They are certainly more cleanly--one good trait they
have learned from association with white people, to counterbalance many
vices thus acquired. But never was I more confounded than when an old
woman, who brought a pair of fine fur stockings to Captain Baker, asked
for a pack of cards in exchange. The captain had brought her to me to
act as interpreter for him, but though the word she used sounded
familiar to me I could not for the life of me remember what it meant in
English until she made motions of dealing cards and said, "Keeng,
kevven, zhak." Then the light burst upon me, but nothing had been
further from my mind than playing-cards as an article of trade.
Three of these women wore calico skirts, but they looked as much out of
place on them as they would on the men, and I came to the conclusion
that it does indeed require some art to look well in a "pinned back."
These women, when their skirts were in the way of climbing up the side
of the vessel, either gathered them up out of the way or took them off
and passed them up separately. Their clothing was complete without this
civilized inconvenience, which had no more to do with their costume
than the buttons on the back of a man's coat.
The temperature in Hudson's Strait was much lower than in the bay, and
we felt the cold intensely.
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