and soon after to break out into a loud cry, which was generally
accompanied by most of the grown persons of both sexes; and sometimes
it was common to hear them all--men, women, and children--joining in
one universal howl. When the first transports of grief had subsided,
they advanced by degrees, and both parties mixed with each other, the
men with the men, the women with the women. They then passed round
tobacco pipes very freely, and the conversation became general. They
had now nothing but good news left to tell, and in less than half an
hour probably nothing but smiles and cheerfulness would be seen on
every face.

One direction in which the Amerindians did not shine was in their
treatment of women. This perhaps was worse than in other uncivilized
races. Woman was very badly used, except perhaps for the first year of
courtship and marriage. Courtship began by the young man throwing
sticks at the girl[10] who pleased his fancy, and if she responded he
asked her in marriage. But not long after she had become a mother she
sank into the position of a household drudge and beast of burden. For
example, amongst the Beaver Indians, an Athapaskan tribe of the far
north-west, it is related by Alexander Mackenzie that the women are
permanently crippled and injured in physique by the hardships they
have to undergo. "Having few dogs for transport in that country, the
women alone perform that labour which is allotted to beasts of burden
in other countries. It is not uncommon whilst the men carry nothing
but a gun, that their wives and daughters follow with such weighty
burdens that if they lay them down they cannot replace them; nor will
the men deign to perform the service of hoisting them on to their
backs. So that during their journeys they are frequently obliged to
lean against a tree for a small degree of temporary relief. When they
arrive at the place which their tyrants have chosen for their
encampment, they arrange the tent in a few minutes by forming a curve
of poles meeting at the top and expanding into a circle of twelve or
fifteen feet in diameter at the bottom, covered with dressed skins of
the moose sewn together. During these preparations the men sit down
quietly to the enjoyment of their pipes, if they happen to have any
tobacco."

[Footnote 10: The manner of courtship among the Ojibwes seemed to
Peter Grant not only singular, but rude. "The lover begins his first
addresses by gently pelting his mistress with b