The banks of the Mackenzie often rise to a height of sixty feet
above the river.  This was the case in the spot where Michel the
Hunter had pitched his tent, or "lodge" as it is called.  A number of
other Indians were camped near, led thither by the fish which is so
abundant in our Northern rivers, and which proves a seldom failing
resource when the moose or reindeer go off their usual track.  The
woods also skirting the river furnish large supplies of rabbits,
which even the Indian children are taught to snare.  Beavers too are
most numerous in this district, and are excellent food, while their
furs are an important article of trade with the Hudson Bay Company;
bringing to the poor Indian his much prized luxury of tea or tobacco,
a warm blanket or ammunition.  As the Spring comes on the women of the
camps will be busy making "sirop" from the birch trees, and dressing
the skins of moose or deer which their husbands have killed in the
chase.  There are also the canoes to be made or repaired for use
whenever the eight months' fetters of ice shall give way. 

Thus we see the Indian camps offer a pleasant spectacle of a
contented and busy people; and if they lack the refinement and