femme qui m'apprit vn secret, elle nettoya ses mains à ses souliers, ie fis le mesme; ie me seruois aussi de poil d'Orignac, & de branches de pin, & notamment de bois pourry puluerisé, ce sont les essuyemains des Sauuages; on ne s'en sert pas si doucement comme d'vne toile d'Hollande, mais peut-estre plus gayement & plus ioyeusement. C'est assez parlé de ces ordures. I found myself very much embarrassed, in the beginning; for not daring to cut the meat they gave me in my bark dish, for fear of spoiling the dish, I did not know how to manage it, not having any plate. Finally I had to become all to all, and a Savage with the Savages. I [129] cast my eyes upon my companion, then I tried to be as brave a man as he was. He took his meat in his open hand, and cut from it morsel after morsel, as you would do with a piece of bread. But if the meat is a little tough, or if it slips away from the knife from being too soft, they hold one end of it with their teeth, and the other with the left hand, then the right hand plays upon it in violin fashion, the knife serving as a bow. And this is so common among the Savages, that they have a word to express this action, which we could only explain with several words and by circumlocution. If you were to lose your knife, as there are no cutlers in these great forests, you are compelled to take your share in your two hands, and to bite into the flesh and into the fat, as bravely but not so politely, as you would bite into a quarter of an apple. God knows how the hands, the mouth, and a part of the face shine after this operation. The trouble was, I did not know upon what to wipe them. To carry linen with you would require a mule, or a daily [130] washing; for, in less than no time, everything is converted into dish-cloths in their Cabins. As to them, they wipe their hands upon their hair, which they allow to grow very long, or else, upon their dogs. I saw a woman who taught me a secret; she wiped her hands upon her shoes, and I did the same. I also used Moose fur, pine branches, and, especially, powdered rotten wood. These are the hand-towels of the Savages. One does not use them as pleasantly as a piece of Holland linen, but perhaps more gaily and joyously. Enough has been said of their filth. CHAPITRE VII. DES VIANDES & AUTRES METS DONT MANGENT LES SAUUAGES, DE LEUR ASSAISONNEMENT, & DE LEURS BOISSONS. ENTRE les animaux terrestres ils ont des Elans, qu'on appelle ordinairement icy des Origenaux, des Castors, que les Anglois nomment des Bieures, des Caribõs, qualifiez par quelques vns asnes Sauuages: ils ont encore des Ours, [131] des Blereaux, des Porcs épics, des Renards, des Lieures, des Siffleurs ou Rossignols, c'est vn animal plus gros qu'vn Lieure; ils mangent en outre des Marthes, & des Ecurieux de trois especes. CHAPTER VII.