APPALLING SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS. 2 C 25 



wondered at on such a wide unsheltered lake as 

 he had been travelling over, especially when 

 the Indians themselves were unable to bear up 

 against it, but were all, to the number of four- 

 teen, similarly lacerated. The latter complained 

 bitterly, and compared the sensation of handling 

 their guns to that of touching red-hot iron ; and 

 so painful was it, that they wrapped thongs of 

 leather round the triggers, to keep their fingers 

 from contact with the steel. 



The deer were represented to be plentiful 

 enough, but so restless and difficult to approach 

 that few were shot ; added to which they were 

 edging westerly, and when left were at a distance 

 of fourteen days' journey from the house. Suf- 

 fering, the Indian's inheritance, attended the na- 

 tives wherever they went. The forest was no longer 

 a shelter, nor the land a support ; " famine, with 

 her gaunt and bony arm," pursued them at 

 every turn, withered their energies, and strewed 

 them lifeless on the cold bosom of the snow. 

 Nine had fallen victims already ; and others 

 were only snatched from a like fate by the op- 

 portune intervention of Mr. M'Leod, in compel- 

 ling a Chipewyan to return after his wife and child, 

 whom the unnatural monster had abandoned. 

 In another instance, where two of the same 

 tribe had deserted an infirm and starving relative, 



