the dense forest, however, on one side of an open space,
a tall muscular Indian strode from among the bushes and stood before us.
He was dressed in the blanket capote, cloth leggins, and scarlet cap
usually worn by the Abinikies, and other tribes of the Labrador coast.
A red deer-skin shot-pouch and a powder-horn hung round his neck, and at
his side were a beautifully ornamented fire-bag and scalping-knife. A
common gun lay in the hollow of his left arm, and a pair of ornamented
moccasins covered his feet. He was, indeed, a handsome-looking fellow,
as he stood scanning us rapidly with his jet-black eyes while we
approached him. We accosted him, and informed him (for he understood a
little French) whence we came, and our object in visiting his part of
the country. He received our advances kindly, accepted a piece of
tobacco that we offered him, and told us that his name was Wapwian, and
that we were welcome to remain at his village--to which he offered to
conduct us--as long as we pleased. After a little hesitation we
accepted his invitation to remain a few days; the more so, as by so
doing we would have an opportunity of getting some provisions to enable
us to continue our journey. In half an hour we reached the brow of a
small eminence, whence the curling smoke of the wigwams was visible.
The tents were pitched on the shores of a small bay or inlet, guarded
from the east wind by a high precipice of rugged rocks, around which
hundreds of sea-fowl sailed in graceful flights. Beyond this headland
stretched the majestic Gulf of St. Lawrence; while to the left the
village was shaded by the spruce-fir, of which most of this part of the
forest is composed. There were, in all, about a dozen tents, made of
dressed deerskin; at the openings of which might be seen groups of
little children playing about on the grass, or running after their
mothers as they went to the neighbouring rivulet for water, or launched
their canoes to examine the nets in the bay.

"Wapwian paused to gaze an instant on the scene, and then, descending
the hill with rapid strides, entered the village, and dispatched a
little boy for our companion in the encampment.

"We were ushered into a tent somewhat elevated above the others, and
soon were reclining on a soft pile of pine branches, smoking in company
with our friend Wapwian, while his pretty little squaw prepared a kettle
of fish for supper.

"We spent two happy days in the village, hunting dee