:--

SIR,

Pleas if you would give something; you must git in ordir in store is
woyth (worth) them mocsin, porcupine quill on et. One dollers foure
yard.

[Illustration: The Prairie]

This curious billet was the production of the hunter's eldest son, and
is meant to intimate that if I would buy the mocassins the price was one
dollar, or an order on one of the stores for four yards of calico; for
so the squaw interpreted its meaning. The order for four yards of
printed cotton was delivered over to Mrs. Peter, who carefully pinned it
within the folds of her blanket, and departed well satisfied with the
payment. And this reminds me of our visit to the Indian's camp last
week. Feeling some desire to see these singular people in their winter
encampment, I expressed my wish to S------, who happens to be a grand
favourite with the old hunter and his family; as a mark of a distinction
they have bestowed on him the title of Chippewa, the name of their
tribe. He was delighted with the opportunity of doing the honours of the
Indian wigwam, and it was agreed that he, with some of his brothers and
sisters-in-law, who happened to be on a visit at his house, should come
and drink tea with us and accompany us to the camp in the woods.

A merry party we were that sallied forth that evening into the glorious
starlight; the snow sparkled with a thousand diamonds on its frozen
surface, over which we bounded with hearts as light as hearts could be
in this careful world. And truly never did I look upon a lovelier sight
than the woods presented; there had been a heavy fall of snow the
preceding day; owing to the extreme stillness of the air not a particle
of it had been shaken from the trees. The evergreens were bending
beneath their brilliant burden; every twig, every leaf, and spray was
covered, and some of the weak saplings actually bowed down to the earth
with the weight of snow, forming the most lovely and fanciful bowers and
arcades across our path. As you looked up towards the tops of the trees
the snowy branches seen against the deep blue sky formed a silvery veil,
through which the bright stars were gleaming with a chastened
brilliancy.

I was always an admirer of a snowy landscape, but neither in this
country nor at home did I ever see any thing so surpassingly lovely as
the forest appeared that night.

Leaving the broad road we struck into a bye-path, deep tracked by the
Indians, and soon perceived the wigwam by the red sm