s one of the most stirring and romantic
sights that could be witnessed in that land. The men of the brigade
were some of them French-Canadians, some natives of the Orkney Islands,
who had been hired and sent out there by the Hudson's Bay Company,
others were half-breeds, and a few were pure Indians. They were all
dressed in what is called _voyageur_ costume-coats or capotes of blue or
grey cloth, with hoods to come over their heads at night, and fastened
round their waists with scarlet worsted belts; corduroy or grey
trousers, gartered outside at the knees, moccasins, and caps. But most
of them threw off their coats, and appeared in blue and red striped
cotton shirts, which were open at the throat, exposing their broad,
sun-burned, hairy chests. There was variety, too, in the caps--some had
Scotch bonnets, others red nightcaps, a few had tall hats, ornamented
with gold and silver cords and tassels, and a good many wore no covering
at all except their own thickly-matted hair. Their faces were burned to
every shade of red, brown, and black, from constant exposure, and they
were strong as lions, wild as zebras, and frolicksome as kittens.

It was no wonder, then, that Heywood got into an extraordinary state of
excitement and delight as he beheld these wild, fine-looking men smoking
their pipes and cooking their suppers, sitting, lying, and standing,
talking and singing, and laughing, with teeth glistening and eyes
glittering in the red blaze of the fires--each of which fires was big
enough to have roasted a whole ox!

The young artist certainly made good use of his opportunity. He went
about from fire to fire, sketch-book in hand, sketching all the
best-looking men in every possible attitude, sometimes singly, and
sometimes in groups of five or six. He then went to the farthest end of
the encampment, and, in the light of the last fire, made a picture of
all the rest.

The kettles were soon steaming. These hung from tripods erected over
the fires. Their contents were flour and pemmican, made into a thick
soup called Rubbiboo.

As pemmican is a kind of food but little known in this country, I may as
well describe how it is made. In the first place, it consists of
buffalo meat. The great plains, or prairies, of America, which are like
huge downs or commons hundreds of miles in extent, afford grass
sufficient to support countless herds of deer, wild horses, and bisons.
The bisons are called by the people there b