INTERIOR OF AN INDIAN TENT. 



63 



not more than twelve or fourteen miles from Manitobah 

 House. It turned out that the half-breed with me knew 

 the Indian well by reputation ; he is one of the most suc- 

 cessful and industrious hunters in this part of the lake 

 region ; his tent was well supplied with Indian luxuries, 

 such as tea, tobacco, and coarse clothing. In the small 

 prairies near us were several line buffalo runners, and if 

 Indian habits and customs would permit of the accumula- 

 tion of wealth, our host might soon become a rich man. 

 His birch-bark tent was roomy and clean. Thirteen 



Skin Tents, Cree ; Birchbark Tents, Ojibway. 



persons including children squatted round the fire in the 

 centre. On the floor some excellent matting was laid 

 upon spruce boughs for the strangers ; the squaws 

 squatted on the bare ground, the father of the family on 

 an old buffalo robe. Attached to the poles of the tent 

 were a gun, bows and arrows, a spear, and some mink 

 skins. Suspended on cross pieces over the fire were fish- 

 ing nets and floats, clothes, and a bunch of the bearberry 

 to mix with tobacco for the manufacture of kinni-kinnik. 



