238 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



Such an incident, indeed, is not rare, for the same thing has 

 happened in other parts of the forest. 



"the perfect woman" 



The Perfect Woman's daughter was married to a half-breed by 

 the name of Tastowich and the four granddaughters were nice- 

 looking girls ranging in age from fourteen to twenty. Though 

 very shy, they were bubbling over with quiet fun and I en- 

 joyed my visit. That evening, among other subjects, we 

 discussed the various hunting caps worn by Indian big-game 

 hunters, and The Perfect Woman offered to make me one if I 

 could supply her with the needed material; but when she saw 

 that I had nothing but a double "four-point" Hudson's Bay 

 blanket, she offered to make me a complete suit from that 

 article and to lend me, for the rest of the winter, a rabbit-skin 

 quilt to take the place of the blanket. I accepted her kindly 

 offer, but of course paid her for both the work and the quilt. 



So the older women set to work with nothing more modern 

 in the way of tools than a pair of scissors, a thimble, and a 

 needle and thread ; and by bed time I was well rigged in Indian 

 fashion, for the hunting trail. The cap they made me was the 

 same as Amik wears in my picture of the lynx hunter. The 

 suit consisted of a coat and hip-high leggings, and though I 

 have worn that suit on many a winter trip, and though it is now 

 over twenty-five years old, I have never had to repair their 

 excellent hand-sewing. 



When the work was finished the father and the mother 

 crawled into a double bunk that was surrounded by a curtain; 

 Ko-ko-hay wound herself up in a blanket and lay down upon the 

 floor, and Oo-koo-hoo did likewise, yet there were two bunks 

 still unoccupied. But I was informed that I was to occupy the 

 single one, while the four girls were to sleep in the big double 

 one. As I had not had my clothes off for several days and as 



