A broad piece of timber with steps cut in it led to the scaffolding even with the floor, and by this curious kind of ladder I entered the house at one end; and having passed three fires, at equal distances in the middle of the building, I was received by several people, sitting upon a very wide board, at the upper end of it.

I shook hands with them, and seated myself beside a man, the dignity of whose countenance induced me to give him that preference...." Later on, this man, seeing Mackenzie's people arriving tired and hungry, rose and fetched from behind a plank, four feet wide, a quantity of roasted salmon.

A whole salmon was offered to Mackenzie, and another to Mackay; half a salmon was given to each of the French Canadian _voyageurs_.

Their host further invited them to sleep in the house, but, Mackenzie thinking it preferable to camp outside, a fire was lit to warm the weary travellers, and each was lent a thick board on which to sleep, so that he might not lie on the bare ground.
"We had not long been seated round the fire when we received a dish of salmon roes, pounded fine and beat up with water so as to have the appearance of a cream.

Nor was it without some kind of seasoning that gave it a bitter taste.