Amongst the birds of the island, besides geese and pigeons, were hawks.  No serpents whatever were seen by the party, but Henry remarks that the hawks nearly made up for them in abundance and ferocity.  They appeared very angry at the intrusion of these strangers on the sacred island, and hovered round perpetually, swooping at their faces and even carrying off their caps.

In 1775 Henry, having been greatly disappointed over an attempt to work the copper of Lake Superior, entered with vigour into a fur trade with the north-west.  He penetrated from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods and reached the great Lake Winnipeg.  Here he encountered the Kristino,[12] Knistino, or Kri Indians.  He found these people very different in appearance from the other Amerindian tribes farther south.  The men were almost entirely naked in spite of the much colder climate.  Their bodies were painted with an ochre or clay so red that it was locally known by the French Canadians as vermilion.  Every man and boy had his bow strung and in his hand, with the arrow, ready to attack in case of need.  Their heads were shaved all over except for a large spot on the crown.  Here the hair grew very long, and was rolled and gathered into a tuft; and this tuft, which was the object of the greatest care, was covered with a piece of skin.  The lobes of their ears were pierced, and through the opening was inserted the bones of fish or small beasts.  The women wore their hair in great length all over the head.  It was divided by a parting, and on each side was collected into a roll fastened above the ear and covered with a piece of painted skin or ornamented with beads.  The clothing of the women was of leather, the dressed skins of buffalo or deer.  This cloak was fastened round the waist by a girdle, and the legs were covered with leather gaiters.  The Kristino men were eager that their women should marry Europeans, because the half-breed children proved to be bolder warriors and better hunters than themselves.  Henry found that although the Kris were much addicted to drunkenness they were peaceable when inebriated, and, moreover, detached two of their number, who refused ever to touch the liquor under such circumstances, in order that they might guard the white men, and not allow any drunken Indian to approach their camp.

[Footnote 12:  See p. 166.]

Henry and his party, after crossing Lake Winnipeg, ascended the Saskatchewan (in the autumn of 1775).  On their way up this river they came to a village of Paskwaya Indians, which consisted of thirty families, who were lodged in tents of a circular form, composed of dressed bison skins stretched upon poles twelve feet in length.  On their arrival the chief of this village, named Chatik, which name meant Pelican,[13] called the party rather imperiously into his lodge or meeting house, and then told them very plainly that his armed men exceeded theirs in number, and that he would put the whole of the party to death unless