OTHER OCCUPATIONS. 197

palate; the swamp cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris), which is rather scarce in
the west, but more common in the east; a species of high bush cranberry
(V. pauciflorum), quite esteemed in spite of its extreme pungency, and two
other varieties of Viburna, better known to the mountain tribes.

Then there is the famous soap berry (Shepherdia Canadensis), whose
strongly bitter taste is so forbidding, and yet of which the natives are so fond.
As everybody knows, it must undergo special manipulation before it can be
appreciated. After it has been mashed in a bark vessel, it is vigorously stirred
with the hand, until it springs up into a beautiful rosy foam, which is responsible
for its name. Even in that state, however, it cannot be relished by a cultivated
palate without the addition of sugar.

Nor should we forget to mention the fruit of the kinnikinik or bear-
berry bush (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), which, though insipid enough to a white
man, is of such importance in the eyes of some tribes, as the Chilcotins, that
it gives its name to one of their minor seasons. It is very extensively sought
after by the women.

The natives occasionally use a few other kinds of small fruit, such as
the raspberry (Rubus strigosus), the strawberry (Fragraria Canadensis), the
black currant (Ribes nigrum), etc. But as these will not keep, only the children
generally stoop to pick them.

Berry Picking and Preserving.

The work of gathering the berries is done, as a rule, by squads of girls
and women, armed with two kinds of baskets: one which is carried on the
breast hanging from the shoulders, and a larger
one into which the pickings of the breast basket
are repeatedly conveyed and finally carried home.
Among the western Dénés, both of these are made

Fig. 50.

of birch bark, after the patterns illustrated in figs. 50 and 51 respectively. The
girls take great pride in their smaller berry baskets, and decorate their rims
as tastefully as the primitiveness of the material at their command will allow.