ter. This practice they
say preserves the skin soft and protects it from cold in the winter and
the mosquitoes in summer, but it renders their presence disagreeable to
the olfactory organs of an European, particularly when they are seated in
a close tent and near a hot fire.

The only peculiarity which we observed in their mode of rearing children
consists in the use of a sort of cradle extremely well adapted to their
mode of life. The infant is placed in the bag having its lower
extremities wrapped up in soft sphagnum or bog-moss, and may be hung up
in the tent or to the branch of a tree without the least danger of
tumbling out; or in a journey suspended on the mother's back by a band
which crosses the forehead so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It is
one of the neatest articles of furniture they possess, being generally
ornamented with beads and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears a very
strong resemblance in its form to a mummy case.

The sphagnum in which the child is laid forms a soft elastic bed which
absorbs moisture very readily and affords such a protection from the cold
of a rigorous winter that its place would be ill supplied by cloth.

The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quantity in autumn for
winter use; but when through accident their stock fails they have
recourse to the soft down of the typha, or reed mace, the dust of rotten
wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so cleanly or
so easily changed as the sphagnum.

The above is a brief sketch of such parts of the manners, character and
customs of the Crees as we could collect from personal observation or
from the information of the most intelligent half-breeds we met with; and
we shall merely add a few remarks on the manner in which the trade is
conducted at the different inland posts of the Fur Companies.

The standard of Exchange in all mercantile transactions with the natives
is a beaver skin, the relative value of which as originally established
by the traders differs considerably from the present worth of the
articles it represents; but the Indians are averse to change. Three
marten, eight muskrat, or a single lynx or wolverine skin, are equivalent
to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or otter, are reckoned two
beavers, and a black fox or large black bear are equal to four; a mode of
reckoning which has very little connection with the real value of these
different furs in the European market. Neither has a