STARVATION EVERYWHERE. 159 



walk about on his liind legs, or sit up in begging 

 attitude. But one of his feats elicited loud '' wah ! 

 wahs !'* and '' aiwarkakens !" tlieir expressions of as- 

 tonishment. This was watching a piece of meat 

 placed on the floor, or sitting with it balanced on his 

 nose. They could not understand how a dog could 

 be taught to refrain from seizing it at once, instead 

 of waiting for the word of command. Their own 

 dogs, being never fed except when at work, are 

 always so lean and ravenously hungry, that they 

 steal everything they can get at. When meat is 

 being cut up, the squaw keeps a huge stick ready 

 to her hand, with which she thwacks unmercifully 

 the starving curs, which seize every opportunity of 

 abstracting a morsel unperceived. 



During this period the' only civilised person who 

 visited us was Mr. Tait, a half-breed in the Com- 

 pany's service at Carlton, who came over in a dog 

 cariole, to collect furs from the Indians in our neigh- 

 bourhood. He brought us a few cakes and potatoes, 

 luxuries we had not tasted for many weeks. From 

 him we learnt that almost everywhere there had been 

 great scarcity of food. At the Fort at Egg Lake the 

 people had been obliged to boil down buffalo hides 

 for subsistence. Two men, sent over to the nearest 

 port. Touchwood Hills, for succour, arrived almost 

 dead vnth famine ; but there they found the inmates 

 at the last extremity, and unable to afford them any 

 assistance. At Fort La Corne the men had been 

 half- starved for a long time ; and even at Carlton the 

 hunters were sent out so scantily provided, that 



