as their masters are good. Their masters abhor theft, but these dogs make it their business, and subsist entirely by pilfering. The dogs are found to the number of six or seven in each family: each member owns one or two; they live on bones and the crumbs which fall from the frugal table of their poor masters, and I can assure you that very little is left from the meal of an Indian, who considers it a duty to eat all that is set before him, and is by no means nice at table. The dogs therefore are left to provide for them
selves as best they can. For the most part, they work by night, and become very cunning and expert: hunger sharpens their rapacious instincts. Father Menetrey assures us that he has very often awoke in the morning as poor as job, everything having been carried off during the night. It was in vain that he had taken every precaution which prudence suggested before going to bed, the industry of these nocturnal marauders got the better of all his care. Sleeping like a log after the fatigues of the day, he never heard the noise made by the thieves during their stay, though they often fought with one another in his tent over their spoils. The more vigilant savages were frequently aroused by the racket made in his tent, and were in the habit of coming to his rescue. Sometimes a good old Indian dame, armed with a big stick, would present herself suddenly upon the field of battle, dealing her blows right and left upon the combatants; again a stalwart young savage would venture into the Father's tent to disperse these mid
night marauders and restore peace. Occasionally the good Father himself would be aroused by the noise of the howling of the dogs and the cries of those who had come to pro
tect him. They would then set to work to repair, though rather too late, the breaches made in his fortifications, stop
ping up every hole and barricading the entry afresh. He would then lie down again, at the risk of another attack from these indefatigable robbers.
At last a council of chiefs was held on the subject, in which it was resolved to put an end to these scenes, so