The young hunters were most expert in
this work, having been accustomed for many years to assist their fathers in
preparing the furs which they disposed of to the fur traders, who visited
them from time to time, and gave them various articles in exchange for
their peltries; such as powder and shot, and cutlery of different kinds,
as knives, scissors, needles, and pins, with gay calicoes, and cotton
handkerchiefs for the women.
As the evenings lengthened, the boys employed themselves with carving
wooden platters: knives and forks and spoons they fashioned out of the
larger bones of the deer, which they often found bleaching in the sun and
wind, where they had been left by their enemies the wolves; baskets too
they made, and birch dishes, which they could now finish so well, that they
held water, or any liquid; but their great want was some vessel that would
bear the heat of the fire. The tin pot was so small that it could be made
little use of in the cooking way. Catharine had made an attempt at making
tea, on a small scale, of the leaves of the sweet fern,--a graceful woody
fern, with a fine aromatic scent like nutmegs; this plant is highly
esteemed among the Canadians as a beverage, and also as a remedy against
the ague; it grows in great abundance on dry sandy lands and wastes, by
waysides.
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