314 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



thereby it would take us four days' hard travelling to 

 get there. They offered us a portion of the berries, 

 which we ate very greedily, and then produced two 

 rabbits, for one of which Mr. O'B. gave a tattered 

 shirt, and the other we bought for some needles and 

 small shot. Presently the old Shushwap we had 

 encountered the previous day turned up, hot and 

 exhausted by his efforts to overtake us. He hurried 

 away again immediately, but returned in a few 

 minutes with some potatoes, to sell which he had 

 come back in such haste. Mrs. Assiniboine, to our 

 surprise, produced a nice clean linen shirt of Mr. 

 Assiniboine's, which she had managed by some means 

 to save from the general wreck, offered it to the old 

 Indian, and the potatoes were ours. We ate some 

 raw at once, so famished were we ; and when the 

 remainder and the rabbits were cooked, had a great 

 feast. The Indians agreed to raise camp and go with 

 us, the younger fellow accompanying us on foot, while 

 Caliban took charge of the women and children in 

 two canoes. We came to a large stream flowing into 

 the Thompson from the west (Clearwater Eiver), 

 where we found Caliban awaiting us with the canoes, 

 by which we crossed to the southern bank, and there 

 camped for the night. 



During our journey the following morning we 

 came upon the dead bodies of two Indians — a man 

 and woman — lying festering in the sun. They 

 were lying side by side, covered with a blanket, 

 and all their goods and chattels undisturbed 

 around. We saw several more of these ghastly 

 spectacles afterwards, and made out from our 



