abundance of vermin in their
hair.

The women, on the other hand, usually wore their hair short. Mackenzie
noticed that the infants had their heads enclosed with boards covered
with leather, to press the skull into the shape of a wedge. The women
wore a fringed apron, and over that a long robe made of skins or
leather, either loose or tied round the middle with a girdle. Over
these in wet weather was worn a cap in the shape of an inverted bowl
or dish. The men also wore this cap, and in cold weather used the
robe, but in warm weather went about in no clothing at all, except
that their feet were protected with shoes made of dressed elks' skins.
In wet weather, over their robe they wore a circular mat with an
opening in the middle sufficiently large to admit the head. This,
spreading over the shoulders, threw off the wet. As compared with the
Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the great plains, the men and boys
were very cleanly, being constantly in the water. The women, however,
were dirty.

At the end of July, 1793, Mackenzie left what he calls the Friendly
Village, and prepared to return to the east across the Rocky
Mountains, having distributed to each man about twenty pounds weight
of smoked salmon, flour, and pemmican. The fatigue of ascending the
precipices of the mountains was past description. When they arrived at
a spot where water could be obtained, and a camp made, they were in
such an extremity of weariness they could hardly crawl about to gather
wood for the purpose of making a fire; but two hours afterwards the
Amerindians of their party arrived and came to their assistance. Then
when they were sitting round a blazing fire, and some of their fatigue
had lessened, they could sit and talk of past dangers, and indulge in
the delightful reflection that they were thus far advanced on their
homeward journey. "Nor was it possible to be in this situation without
contemplating the wonders of it. Such was the depth of the precipices
below, and the height of the mountains above, with the rude and wild
magnificence of the scenery around, that I shall not attempt to
describe such an astonishing and awful combination of objects.... Even
at this place, which is only, as it were, the first step towards
gaining the summit of the mountains, the climate was very sensibly
changed. The air that fanned the village which we left at noon, was
mild and cheering; the grass was verdant, and the wild fruits ripe
around it. But her