ard of steel. It also supported a little buckskin case, which
contained a whetstone, a very necessary article; for in taking off the
hides of the beaver a sharp knife was required. His pipe-holder hung
around his neck, and was generally a gage d'amour, a triumph of squaw
workmanship, wrought with beads and porcupine quills, often made in the
shape of a heart.

Necessarily keen observers of nature, they rivalled the beasts of prey
in discovering the haunts and habits of game, and in their skill and
cunning in capturing it outwitted the Indian himself. Constantly exposed
to perils of all kinds, they became callous to any feeling of danger,
and were firm friends or bitter enemies. It was a "word and a blow," the
blow often coming first. Strong, active, hardy as bears, expert in the
use of their weapons, they were just what an uncivilized white man
might be supposed to be under conditions where he must depend upon his
instincts for the support of life.

Having determined upon the locality of his trapping-ground, the hunter
started off, sometimes alone, sometimes three or four of them in
company, as soon as the breaking of the ice in the streams would permit,
if he was to go very far north. Arriving on the spot he has selected
for his permanent camp, the first thing to be done, after he had settled
himself, was to follow the windings of the creeks and rivers, keeping
a sharp lookout for "signs." If he saw a prostrate cottonwood tree, he
carefully examined it to learn whether it was the work of beaver, and
if so whether thrown for the purpose of food, or to dam the stream.
The track of the animal on the mud or sand under the banks was also
examined; if the sign was fresh, he set his trap in the run of the
animal, hiding it under water, and attaching it by a stout chain to a
picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. A float-stick was made
fast to the trap by a cord a few feet long, which, if the animal carried
away the trap, would float on the water and point out its position. The
trap was baited with "medicine," an oily substance obtained from the
beaver. A stick was dipped in this and planted over the trap, and
the beaver, attracted by the smell, put his leg into the trap and was
caught.

When a beaver lodge was discovered, the trap was set at the edge of the
dam, at a point where the animal passed from deep to shoal water, and
always under the surface. Early in the morning, the hunter mounted his
mule and examined