Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/257

 unanimously by the whole tribe to seek shelter and provisions elsewhere. These outlaws are therefore obliged to pass a miserable winter, half starved in a burrow on the banks of some stream, where they are easily trapped. The Indians call them "lazy beaver," and their fur is not half so valuable as that of the other animals, whose persevering industry and prévoyance secure them provisions and a comfortable shelter during the severity of winter.

I could not discover why the Black-feet and Flat-heads received their respective designations; for the feet of the former are no more inclined to sable than any other part of the body, while the heads of the latter possess their fair proportion of rotundity. Indeed it is only below the falls and rapids that real flat-heads appear, and at the mouth of the Columbia that they flourish most supernaturally.

Pierre Michel, the hunter, was the son of a respectable Canadian by an Indian mother. He also held the situation of interpreter, and was a most valuable servant of the Company. Michel accompanied the Flat-heads on two of their war campaigns, and by his unerring aim and undaunted bravery won the affection of the whole tribe. The war chief in particular paid great attention to his