ind good Indians willing to go with us. One called "Shorty"
was brought forward to negotiate with us. He has the same dwarfed
appearance I have noticed in the old women, and that strange,
Egyptian-looking face and air. It would be impossible for any one to
tell, by his appearance, whether he personally were old or young; but
the ancientness of the type is deeply impressed upon him. If
half-civilized Indians had been offered, or those that had had much
intercourse with the whites, I should have hesitated more to trust them;
but he was such a pure Indian, it seemed as if he were as safe as any
wild creature. Whether he would extend any help, in emergencies, to his
clumsy civilized passengers, was a more doubtful question. However, as
the alternative was to wait indefinitely, and the character of the
stopping-places, as a rule, drives one to desperate measures, we
confided ourselves to his hands, and embarked with him and his
assistant, a fine athletic young Indian.

We fixed our eyes intently upon him, as if studying our fates. He was
perfectly imperturbable, and steered only, the other poling the canoe
along the edge of the stream, and grasping the overhanging trees to
pull it along, using the paddle only when these means were not
available. His work required unceasing vigilance and activity, and was
so hard that it would have exhausted any ordinary man in a few hours;
but he kept on from early morning till dark. Always in the most
difficult places, or if his energy seemed to flag in the least, Shorty
would call out to him, in the most animated manner, mentioning a canoe,
a hammock, and a _hyas closhe_ (very nice) _klootchman_; at which the
young man would laugh with delight, and start anew. I considered it was
probably his stock in life, the prospect of an establishment, which was
presented to rouse and cheer him on. Shorty had been recommended to us
as one of the best hands on the river. I began to see that it was for
his power of inspiring others, as well as for his extreme vigilance in
keeping out of the eddies, and avoiding the drift in crossing the river,
to be caught in which would have been destruction. We crossed several
times, to secure advantages which his quick eye perceived. I noticed
that whenever he pointed out any particular branch on the shore to be
seized, how certain the other was to strike it at once. With white men,
how much blundering and missing there would have been!

I never felt before, so stro