, 1885-09-25
N A
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aud MI quilt .au

The 81. Lawrence CUR ronn -, di,ns
aud MI quIt"es-oid ,,an
letter II Br % yn ".
On the morning Of the Fourth OF July
we reached Seven Islands bay. a forlorn
village, and Hudson Bay compniy sta
ton, where We were visited ly Alr
Wilson the agent, an able an int lligsn
man. who resides here with hi wife
they being the only educated PERSONS IN
the place. A few steps away from his
residence connected with his house by a
plank walk, is tho old hudson Bay trad
ing house, where the In liam have
brought their furs and received co n1ol-
tiles in exchange for them for almost a
century. 1t is in shape and dimensions
not unlike a New ngland barn,
square. u%nadorned, with peaked
sfingled roof and doors and window
castings painted a dull. weather beaten
red-a type Of structure which | have
noted as characteristic of the Hudson
Bay company, from labrador to the
saskatchewan.
Mr.. Wilson showed US this ancient
magazine and told US of the ways OF the
company with the indians. In tho
lower story are ammunition, twine for
nets, cloth, tobacco, medicines, -Four,
lard. pork, sugar, molasses and the like,
and on the floor above, under the slop-
ing roof, blankets, guns, handkerchiefs,
ornaments and odds and ends dear to
the aboriginal heart, together with the
furs brought in from the winter for
ages. Otter, bear, martin, silver gray
and yellow fox, lynx, wolverine, beaver
are beautifully prepared, the fur turned
inside-the outside Of the skins smooth
and fine as parchment.
During the summer months the In
dians, or many of them, remain near
the station, where they obtain needed
supplies from the company. which are
balanced against their winter catch of
furs. When the fall comes they load
their canoes with supplies and material
for their winter campaign and depart
up the river into the interior, where
they build sheltered camps before the
snow sets in, from which the men visit
their wide circle Of traps periodically
through the winter, travelling on snow
shoes, sometimes as much as thirty or
forty miles a day. They are a hardy
and enduring race, though in looking
about their wigwams, and contem-
plating them through clouds of flies
and mosquitoes, i could not help re-
garding them as a very inferior aborig-
NAL type, in no way equal in physical
proportions or in dignity of carriage to
the C%hippewas of the Lake Superior re-
gion, or the Sioux and other tribes of
the plains.
They are docile, however, and teach
able, much under the influence of the
priests, who come hither periodically
and administer to them the rites of the
church, for which they evince a pro.
found and sincere reverence. This
moral influence has wrought on their
conduct, they won I steal any more, as
n rule, ana don't lie as much as they
did when they leave their temporary
camps in the forest they carefully ex-
tinguish the embers of their camp fires
so that the forest shall not be burned
up. Formerly they did not care a rap,
so long as they personally were not
singed by the conflagration which their
own carelessness had kindled. Only a
few years since eighty miles of forest
along the shore was consumed in one of
these accidental fires, which no one eau
entirely prevent.
Although | was assured that some
qualities Of worth resided in him could
lQl att III Ahf Nlolbit lllnldn DItNtlltu
to me by the wigwams of seven Island
bay anything which gave promising
tokens thereof. He seemed to wear
rather II hang-dog, dirty look, had a
sickly earth-colored complexion, aud
was somewhat stumbling and slouching
in his attitude and movements. ! ct
Mr.. Wilson said some of these men wero
intrepid and successful hunters, full OF
pluck, tenacity and endurance. The
men were generally idle, smoking their
pipes, while all the women, except those
who had nursing papooses, were at some
sort Of work.
Little fires rolling out u thick smoke
burned at the %entraUee of these wig
vans, sometimes inside to keep the
mosquitoes away, though that achieve
ment seems hopeless, so beleaguering
and myriad were they, almost clouding
the heavens and filling the air with IA
%peryasive hum, which | knew stretched
across the forests to the limits of sum
mer and the edge of the polar frost-an
insect zone more terrible to penetrate
than the wastes of Cobb, or the sand
storms of the Chorasmian desert. 1t
took the captain and three volunteer
aids to keep them away from our artist
while he was making a sketch Of u wig
wan, and even with that defense he
was nearly consumed. Yet the Indians
didn seem TO mind it.
| could not see that the cluster Of
bright eyed boys which gathered around
us and looked at US o%uriously, yet tim
idly, noticed them in the least, nor those
two hideous old s3uaws, with faces like
wrinkled leather, who sat beside n mas
cent II sewing its bark sides to-
getber with threads of deer sinew,
though indeed the latter was little
wonder, as their skins seemed imporyi-
ous to the bite Of any insect which has
hitherto straddled into the knowledge
Of mankind. They stitched. away with
dim eyes, while the sun went down and
shot its last beam across their witch
like faces, in no way mindful of us or
our curious contemplation OF them.
Weird women, With countenances as
sharp and unearthly as those hat
fronted Macbeth upon the heath. |
can see them, yet specifically transfg-
ured in that purple hood of sunset, its
lustcr but lifting them into a higher
line Of ugliness and making them look
more Hppatp-liia than axpr