through all the exposures and hardships that we
suffered in those days! The frail teepee pitched
anywhere, in the winter as well as in the summer,
was all the protection that we had against cold and
storms. I can recall times when we were snowed
in and it was very difficult to get fuel. We were
once three days without much fire and all of this
time it stormed violently. There seemed to be no
special anxiety on the part of our people; they
rather looked upon all this as a matter of course,
knowing that the storm would cease when the
time came.

I could once endure as much cold and hunger
as any of them; but now if I miss one meal or
accidentally wet my feet, I feel it as much as if I
had never lived in the manner I have described,
when it was a matter of course to get myself soak-
ing wet many a time. Even if there was plenty
to eat, it was thought better for us to practice fast-
ing sometimes; and hard exercise was kept up
continually, both for the sake of health and to
prepare the body for the extraordinary exertions
that it might, at any moment, be required
to undergo. In my own remembrance, my
uncle used often to bring home a deer on his
shoulder. The distance was sometimes con-
siderable; yet he did not consider it any sort of
a feat.