e parts of water to one of spirit,
that of the Blackfeet, seven of water to one of spirit, but so potent is
the power which alcohol in any shape his well-diluted liquor, was wont to
become helplessly intoxicated. The trade usually began with a present
of-fire water all round--then the business went on apace. 'Horses, robes,
tents, provisions, all would be proffered for one more drink at the
beloved poison. Nothing could exceed the excitement inside the tent,
except it was the excitement outside. There the anxious crowd could only
learn by hearsay what was going on within. Now and then a brave, with an
amount of self-abnegation worthy of a better cause, would issue from the
tent with his cheeks distended and his mouth full of the fire-water, and
going along the ranks of his friends he would squirt a little of the
liquor into the open mouths of his less fortunate brethren.

But things did not always go so smoothly. Knives were wont to flash,
shots to be fired--even-now the walls of the Indian rooms at Fort Pitt
and Edmonton show many traces of bullet marks and knife hacking done in
the wild fury of the intoxicated savage. Some ten years ago this most
baneful distribution was stopped by the Hudson Bay Company in the
Saskatchewan district, but the free traders still continued to employ
alcohol as a means of acquiring the furs belonging to the Indians. I was
the bearer of an Order in Council from the Lieutenant-Governor
prohibiting, under heavy penalties, the sale, distribution, or possession
of alcohol, and this law, if hereafter enforced, will do much to remove
at least one leading source of Indian demoralization.

The universal passion for dress is strangely illustrated in the Western
Indian. His ideal of perfection is the English costume of some forty
years ago. The tall chimney-pot hat with round narrow brim, the coat with
high collar going up over the neck, sleeves tight-fitting, waist narrow.
All this is perfection, and the chief who can array himself in this
ancient garb struts out of the fort the envy and admiration of all
beholders. Sometimes the tall felt chimney-pot is graced by a large
feather which has done duty in the turban of a dowager thirty years ago
in England. The addition of a little gold tinsel to the coat collar is of
considerable consequence, but the presence of a nether garment is not at
all requisite to the completeness of the general get-up. For this most
ridiculous-looking costume a Blackfeet chi