OF THE POLAR SEA. 157 



be stated that instances of theft are extremely rare amongst them. 

 They profess strong affection for their children, and some regard 

 for their relations, who are often numerous, as they trace very far 

 the ties of consanguinity. A curious instance of the former was 

 mentioned to us, and so well authenticated, that I shall venture to 

 give it in the words of Dr. Richardson's Journal. 



" A young Chipewyan had separated from the rest of his band 

 for the purpose of trenching beaver, when his wife who was his sole 

 companion, and in her first pregnancy, was seized with the pains 

 of labour. She died on the third day after she had given birth to 

 a boy. The husband was inconsolable, and vowed in his anguish 

 never to take another woman to wife, but his grief was soon in some 

 degree absorbed in anxiety for the fate of his infant son. To pre- 

 serve its life he descended to the office of nurse, so degrading in 

 the eyes of a Chipewyan, as partaking of the duties of a woman. 

 He swaddled it in soft moss, fed it with broth made from the flesh 

 of the deer, and to still its cries applied it to his breast, praying 

 earnestly to the great Master of Life, to assist his endeavours. The 

 force of the powerful passion by which he was actuated produced 

 the same effect in his case, as it has done in some others which are 

 recorded; a flow of milk actually took place from his breast. He 

 succeeded in rearing his child, taught him to be a hunter, and when 

 he attained the age of manhood, chose him a wife from the tribe. 

 The old man kept his vow in never taking a second wife himself, 

 but he delighted in tending his son's children, and when his 

 daughter-in-law used to interfere, saying, that it was not the occu- 

 pation of a man, he was wont to reply, that he had promised to the 

 great Master of Life, if his child was spared, never to be proud, 

 like the other Indians. He used to mention, too, as a certain proof 

 of the approbation of Providence, that although he was always 

 obliged to carry his child on his back while hunting, yet that it 

 never roused a moose by its cries, being always particularly still at 



