Every year, in the autumn, the Indians meet the traders, at this and other forts, where they barter such furs, or provisions, as they have procured. They are here fitted out, by the traders, with such articles as they may want, after which they proceed to hunt beavers; and they return about the end of March or the beginning of April, when they are again fitted out as before. During the summer, most of these Indians retire to the barren grounds, and live there, with their relations and friends. _Account of the Knisteneaux and Chepewyan Indians_. When, in the year 1777, the Europeans first penetrated into the north-western regions of America, these two tribes of Indians were very numerous; but the small-pox, introduced among them by the strangers, proved so fatal, that, at the end of fifteen years, not more than seventy families were left. The _Knisteneaux_, though at present few in number, occupy a great extent of country. They are of moderate stature, well-proportioned, and extremely active. Their complexion is of a copper-colour, and their hair black. In some of the tribes, the hair is cut into various forms, according to their fancy; and, by others, it is left in the long and lank flow of nature. These Indians, in general, pluck out their beards. Their eyes are black, keen, and penetrating; and their countenance is open and agreeable. Fond of decoration, they paint their bodies with different colours of red, blue, brown, white, and black. Their dress is, at once, simple and commodious. It consists of tight leggings or leather-gaiters, which reach nearly to the hip; a strip of cloth or leather, about a foot wide, and five feet long, the ends of which are drawn inward, and hang behind and before, over a belt, tied round the waist for that purpose; a close vest or shirt, reaching down to the former garment, and bound at the waist by a broad strip of parchment, fastened with thongs behind; and a cap for the head, consisting of a piece of fur, or a small skin, with the tail of the animal, as a suspended ornament. A kind of robe is occasionally thrown over the whole of this dress, and serves them to wear by day, and to sleep in at night. These articles, with the addition of shoes and mittens, constitute their chief apparel. The materials vary, according to the season, and consist of dressed moose-skin, beaver-skins, prepared with the fur, or European woollens. The leather is neatly painted, and, in some parts, is fancifully worked with porcupine-quills and moose-deer hair. The shirts and leggings are adorned with fringe and tassels; and the shoes and mittens have somewhat of appropriate decoration, and are worked with a considerable degree of skill and taste. Their head-dresses are composed of the feathers of the swan, the eagle, and other birds. The teeth, horns, and claws of different animals, are also the occasional ornaments of their head and neck.