much for the cleanliness
inside, but I have been compelled in my wanderings to put up in dirtier
places, and that is all I can say in their favour.

These habitations are much more substantial than the wigwams of the
Canadian Indians, which are formed in a conical shape by uniting at the
top a dozen straight poles stuck in a circle in the ground, and by
covering them thickly with birch-bark. In both cases a hole is left at
the top to serve as a chimney. Inside the tents of my present friends
the ground was spread with mats all round the edges, except in the
centre, where a bare spot was left for the fire-place. Many of the
tribes differ in the way of forming their cooking-place, and often the
only means of ascertaining whether friends or foes have encamped on the
spot, is by an examination of the place where they have lit their fires.
The cots for the babies, and the pots and pans, and bows and arrows,
and fishing-spears, and buffalo tongues, and bears' hams, with
numberless other articles, are hung up to the tent rods, and often
garnish them rather oddly.

As we approached the tents, men, women, and children hurried out to meet
us, and welcomed us warmly, all eager to hear our adventures. But
Indians are not addicted to rattling out news, as is our habit in the
old country, so they had to wait till various ceremonies were first gone
through.

The old chief invited me into his tent, an honour John advised me not to
refuse, and then having sat down before his fire, and taken off my outer
coat and my torn moccasins, his women-kind hooked out of a huge pot
hanging from the centre over the fire, a lump of bear's flesh, and
several other dainties, the exact nature of which I could not at first
learn. Curiosity prompted me to inquire, by holding up a piece of the
meat between my thumb and fingers, when a respectable old dame, whom I
took to be his spouse, replied by a "_bow-wow-wow_," by which I guessed
rightly that it was a bit of a young puppy.

A few days afterwards a deep "bow-wow-wow" showed me that I was dining
off an older animal of the same species. I cannot say that I had any
repugnance to the meat, for after living on wolves' flesh for so long it
was to me a delicate luxury. I objected rather to the quantity
than the quality of the food placed before me, for the old
chief--_Waggum-winne-beg_ was his name, at least it sounded like that--
wishing to do me unusual honour, gave me a double allowance each tim