Several horses were grazing on the short grass, and six red and white oxen munched at the hay that had been thrown to them.

The smoke of many fires curled upward, and near the blaze hovered ruddy-faced women who stirred the contents of steaming kettles.

One man swung an axe with a vigorous sweep, and the clean, sharp strokes rang on the air; another hammered stakes into the ground on which to hang a kettle.

Before a large cabin a fur-trader was exhibiting his wares to three Indians.

A second redskin was carrying a pack of pelts from a canoe drawn up on the river bank.