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The clothing of the Indians varied according to the nature of the country which they inhabited. In addition to the skins of fur-bearing animals, which they used as robes, they also fashioned garments fitted to the body.
The beaming tool was so named because the skin to be dressed was laid over a smooth log or beam from which the bark had been stripped.
Engravings in Champlain's "Voyages" Paris 1619
Girl in Dancing Costume
Mother carrying child
Woman pounding corn
Warrior with shield and body armor of sticks woven together
There were two types: Angular and domed. The framework of the former was made by settings poles in the ground at an angle to form a cone. The other was made by tying branches together to form a dome. They were called wigwams.
Cartier thus describes Hochelaga:
"The village is circular and is completely enclosed by a wooden palisade in three tiers like a pyramid. The top one is built crosswise, the middle one perpendicular...
Boiling in buffalo paunch, boiling in birch bark vessel, boiling in earthen vessel.
Wild rice was an important cereal food among the Indians of the Great Lakes region.
Camass flowers, collecting maple sap, Saskatoon berries, digging camass roots
Using fish as fertilizer, breaking ground and sowing corn, women gathering corn
Fish Trap on a British Columbia River.
Bone Fish Spears.
Copper and Bone Fish Hooks.
Fish Trap Made of Willow Branches.
Early picture of Beaver: 1703 (From Lahontan's Voyages)
A Deadfall for trapping foxes, wolves, etc.
Montagnais hunting Moose in Winter
Shooting the Wild Turkey
"As soon as I saw Monsieur de la Monnerie. I saluted him and said, 'Sir, I surrender my arms to you.' He answered gallantly, 'Mademoiselle, they are in good hands.'
As she neared the gate, an Indian, who had outstripped his companions, caught the kerchief that covered her shoulders, but she loosed herself, and rushing in, with the aid of the manservant, she slammed and bolted the gate fast.
Life in the early days was not all toil or warfare. There was much rude comfort, hospitality and good living, and the pioneers had their times of gaiety and diversion.
