If we lift the bearskin covering the entrance and step into the lodge, we may see the simple furnishings and personal possessions of the family we are going to visit. A hole in the middle of the roof serves to carry off the smoke from the fire burning in the center of the floor. This fire serves the double purpose of heating the lodge and cooking the family meals. We find the hut almost too smoky to endure, accustomed as we are to our modern homes, but our Indian friends seem quite comfortable. Since our Indian family is fairly large, including the father’s parents as well as the mother, father, two boys, and two girls, the wigwam is proportionately large in order to accommodate all of them. We look about the inside of the lodge and see the sleeping mats and furs. The family’s spare clothing, breechclouts, shirts, leggings, and moccasins of tanned deerskin for the men, and skirts, blouses, and moccasins for the women, are in one corner. The garments are beautifully decorated with designs grandma embroidered on them with dyed porcupine quills. The work is quite fine and it takes many hours to do a small portion of the embroidery. Father is especially fond of his headdress, a roach made of deer and porcupine hair, and an eagle feather which indicates that he has killed an enemy in battle. [Illustration: WIGWAMS, OR WINTER LODGES.] As we step outside again and look about, we can see why this particular spot has been chosen as the campsite. A small lake and several springs are only a short distance away, but the most important reason for camping here at this season is a large grove of sugar maple trees immediately to one side of the camp. March is the proper time to tap the trees for their sap. The next two or three weeks are spent tapping the trees, and boiling the sap down until maple syrup, and finally only maple sugar is left. This sugar keeps indefinitely and provides a very nourishing as well as a delicious source of food for the entire family. The children are especially fond of it. It is not a case of all work and no play during this period, for the children, Morning Star, White Fawn, Blackbird, and Little Otter, play games when their tasks are finished, and gambling games are popular with the men and women. Here we see mother and some neighbor women playing the cup and pin game. Each player in turn tosses into the air small cone-shaped cups made of antler tips or bear-toe bones, and tries to catch one or more on a bone pin. The men are enthusiastic gamblers, too, using marked sticks which are thrown and scored somewhat like our own familiar dice games.