Oowikapun | Page 4

the ground in the centre, and partly circled
around it was the Indian family. As though Oowikapun had been long
looked for as an expected, honoured guest, he was cordially welcomed
in quiet Indian style and directed to a comfortable place in the circle,
the seat of the stranger. The pipe of peace was handed to him, and but
few words were spoken until he had finished it.
Indian eyes are sharp, even if at times words are few; and it was not
many minutes before the owner of the wigwam saw that something was
wrong, and so he drew from him the story of the killing of the wolf and

his fears that perhaps all the froth from his teeth had not been rubbed
off by the leather shirt and other covering through which they had
passed as they pierced into his arm.
If Oowikapun had travelled a thousand miles he could not have been
more fortunate than he was in the man to whom he had gone; for this
man was Memotas, the best Indian doctor in all that vast country, who,
when his hunting seasons were over, spent his time in studying the
medicinal qualities of the roots and herbs of the country which the
Good Spirit had created for some good purpose, and then in being a
benediction and a blessing to the afflicted ones by their use among
them, with but very little fee or reward, as a general thing, in return.
Quickly did Memotas apply his remedies, both external and internal,
for he knew the risks the man was running; and he gently insisted on
his remaining in his wigwam as his guest for several days until he was
recovered from his wounds. He would not even hear of his going to
visit his traps, for fear of his heating his blood by the vigorous exercise,
and thus aggravating the wounds. So Memotas himself looked after
them, and several times returned with rich spoils of fur-bearing animals,
which he gladly handed over to the grateful man.
These great kindnesses completely won the heart of Oowikapun, who
considered himself very fortunate in finding so kind a friend in his
hours of need. The kind-hearted wife of Memotas was also interested in
Oowikapun, and did all she could to add to his comfort and hasten his
recovery. The injured man had been surprised at the kindness and
respect which Memotas constantly manifested toward her, and was
amazed that he often asked her advice. He did not, as the married men
with whom Oowikapun was acquainted, treat her unkindly, nor even
consider her as much inferior to himself.
While Memotas's wife, whose Indian name was Meyooachimoowin,
was very industrious, and kept her wigwam and her children tidy and
clean, yet she was never considered as merely a drudge and a slave and
left to do all the heavy work. Strange to say, she was not allowed to cut
the wood in the forest and then drag it home. Neither did she carry the
heavy buckets of water up from the lake, as other Indian women were

accustomed to do. Nor did she go out into the woods, perhaps miles
away, and carry home on her back the deer which her husband had shot.
Memotas never would allow her to do anything of the kind. He did all
this himself, and seemed even anxious to save her from fatigue and toil.
Then when the meals were prepared she was not gruffly sent away to
wait until the men had eaten, but with them and the children she sat
down on terms of perfect equality.
Then, as regards the children, a boy and girl, whom they called
Meyookesik and Sagastao, he noticed that the girl was just as much
loved and petted as the boy, and even as kindly treated. This was a state
of affairs entirely unknown in the wigwams of the pagan Indians. There
the boys are petted and spoiled and early taught to be proud and
haughty, and to consider that all girls and women, even their own
sisters and mother, are much inferior to them, and only worthy of their
kicks and contempt. The boys get the best of everything and are
allowed to eat with the men first; while the poor women and girls have
to wait until they are finished, and then be content with what is left,
often not much; and even then they have to struggle with the dogs for
the fragments. The result is they are often half starved.
CHAPTER TWO.
A CONTRAST.
Oowikapun was bewildered at the marvellous contrast between what he
had been accustomed to witness in the wretched wigwams and lives of
his own people and what he here saw in this bright little tent of
Memotas. It was