Indiana was well pleased with the approbation that her manufactures met with, and very soon manufactured for "Nee-chee," as they all now called Louis, a similar present As to Catharine, she declared the snow-shoes made her ancles ache, and that she preferred the mocassins that her cousin Louis made for her.

During the long bright days of February they made several excursions on the lake, and likewise explored some of the high hills to the eastward.

On this ridge there were few large trees; but it was thickly clothed with scrub oaks, slender poplars, and here and there fine pines, and picturesque free-growing oaks of considerable size and great age--patriarchs, they might be termed, among the forest growth.
_[FN: One of these hoary monarchs of the Oak-lulls still stands at the head of the lawn at Oaklands, formerly the property of Mr.W.
Falkner, now the residence of the Authoress.]_ Over this romantic range of hill and dale, free as the air they breathed, roamed many a gallant herd of deer, unmolested unless during certain seasons when the Indians came to hunt over these hills.

Surprised at the different growth of the oaks on this side the plains, Hector could not help expressing his astonishment to Indiana, who told him that it was caused by the custom that her people had had from time immemorial of setting fire to the bushes in the early part of spring.

This practice, she said, promoted the growth of the deer-grass, made good cover for the deer themselves, and effectually prevented the increase of the large timbers.