216 ANXIETY FOR AKAITCHO AND HIS PARTY. 



we not taken that office on ourselves ; an office 

 which, though difficult at this time, on account 

 of the frozen state of the ground, was necessary, 

 to preserve her remains from the starving and 

 voracious dogs. 



The anxiety I began to feel, respecting the 

 actual condition of the main body of the Indians 

 with Akaitcho, whom we supposed to be in 

 quest of deer to the westward, was so great, 

 that Mr. M c Leod, with much kindness and 

 spirit, volunteered to go in search of them, and 

 by his presence encourage and incite them to 

 exertion. He left us on the 18th of December, 

 accompanied by the interpreter and an Indian 

 lad, who the previous morning had received a 

 cudgelling for thieving. The very next day, 

 one of our men, who had been with Akaitcho, 

 arrived with a small quantity of half-dried meat, 

 which he had dragged eight days' inarch. 



From him we learned that the deer were rather 

 numerous than otherwise, but that they con- 

 tinued to linger on the verge of the barren lands, 

 to the surprise of the Indians, who declared this 

 to be the first time they had deviated from their 

 habit of seeking the shelter of the woods at 

 this inclement period of the year. They were 

 very poor, he said, but plenty were shot; and 

 would have been sent to the Fort, if the dis- 

 tance had been less : as it was, the persons em- 



