76 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



tent, distant about eleven miles. The coun- 

 try was materially changed, the pine had 

 disappeared, and gentle slopes, with clumps 

 of large poplars, formed some pleasing 

 groups ; willows were scattered over the 

 swamps. When I entered the tent, the 

 Indians spread a buffalo robe before the 

 fire, and desired me to sit down. Some 

 were eating, others sleeping, many of them 

 without any covering except the breech 

 cloth and a blanket over the shoulders ; a 

 state in which they love to indulge them- 

 selves, till hunger drives them forth to the 

 chase. Besides the Warrior's family, there 

 was that of another hunter named Long- 

 legs, whose bad success in hunting had re- 

 duced him to the necessity of feeding on 

 moose leather for three weeks, when he was 

 compassionately relieved by the Warrior. 

 I was an unwilling witness of the preparation 

 of my dinner by the Indian women. They 

 cut into pieces a portion of fat meat, using 

 for that purpose a knife and their teeth. 

 It was boiled in a kettle, and served in a 

 platter made of birch-bark, from which, 



