amming up the little streams. He found no supernatural
monster to dispute the island with him, but a number of large
reindeer, so unused to the sight of man that they scarcely got out of
his way, so that he was able to shoot as many as he wanted. The
ancestors of these reindeer may have reached the island either by
floating ice or by swimming. They seem, with the birds, to have been
the island's only inhabitants, and to have increased and multiplied to
a remarkable extent, small portions of the island's surface being
actually formed of immense accumulations of reindeer bones.

[Footnote 11: The Isle of Yellow Sands, famed in legend for its
terrible serpents and ogre sixty feet high, was subsequently
identified with the Ile de Pont Chartrain, which is distant sixty
miles from the north shore of Lake Superior.]

Amongst the birds of the island, besides geese and pigeons, were
hawks. No serpents whatever were seen by the party, but Henry remarks
that the hawks nearly made up for them in abundance and ferocity. They
appeared very angry at the intrusion of these strangers on the sacred
island, and hovered round perpetually, swooping at their faces and
even carrying off their caps.

In 1775 Henry, having been greatly disappointed over an attempt to
work the copper of Lake Superior, entered with vigour into a fur trade
with the north-west. He penetrated from Lake Superior to the Lake of
the Woods and reached the great Lake Winnipeg. Here he encountered the
Kristino,[12] Knistino, or Kri Indians. He found these people very
different in appearance from the other Amerindian tribes farther
south. The men were almost entirely naked in spite of the much colder
climate. Their bodies were painted with an ochre or clay so red that
it was locally known by the French Canadians as vermilion. Every man
and boy had his bow strung and in his hand, with the arrow, ready to
attack in case of need. Their heads were shaved all over except for a
large spot on the crown. Here the hair grew very long, and was rolled
and gathered into a tuft; and this tuft, which was the object of the
greatest care, was covered with a piece of skin. The lobes of their
ears were pierced, and through the opening was inserted the bones of
fish or small beasts. The women wore their hair in great length all
over the head. It was divided by a parting, and on each side was
collected into a roll fastened above the ear and covered with a piece
of painted skin or ornamente