poor defence. It is not
uncommon for the sleeper, on waking up in the morning, to find heaps of
snow, where he had supposed himself quite secure on lying down.

Such seasons are, almost invariably, times of scarcity and hunger with
the Indians, for the light snows have buried up the traps of the
hunters, and the fishermen are deterred from exercising their customary
skill in decoying fish through orifices cut in the ice. They are often
reduced to the greatest straits, and compelled to exercise their utmost
ingenuity to keep their children from starving. Abstinence, on the part
of the elder members of the family, is regarded both as a duty and a
merit. Every effort is made to satisfy the importunity of the little
ones for food, and if there be a story-teller in the lodge, he is sure
to draw upon his cabin lore, to amuse their minds, and beguile the
time.

In these storms, when each inmate of the lodge has his _conaus_, or
wrapper, tightly drawn around him, and all are cowering around the
cabin fire, should some sudden puff of wind drive a volume of light
snow into the lodge, it would scarcely happen, but that some one of the
group would cry out, "Ah, Pauppukkeewiss is now gathering his harvest,"
an expression which has the effect to put them all into good humor.

Pauppukkeewiss was a crazy brain, who played many queer tricks, but
took care, nevertheless, to supply his family and children with food.
But, in this, he was not always successful. Many winters have passed
since he was overtaken; at this very season of the year, with great
want, and he, with his whole family, was on the point of starvation.
Every resource seemed to have failed. The snow was so deep, and the
storm continued so long, that he could not even find a partridge or a
hare. And his usual resource of fish had entirely failed. His lodge
stood in a point of woods, not far back from the shores of the
Gitchiguma, or great water, where the autumnal storms had piled up the
ice into high pinnacles, resembling castles.

"I will go," said he to his family one morning, "to these castles, and
solicit the pity of the spirits who inhabit them, for I know that they
are the residence of some of the spirits of Kabiboonoka." He did so,
and found that his petition was not disregarded. They told him to fill
his mushkemoot, or sack, with the ice and snow, and pass on toward his
lodge, without looking back, until he came to a certain hill. He must
then drop it and leave