rous about a Fort, their howling is truly melancholy. A doubt
can no longer exist, that the dogs brought to the interior of these
wilds by Europeans, engendered with the wolf, and produced these dogs
in common use. They have no attachment, and destroy all domestic
animals. They are lashed to a sledge, and are often _brutally_
driven to travel thirty or forty miles a day, dragging after them a
load of three and four hundred pounds weight. When fat, they are eaten
by the Canadians as a great delicacy; and are generally presented by
the Indians at their feasts.

Many Indian families came frequently to the Fort, and as is common, I
believe, to all the aborigines were of a copper colour complexion, with
black coarse hair. Whenever they dressed for any particular occasion,
they anointed themselves all over with charcoal and grease, and painted
their eyebrows, lips and forehead, or cheeks, with vermillion. Some had
their noses perforated through the cartilage, in which was fixed part
of a goose quill, or a piece of tin, worn as an ornament, while others
strutted with the skin of a raven ingeniously folded as a head dress,
to present the beak over the forehead, and the tail spreading over the
back of the neck. Their clothing consisted principally of a blanket, a
buffaloe skin, and leggings, with a cap, which hung down their back,
and was fastened to a belt round the waist. _Scoutaywaubo_, or fire
water, (rum) was their principal request; to obtain which they appeared
ready to barter any thing, or every thing they possessed. The children
ran about almost naked, and were treated by their parents with all the
instinctive fondness of animals. They know of no restraint, and as they
grow up into life, they are left at full liberty to be absolute masters
of their own actions. They were very lively, and several of them had
pleasing countenances which indicated a capacity for much intellectual
improvement. Most of their ears were cut in large holes, to which were
suspended various ornaments, but principally those of beads. Their
mothers were in the practice of some disgusting habits towards them
particularly that of devouring the vermin which were engendered from
their dirty heads. They put into their mouths all that they happen to
find, and will sometimes reserve a quantity, and present the choice
collection as a _bonne bouche_ to their husbands.

After a short stay at the settlement, they left us to roam through the
forests, like ani