Volume 1

170 ACEGUEMANCHE S ART—ATTEMPTED THEFT.
feeding in the plains. It is surprising how the cows resist
the piercing N. wind, which at times blows with such violence
over the bleak plains, and raises such drifts, that it
cannot be faced ; still, those animals graze in the open field.
Aceguemanche, who has the care of Wayquetoe's wounded
wife, came to say that, by means of his art in medicine, and
his superior knowledge of the wabbano, he had extracted a
bit of iron from his patient's back, which had given her
much relief ;
but that, by conjuration, he found she had a
piece of some hard metal in her neck, which baffles his
powers. He has exhausted his skill in vain, has sung
songs, and beaten his drum, day and night, for some time
past ; still the metal does not appear. But he does not
despair of getting it out. This is a trick of the fellow to
get more property from the husband.
Feb. 20th. A party of Red Lake Indians and of my
Saulteurs are decamping for Red lake, to prepare for the
sugar season, which commences about the end of March.
They are very troublesome, begging liquor and ammunition.
On the 24th I went hunting above, and killed
three buffalo ; they are getting very lean. Examined
my shop, and perceived a place where some person had
attempted to steal in at the back, opposite the silverworks
that were lying on a shelf. They had taken the
clay from between the logs, and with a knife had cut away
the wood, both above and below, so as to pass a stick
through with a gun-screw on the end. They did not succeed,
as I found the worm fast to an arm-band, and some
other articles drawn from their places; but apparently the
worm had slipped off and could not be recovered. The
snow on the outside was so beaten by dogs I could not
identify the tracks.
F^b. 25th. A herd of cows were crossing the ice near the
fort; the dogs chased them, and prevented one from getting
on shore. Perceiving this the men took a codline,
which they doubled and then entangled her legs in such a
manner that she fell upon her side. She lay quiet while