their belongings, even to their clothing, and, sometimes, their wives.
When the wives are at stake, however, they have the privilege of taking
a hand in the game.

The women, in addition to their regular routine of summer camp duties,
occupy themselves with fishing, moccasin making, and berry picking.
The girls join their mothers in picking berries, which are plentiful
and of great variety--raspberries, strawberries, cranberries,
blueberries, gooseberries, swampberries, saskatoonberries,
pembinaberries, pheasantberries, bearberries, and snakeberries. They
gather also wild celery, the roots of rushes, and the inner bark of the
poplar--all which they eat raw. In some parts, too, they gather wild
rice. Before their summer holidays are over, they have usually secured
a fair stock of dried berries, smoked meats and bladders and casings
filled with fish oil or other soft grease, to help out their bill of
fare during the winter. The women devote most of their spare moments
to bead, hair, porcupine, or silk work which they use for the
decoration of their clothing. They make _mos-quil-moots_, or hunting
bags, of plaited _babiche_, or deerskin thongs, for the use of the men.
The girl's first lesson in sewing is always upon the coarsest work;
such as joining skins together for lodge coverings. The threads used
are made from the sinews of the deer or the wolf. These sinews are
first hung outside to dry a little, and are then split into the finest
threads. The thread-maker passes each strand through her mouth to
moisten it, then places it upon her bare thigh, and with a quick
movement rolls it with the flat of her hand to twist it. Passing it
again through her mouth, she ties a knot at one end, points the other,
and puts it away to dry. The result is a thread like the finest
hair-wire.