ted by the fur traders
from the Indians. It is in the Strong Woods Country that most of the
fur-bearing animals live.

MEETING OO-KOO-HOO

About ten o'clock on the morning after our arrival at Fort Consolation,
Free Trader Spear left for home with my promise to paddle over and dine
at Spearhead next day.

At noon Factor Mackenzie informed me that he had received word that
Oo-koo-hoo--The Owl--was coming to the Fort that afternoon and that,
taking everything into consideration, he thought Oo-koo-hoo's hunting
party the best for me to join. It consisted, he said, of Oo-koo-hoo
and his wife, his daughter, and his son-in-law, Amik--The Beaver--and
Amik's five children. The Factor further added that Oo-koo-hoo was not
only one of the greatest hunters, and one of the best canoe-men in that
district, but in his youth he had been a great traveller, as he had
hunted with other Indian tribes, on Hudson Bay, on the Churchill, the
Peace, the Athabasca, and the Slave rivers, and even on the far-away
Mackenzie; and was a master at the game. His son-in-law, Amik, was his
hunting partner. Though Amik would not be home until to-morrow,
Oo-koo-hoo and his wife, their daughter and her children were coming
that afternoon to get their "advances," as the party contemplated
leaving for their hunting grounds on the second day. That I might look
them over while they were getting their supplies in the Indian shop,
and if I took a fancy to the old gentleman--who by the way was about
sixty years of age--the trader would give me an introduction, and I
could then make my arrangements with the hunter himself. So after
dinner, when word came that they had landed, I left the living room for
the Indian shop.

In the old days, in certain parts of the country, when the Indians came
to the posts to get their "advances" or to barter their winter's catch
of fur, the traders had to exercise constant caution to prevent them
from looting the establishments. At some of the posts only a few
Indians at a time were allowed within the fort, and even then trading
was done through a wicket. But that applied only to the Plains Indians
and to some of the natives of the Pacific Coast; for the Strong Woods
people were remarkably honest. Even to-day this holds good
notwithstanding the fact that they are now so much in contact with
white men. Nowadays the Indians in any locality rarely cause trouble,
and at the trading posts the business of the Indian shop