I looked into one of
their huts; it was made of poles like unto a tent, only it was covered
with the silver-colored bark of the birch, instead of hempen stuff. A
bark mat, braided of many exceeding brilliant colors, covered a goodly
part of the space inside; and from the poles we saw fishes hanging, and
strips of dried meat. On a pile of skins in the corner sat a young
woman with a child a-nursing; they both looked sadly wild and neglected;
yet had she withal a pleasant face, and as she bent over her little one,
her long, straight, and black hair falling over him, and murmuring a low
and very plaintive melody, I forgot everything save that she was a woman
and a mother, and I felt my heart greatly drawn towards her. So, giving
my horse in charge, I ventured in to her, speaking as kindly as I could,
and asking to see her child. She understood me, and with a smile held
up her little papoose, as she called him,--who, to say truth, I could
not call very pretty. He seemed to have a wild, shy look, like the
offspring of an untamed, animal.
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