 filled from my store of tobacco, and we sat and 

 talked in low Indian voice in an atmosphere that 

 was thick, and hot, and stifling, and decidedly 

 uncomfortable to a European, though unremarked 

 by the Indians, to whom it is habitual — small 

 wonder they breed consumption ! The meanwhile 

 the two elderly women squatted cross-legged on 

 the floor in the Indian fashion and patiently 

 laced with sinews the snow-shoes they were 

 making, much as a white woman employs herself 

 with knitting ; also one of the men whittled wood 

 for sled-pieces, while three girls amused them- 

 selves over the ornamentations which one of 

 them was sewing on a pair of moccasins for a 

 lover. 



Exchanging stories to pass the evening, the 

 eldest Indian of this camp told the following : 

 " There was once an Indian on Jack Fish Lake 

 who successively married six wives, each of whom 

 died within a year after marriage. When the 

 sixth wife died he despaired, and said : ' Is there 

 a Great Spirit ? ' Furthermore, in his distrac- 

 tion, he told his kinsfolk that he would go in his 

 canoe down the Cochrane River, avoiding not 

 the awful rapids down which no man had been 

 known to pass ; " for if there is a Great Spirit, as 

 people say, he must be strong enough to protect 

 me from the hungry waters." Launching his 



