Two months in the Camp of Big Bear | Page 3

manners and customs of the
inhabitants. A few incidents which happened during my stay might be
interesting to the reader, therefore, I will jot them down as they come to
mind.
After our arrival the Indians and squaws came to see me and would go
and tell some of the others to come and see the monias, (squaw) and
when they saw my husband they asked him why he did not live with
her, and if she was well; and one day I walked with him over to where
he was keeping store before he went west and the Indians came in and
shook hands, and laughed, and the squaws thought my costume was
rather odd and not in keeping with that of the fashionable north-western
belle. The squaws cut off about three yards of print and make the skirt;
while others take flour sacks and cut holes through for the waist and
have leggings and moccasins; they would disdain to wear such an
article as hose.
They are quite adepts in the art of tanning. I saw them tanning leather;
they took the skin and put something on it, I do not know what it was,
and put it in the sun for a few days, then with a small sharp iron
fastened on a long handle, they scraped the skin with this until very
smooth, and greased it over and put it in the sun again for some time,
afterwards two squaws pulled it until nice and soft, and then it was
ready for use.
One afternoon I was out shopping and on my way home I saw some
little Indian children coasting down hill on an earthen plate, but before
getting to the end of the hill, to their evident surprise the plate broke
and they commenced crying because it was broken and went back and
got another one, and so on until they thought they would try tin plates,
and the little friend that was with me, Effie Laurie, took the tin plate
from them and sat down on it herself and went down the hill, and they
looked so astonished to think that a white woman would do such a
thing.
Another time on going out while two men were crossing the bridge
over Battle river; a horse broke through and was killed and the squaws

gathered around it taking the skin off, while others carried some of the
carcass away, and I asked what they were going to do with it, and my
husband said "they will take it home and have a big feast and if the
meat has been poisoned they will boil it for a long time, changing the
water, and in this way anything that was poisonous would not affect
them."
The way the Indians get their wood, they send their squaws to the bush
to cut the wood and they take a rope and tie around as much as they can
carry, and hang it on their backs. Those who have dogs to carry the
wood for them tie two long sticks together, fastening them on the dog's
back, then tying a large bundle of wood on the back part of the cross
sticks by that means the squaw is relieved from the task. The squaws
perform all manual labor, while the big, lazy, good-for-nothing Indian
lolls about in idleness.
CHAPTER III.
ON TO OUR HOME.
At the end of six weeks my husband returned from the west, and with
many pleasant recollections of Battleford, we left for our own home,
which I had pictured in my mind with joyous anticipation, as the place
of our continued happiness: a beautiful oasis, in that land of prairie and
sparse settlement, and with a buoyancy of spirit which true happiness
alone can bring, I looked forward with anticipated pleasure, which
made that little log house appear to me, a palace, and we its king and
queen.
On this last part of our journey we were favored with the company of
Mr. Ballentyne of Battleford who went with us, and after the first day's
travelling, we stopped all night at a half-breed's house, where they had
a large fire-place made of mud, which was just like a solid piece of
stone; they had a bright fire, and everything appeared nice and tidy
within; a woman was making bannock, and when she had the dough
prepared, she took a frying pan and put the cake in and stood it up
before the fire. This is the way they do all their baking, and then she

fried some nice white fish and hung a little kettle on a long iron hook
over the fire, put in potatoes, and boiled the tea-kettle, making the tea
in it too. She then spread a white cloth over the table