The Atna Indians were dressed in skins with the hair outside, and were armed with bows and arrows.  They besmeared their bodies with fish oil and red earth, and painted their faces in different colours.  Bison were quite unknown to them, being very seldom found in those latitudes on the western side of the Rocky Mountains.  The country of the Atna Indians on the upper Fraser abounded in elk, wapiti, reindeer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats,[2] and beaver.

[Footnote 2:  This remarkable beast (Oreamnus) they called “Aspai”, and wove from its white wool an excellent cloth for their clothing.]

Here is a description by Fraser of some of the rapids in the upper part of the river named after him.

“The channel contracts to about forty yards, and is enclosed by two precipices of immense height, which bending towards each other make it narrower above than below.  The water which rolls down this extraordinary passage in tumultuous waves and with great velocity has a frightful appearance.  However, it being impossible to carry canoes by land, all hands without hesitation embarked, as it were, a corps perdu upon the mercy of this awful tide.  Once engaged, the die was cast.  Our great difficulty consisted in keeping the canoes in the middle of the stream, that is, clear of the precipice on the one side, and of the gulfs formed by the waves on the other.  Thus, skimming along as fast as lightning, the crews, cool and determined, followed each other in awful silence, and when we arrived at the end we stood gazing at each other in silent gratification at our narrow escape from total destruction....  I scarcely ever saw anything so dreary and dangerous in any country (such precipices, mountains, and rapids), and I still seem to see, whichever way I turn my eyes, mountains upon mountains whose summits are covered with eternal snow.”

[Illustration:  A HUNTER’S “SHACK” IN BRITISH COLUMBIA:  AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SHOOT OF BLUE GROUSE]

They had to take to these same mountains, the river being unnavigable.  The Asketti Indians brought them different kinds of roots, especially wild onions boiled into a syrup, excellent dried salmon, and some berries.  These Indians had visited the seacoast, and had seen ships of war come there with white men, “very well dressed, and very proud, for,” continued the chief, getting up and clapping his two hands upon his hips, and then striding about the place with an air of importance, “this is the way they go”.  In this country of the Hakamaw and Asketti Indians, dogs were much in use for carrying purposes, and could draw from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds.  They were considered by the French Canadians very good eating, though only the smaller kinds were eaten, the large dogs being of another race and having a rank taste.  They also shaved these dogs in the summer time, and wove rugs from their hair.  These rugs were striped in different colours, crossing at right angles, and resembling at a distance a Highland plaid.