BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 181 



to give the man some of his medicine-songs in 

 exchange for the skins of birds and animals the man 

 had in his lodge. So one day, when the woman 

 went down to the lake for water, the beaver came 

 out and instructed her to request of her husband 

 that whatever he [the beaver] should ask in his 

 songs, that should be done. He also stated the 

 time at which he would come to the lodge to be 

 received by her husband. 



" At the appointed time the beaver came out of 

 the lake and appeared before the lodge, but, before 

 he entered, requested that the lodge be purified [a 

 smudge]. Then he entered. They smoked. After 

 a while the beaver began to sing a song, in which 

 he asked for the skin of a certain bird. When he 

 had finished, the man arose and gave the bird-skin 

 to him. Then the beaver gave another song, in 

 which he asked for the skin of another bird, which 

 was given him. Thus he went on until he secured 

 all the skins in the man's lodge. In this way the 

 man learned all the songs that belonged to the 

 beaver-medicine and also the skins of the animals 

 to which the songs belonged. 



" After this the man got together all the different 

 kinds of bird and animal skins taken by the beaver, 

 made them up into a bundle, and kept the beaver- 

 medicine." 



Beaver robes were supposed to have certain 

 virtues and were used in many ceremonies, especially 



