74 Transactions iSgg-'oo 



of the thick, velvety, odorous surface of the dressed skin, the 

 various pieces, bottoms, tops and uppers, required for the manu- 

 facture of moccasins. 



These several pieces are then distributed among the women, 

 at their homes in the village, some of whom embroider the top 

 pieces with moose hair of various tints, while others undertake 

 the turning up and wrinkling of the bottoms, and others still sew 

 on the uppers. 



The moccasins are then returned to the workshop of the 

 employer, where with the aid of a few simple machines, holes 

 are punched through the uppers, e3'elets and hooks fastened on. 

 lyaces are made from strips of the hides, and the moccasins 

 packed and shipped to distant points. 



At other times, we might find the men in large numbers 

 busy making snowshoes, bending into shape the slender wooden 

 frames and weaving in the strings. Again, occasionally, we 

 might be attracted by the sight of a newl3'-made, freshl}^ painted, 

 canvas canoe, drying in the sun on the verandah of some cottage. 



I had not been long in the village of L,orette, before three or 

 four dark-eyed children ran up to me and offered various small 

 wares. Bright little girls were they, not easily fooled and quick 

 at sales. I was taken bj^ them to their parents' homes, and there 

 viewed displays of ornamental baskets, canoes, fans, etc. Men 

 were leisurel}^ preparing strips of ash and discs of various woods, 

 which the women and grown-up girls use in the making of the 

 baskets and fancy wares. 



While gazing upon the display of wares at the house of 

 Prudent Tsioui, I made the acquaintance of another Huron, 

 who was working for him, Daniel Gros-Iyouis. The latter, does 

 not manufacture on his own account, but works by the day at 

 the various industries carried on in the village ; and his principal 

 vocation is accompan5'ing, as guide, city sportsmen on their 

 annual outing in the woods. That evening I hired Gros-IyOuis 

 to take me a few miles up the St. Charles, and as we glided 

 slowly, in the dusk, over the dark waters of the picturesque 

 forest- fringed stream, he told me in language at times forceful, 

 of the woes of the poor Indians, despoiled of their hunting 

 grounds by the encroachments of the white settlers and the leases 



