ON SNOWSHOES AND DOG-SLEDS. Dei 
to be seen, and for a time we saw no signs of any human 
presence. We turned down the river, and ere long came 
upon the tracks of a solitary hunter. These Jimmie 
knew to be the tracks of his brother, and by following 
them a mile or two into a dense evergreen wood, we 
came upon the camp. It was a solitary tepee, situated 
in the heart of a snow-clad thicket of spruce trees and 
scrub, so dense that a bird could scarcely fly through it. 
The Indian lodge or tepee was built of poles placed 
closely together, and arranged in the shape of a cone 
The cracks between the poles were chinked tightly with 
moss, with which the tepee was then covered, except- 
ing a foot or so at the top, where a hole was left for the 
chimney. An opening made in the wall to serve asa 
doorway was closed by a heavy curtain of deerskin, 
and as we lifted it we saw in the centre of the lodge, 
upon a square mud-covered hearth, a smouldering wood 
fire burning, from which the circling smoke ascended 
to find its way through the chimney, while huddled 
around it by the wall were the old Indian, his squaw 
and their children. Deerskin cushions were offered us, 
and as we seated ourselves more wood was piled on the 
fire. 
William, the Indian, was a much older man than his 
brother, for his long flowing locks were already whitened 
with age, though he still appeared strong and athletic. 
Presents of tobacco were passed around; pipes were then 
lighted, and information sought and obtained, both by 
ourselves and the Indian. We found that William had 
seen and killed only one deer for some weeks past, and 
was now almost out of food, and entirely out of ammu- 
nition. We supplied him with the latter, and told him 
