REVOLTING STORY OF AN INDIAN. 227 



hunter, came to the Fort in November, 1832, 

 after a temporary absence ; and, having smoked 

 his pipe, gave a plausible account of severe ca- 

 lamities, which had befallen him in the preceding 

 winter. After describing the horrors of starva- 

 tion in the desolate forest, and his ineffectual 

 efforts to ward it off, he said that, worn out, at 

 length, by hunger and cold, his wife, the mother 

 of his children, sunk into a lethargy and died ; 

 his daughter soon followed ; and two sons, just 

 springing into manhood, who promised to be 

 the support of his old age, — alas ! they also 

 perished ; lastly, their younger children, though 

 tended by him with unwearied solicitude, and 

 fed for a time on the parings of their leather 

 garments, sunk under their sufferings, and slept 

 with their brethren. " What could I do ? " 

 exclaimed the man, with a frenzied look that 

 almost startled the hearers, — " could I look up to 

 the Great Spirit ? — could I remain to behold 

 my strength laid prostrate ? No ! no ! One child 

 was yet spared.- — I fled for succour. But, oh! 

 the woods were silent, — how silent! — I am 

 here." 



The boy alluded to was about eleven years of 

 age, and at the close, as during the recital, kept 

 his eyes vacantly fixed on the blazing fire near 

 which he was seated, seeming unconscious that 

 the narration was ended, and still listening, as if 



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