236 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



Indian tribes and the wild and fierce life which they led, 

 but under the controlling influence of the Company they 

 have lost all the ferocious and sanguinary traits which 

 once disgraced them. Their dress is semi-barbarous. 

 They usually wear a surcoat, made of a Mackinaw blanket 

 of blue, red, or green colour, a striped cotton or calico 

 shirt, stuff trowsers, and sometimes leather leggings, 

 moccasins of deer or buffalo skin shod with raw hide, and 

 a belt of bright colour, from which they suspend a tobacco- 

 pouch and other implements. Their language is piebald 

 lingo, the ground of which is a French patois embroidered 

 with English, Scotch, and Indian phrases. 



The whole lives of these voyageurs is consumed in wild 

 and extensive rovings, sometimes far into the Arctic circle 

 where food and raiment are alike difficult to obtain, and 

 then over the great mountain chain of the North-west 

 and down as far as the Pacific coast, and again along the 

 coasts of winding streams, inlets, bays, and lakes, exposed 

 to every inclemency of the most inhospitable climate in 

 the world. A few days of association with civilised com- 

 munities uniformly disgusts and wearies them. They 

 cannot rest when fettered by the institutions and habits 

 of civilisation. The only truly happy time they ex- 

 perience, is when upon long and toilsome expeditions up 

 rivers, around portages and across lakes, encamping at night 

 in the open air, and chatting around their evening" fires. 

 Then the meal of meats (if they have them) is roasted 



