the party intimated his desire that we should stop
until some one whom he had sent for should come. This proved to be his
son, in a very sickly state. Though the day was warm, the lad was
shivering with cold, and it was evident he was suffering from fever,
which the father had no doubt we could cure. The only remedy we could
apply was some warm tea, with a little brandy in it, which we afterwards
learned had the desired effect of restoring the invalid. Again we were
preparing to set off, when the same old man begged us to stop until the
women should come; these were no less pleased with Augustus, and with
the presents they received, than the men had been.

This good-natured tribe is distinguished by the traders as the Lower
Loucheux, but the literal meaning of their Indian name is the Sharp
Eyes. They are decidedly a well-looking people: in manner, and general
appearance, they resemble the Esquimaux near the mouth of the Mackenzie,
though not in their eyes, which are prominent and full. Their canoes,
too, are shaped like those of the Esquimaux, and made of birch bark,
which, by some process, is striped from the gunwale perpendicularly
downwards, for the purpose of ornament. Their summer dress, like that of
the Upper Loucheux and Esquimaux, is a jacket of leather, prolonged to a
point before and behind: the leggings, of the same material, are sewn to
the shoes, and tied by a string round the waist. The outer edges of
their dress are cut into fringes, coloured with red and yellow earth,
and generally decorated with beads. Beads are so much coveted by them,
that, for some years, they were the principal article of trade exchanged
for their furs; and even now the successful hunter, or the favourite
son, may be known by the quantity of strings of different coloured beads
which he has about his neck. These Indians are the only natives of
America, except the Esquimaux, whom I have seen with the septum of the
nose perforated, through which, like the Esquimaux, they thrust pieces
of bone, or small strings of shells, which they purchase from that
people. Few of them have guns, but each man is armed with a bow and
arrows. The bows are constructed of three pieces of wood, the middle one
straight, and those at each end crooked, and bound with sinews, of which
the string is also made. The dress of the women only differs from that
of the men by the hood being made sufficiently wide to admit of their
carrying a child on their back.

A