THE SASKATCHEWAN NATIVES 25 



Houses. The peace-loving Wood Crees have readily taken 

 up a sedentary life. They remain in cabins upon the reserve 

 throughout the year, with the exception of a few who move 

 down the lake during the fishing season or spend the winter in 

 pursuit of game. Before he was "civilized" the Cree moved 

 his lodge of deer or mooseskin from place to place, so that 

 his surroundings were always fresh and clean. His habitation 

 is now fixed, but so are the old habits, and the filth simply 

 accumulates. There is but one reserve in the Lower Saskatche- 

 wan region that has any reputation for cleanliness — and it is 

 occupied by "heathen" Indians. Each house has usually but 

 one room. The roof of poles is covered with earth; this does 

 very well in winter, at other seasons the rain soon washes 

 through. Roofs are sometimes made of spruce bark, but these 

 •are not so warm in winter. The door is closed by a bar, the 

 latchstring being " always out." You enter without knocking, 

 of course, and look upon a small cheerless apartment. There 

 is a rude fireplace with a chimney built of grass, stones and 

 clay; the floor is rough and not clean; there is no ceiling. 

 Some have a few chairs, dishes and a stove, and stationary 

 bunks against the walls, others have no furniture whatever. 

 The two dirty gray blankets which cover the family at night 

 are aired during the day upon the nearest tree. They sit upon 

 the floor when eating and in that position what need is there 

 of a table? 



In summer they sometimes abandon the house, especially if 

 a death has recently occurred in it, and live in the ordinary 

 conical lodge made of canvas. While there is yet open water 

 some who are trappers go with their families to the hunting 

 grounds and construct a lodge-shaped winter dwelling of split 

 poles, which, when covered with earth and snow, is quite warm 

 and comfortable. Others are covered with spruce or birch- 

 bark, or, if the owner has an antipathy towards manual labor, 

 the framework of the poles is covered with sacking, blankets, 

 rags, and loose strips of bark. The best lodges for mild 

 weather are made of ducking, forty yards being required for 

 each. A piece of sacking or old blanket is hung over the low 

 doorway; a stick, a little longer than the oval opening, is tied 

 to the bottom of the " door," to keep it spread, prevent it from 

 .swinging in, and to serve as a handle in lifting the door flap to 



