It must be remembered that he had taught no animal to assist him in his labor. He had no flock or herd, nor any kind of poultry. His dog was a worthless creature, resembling a cross between the fox and the w-olf, and was only the lazy sharer of his cabin or the playmate of his children, and was not trained to usefulness in the chase. He had no iron nor any other metal, except rare spec-

THE INDIANS.

imens of native copper, brought from the shores ot Lake Superior and worn as ornaments, or, perhaps, fashioned into liighly-prized spear-lieads. In the present " iron age," when every recjuired tool is readyfashioned to our hand, it is difficult for us to imagine such a situation. How could he work the soil? How attack a tree ? How obtain an implement of any description ? In his various operations he had three agents -- stone, wood and fire. He sometimes employed the first in the cultivation of his crops, but more often his only implement was a poor hoe made from the shell of the clam or the shoulder-blade of the deer.

On this account he worked no soils but those that were light and easily stirred. Unfortunately, such were quickly exhausted, and then foiled to yield abundant returns for his labor. His only means of restoring fertility was in the use of fish as a manure, jrenhaden were his chief reliance for this purpose, and on this account the corn-fields were most extensive near the shores. His most important crop was maize, and upon this he relied, very largely, for his subsistence in winter. It was roasted while young, and when matured and dry was ground into meal by stone pestles and mortars, and when this was moistened with water and baked upon heated stones.the product was called nookhik," from which have come " nocake and " hoe-cake." The grain was preserved after harvest by being buried in the dryest places under a thatch of coarse grass and boughs.