CHAP. v. FAMINES CAUSED BY WOLVES. 87 



winter, several persons died from starvation. In the Hay 

 Bay settlement, one of the most heartrending occurrences 

 took place. Some time during the month of April, the 

 husband and father was found buried in the snow, which 

 lay upon the ground at an average depth of five feet, 

 w r hilst within the shanty was exhibited the awful spectacle 

 of the dying mother, pressing to her bosom her dead 

 infant, still in the position of attempting to gain that sus- 

 tenance which its mother had for some time been unable 

 any longer to afford it.' 



If such a calamity as is described in the preceding 

 paragraph could occur in the early settlement of a 

 country like Western Canada, owing to wolves, need we 

 be surprised that the Montagnais and Nasquapces should 

 have diminished on account of the gradual destruction of 

 the reindeer their principal supply of food ? 



