Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 2).djvu/104

98 bed furniture consisted of a kind of trough, filled with dry rotten wood dust, which is as soft as the finest down, and well calculated to imbibe the moisture of the infant; on this the child was placed, covered with rich furs, and tied down with strong leather strings. The dust was changed as often as necessary, till the child was weaned.

Among the Indians who are in any degree civilized, the women feed their children with pap made of Indian corn and milk, if it can be obtained; but in the parts more northern, and remote from Europeans, wild rice and oats are substituted, which being cleansed from the husk, and pounded between two stones, are boiled in water with maple sugar: this food is reckoned very nourishing, and with broth made from the flesh of animals and fish, which they are frequently able to procure, cannot fail of supporting and strengthening the infant. Among several of the tribes of Indians, pap is made of sagavite, from a root they call toquo, of the bramble kind; this is washed and dried, afterwards ground, or pounded, and made into a paste, which being baked is pleasant to the taste, but of a very astringent quality. It is their common bread.

On our arrival at Lac Eturgeon, as the weather was bad, we encamped three days, which gave me an opportunity of making some observations [62] on this Lake, which I could not do when I passed it in my way to Lac la Mort.

This Lake, by the Indian accounts, is about five days journey by water: the width in some parts is about thirty miles. There are a number of small islands on it which abound with hares, partridges, and wild fowl. The ————