116 Str ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

scissors to clip the old chief’s beard, and of
other articles; then he made a tour of the
village, and examined its houses and totems
with curiosity.

There he spent the night. Next morning
he was called on to exercise his medical skill
on one of the chief’s sons, whom he found in
a dying condition. Realizing the danger to
his party if he attempted a cure and failed,
he only gave him a few drops of balsam, which
could do him no harm, and left the rest to the
sorcery of the local physicians. The chief
proudly showed him his collection of European
ar.icles—clothes, and copper, brass, and iron
utensils of British, Spanish, and American
manufacture. One curious ornament, the
popularity of which was due to a clever
American trader, was a collar of twisted iron
bars weighing upwards of twelve pounds, a
heavy burden for fashion to impose.

When Mackenzie produced his instru-
ments for his usual observation of the sun
at noon, the natives showed apprehension
lest their use should frighten the salmon
from the river, and were glad to hasten