ns and wickednesses on that occasion.

What became of the Russian princess with the pretty manners, the
white hands and the enchanting eyes and the sweet "child" Bertie?
They were back at Grass Valley almost as soon as Forbes and Barclay
got there, and from my correspondence I learned that they shared in
the prosperity of the Maloney claim, and that Mme. Fabre and her son
returned to Russia to live among her noble kin.

CHAPTER XL.

EVOLUTION OF THE SONGHEES.

I often pass through the Songhees Reserve, and the recent controversy
respecting the reserve, and the dilapidated state of the former homes
of the Indians, induce me to recall the reserve as I knew it first,
when it was swarming with "flatheads," men, women and children. The
term "flathead" was applied to the Songhees on account of the shape
of his head, which was pressed flat with a piece of board strapped to
his forehead while he was in a state of infancy.

In this state of bondage, if I may so term it, the "tenass man"
(infant) passed his infancy. He was fed, took his sleep, and carried
on his mother's back by a strap passing around his mother's forehead;
thus he got his fresh air and exercise.

The mother, in fact all the females, chewed gum. I have always
credited our American cousins with having originated this beastly
practice, but now I suppose the credit for the discovery belongs to
the Songhees, who must have taught our friends, and then gave it up
themselves. Groups of men may have been seen carving miniature canoes
with carved Indians paddling in them, also totem poles and bows and
arrows, while three or four Indians would be at work shaping a
full-grown canoe which might possibly hold half a dozen Indians. It
was very interesting watching them at work and many an hour I have
spent watching them when a boy. The women, while their "papooses"
were playing about, worked also. Many made fancy articles out of
tanned deer hide, embroidered with pearl buttons and beads, moccasins
mostly, and for which there was a good sale. They were worn for
slippers. I have bought many pairs at fifty cents a pair. The
blankets they wore were decorated with rows of pearl beads down the
front, red blankets being the favorite color, as they showed off the
pearl beads to advantage.

All these articles, as well as many others, such as game, fish and
potatoes and fruits, wild, were brought to our doors, and at prices
much below what such things could be bought no