420 
F. A. G. Morice, O. M. L 
The following, being always eaten fresh, necessitate no further expenditure 
of labour than that occasioned by the gathering of the same. There is a sort 
of cranberry (V. myrtilloides), which is somewhat appreciated by the native 
palate; the swamp cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris), which is rather scarce in 
the west, but more common in the east; a species of high bush cranberry 
(V. paiiciflorum), quite esteemed in spite of its extreme pungency, and two 
other varieties of Viburna, better known to the mountain tribes. 
Then there is the famous soap berry (Shepherdia Canadensis), whose 
strongly bitter taste is so forbidding, and yet of which the natives are so fond. 
As everybody knows, it must undergo special manipulation before it can be 
appreciated. After it has been mashed in a bark vessel, it is vigorously stirred 
with the hand, until it springs up into a beautiful rosy foam, which is responsible 
for its name. Even in that state, however, it cannot be relished by a cultivated 
palate without the addition of sugar. 
Nor should we forget to mention the fruit of the kinnikinik or bear- 
berry bush (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), which, though insipid enough to a white 
man, is of such importance in the eyes of some tribes, as the Chilcotins, that 
it gives its name to one of their minor seasons. It is very extensively sought 
after by the women. 
The natives occasionally use a few other kinds of small fruit, such as 
the raspberry (Rubus strigosus), the strawberry (Fragraria Canadensis), the 
black currant (Ribes nigrum), etc. But as these will not keep, only the children 
generally stoop to pick them. 
Berry Picking and Preserving. 
The work of gathering the berries is done, as a rule, by squads of girls 
and women, armed with two kinds of baskets: one which is carried on the 
breast hanging from the shoulders, and a larger 
one into which the pickings of the breast basket 
are repeatedly conveyed and finally carried home. 
Among the western Denes, both of these are made 
Fig. 50. 
of birch bark, after the patterns illustrated in figs. 50 and 51 respectively. The 
girls take great pride in their smaller berry baskets, and decorate their rims 
as tastefully as the primitiveness of the material at their command will allow. 
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