00-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO 77 



"Old Canassatego, a warrior, counsellor, and the chief man of 

 our village, used to come frequently to smoke and talk with 

 me, while I worked at my new business (mending of gun locks), 

 and many of the younger men would come and sit with him, 

 pleased to hear our conversations. As he soon saw I was curi- 

 ous on that head he took a good deal of pains to instruct me 

 in the principles of their eloquence, an art (it may seem strange 

 to say it, but it is strictly true) carried much higher among 

 these savages than is now in any part of Europe, as it is their 

 only polite art, as they practice it from their infancy, as every- 

 thing of consequence is transacted in councils, and all the force 

 of their government consists in persuasion." 



Once when questioning Oo-koo-hoo regarding old Indian 

 customs, he informed me that among Indians bowing was a very 

 recent innovation, and that the men of the olden time — the 

 fire-worshippers or sun-worshippers — never deigned to bow to 

 one another: they bowed to none but the Deity. They took 

 not the Great Spirit's name in vain; nor did they mention it 

 save in a whisper, and with bowed head. He regretted that 

 since coming in contact with the irreverent and blaspheming 

 white men, his people had lost much of their old-time godly 

 spirit. 



TRAPPING EQUIPMENT 



For the next few days the work done by the men was con- 

 fined to odd jobs in preparation for the coming winter, and the 

 laying out of their future trapping trails. They built some 

 stages upon which to store the canoes, and others nearer the 

 lodges, upon which to place their guns, sleds, and snowshoes. 

 They cut and shaved axe-handles and helved them. They 

 overhauled traps, and got ready all their trapping gear. It 

 was always interesting to watch Oo-koo-hoo and Amik, even 

 when they were engaged upon the most trivial forest work, for 

 much of it was new to me and it was all so different from the 



