and another suspended on my breast.  Both my arms were decorated with large bands of silver above the elbow, besides several smaller ones on the wrists; and my legs were covered with mitasses, a kind of hose, made, as is the favourite fashion, of scarlet cloth.  Over all I was to wear a scarlet blanket or mantle, and on my head a large bunch of feathers.  I parted, not without some regret, with the long hair which was natural to it, and which I fancied to be ornamental; but the ladies of the family, and of the village in general, appeared to think my person improved, and now condescended to call me handsome, even among Indians.”

[Footnote 5:  Shell beads.]

He then went away to live with his protectors, and with them passed a by no means unhappy autumn, winter, and spring, hunting and fishing.

Here are some of his adventures at this period.

“To kill beaver, we used to go several miles up the rivers, before the approach of night, and after the dusk came on, suffer the canoe to drift gently down the current, without noise.  The beavers, in this part of the evening, come abroad to procure food, or materials for repairing their habitations, and as they are not alarmed by the canoe, they often pass it within gunshot.

“On entering the River Aux Sables, Wawatam took a dog, tied its feet together, and threw it into the stream, uttering, at the same time, a long prayer, which he addressed to the Great Spirit, supplicating his blessing on the chase, and his aid in the support of the family, through the dangers of a long winter.  Our ‘lodge’ was fifteen miles above the mouth of the stream.  The principal animals, which the country afforded, were red deer (wapiti), the common American deer, the bear, racoon, beaver, and marten.

“The beaver feeds in preference on young wood of the birch, aspen, and poplar tree[6]; but, in defect of these, on any other tree, those of the pine and fir kinds excepted.  These latter it employs only for building its dams and houses.  In wide meadows, where no wood is to be found, it resorts, for all its purposes, to the roots of the rush and water lily.  It consumes great quantities of food, whether of roots or wood; and hence often reduces itself to the necessity of removing into a new quarter.  Its house has an arched dome-like roof, of an elliptical figure, and rises from three to four feet above the surface of the water.  It is always entirely surrounded by water; but, in the banks adjacent, the animal provides holes or washes, of which the entrance is below the surface, and to which it retreats on the first alarm.

“The female beaver usually produces two young at a time, but not unfrequently more.  During the first year, the young remain with their parents.  In the second, they occupy an adjoining apartment, and assist in building, and in procuring food.  At two years old, they part, and build houses of their own; but often rove about for a considerable time before they fix upon a spot.  There are beavers, called, by the Indians, old bachelors, who live by themselves, build no houses, and work at no dams, but shelter themselves in holes.  The usual method of taking these is by traps, formed of iron, or logs, and baited with branches of poplar.