EVENTS WHICH BEFALL US. 267 



and only opportunity of supplying themselves 

 with what wood might be required for the 

 reparation of the sledges, &c. By 10 a.m. all 

 the things were brought. 



During our march five deer and some geese 

 had been seen, but no other animal, except two 

 mice, which were making a rather hazardous 

 traverse across the ice ; one little adventurer of 

 the same family was found dead (apparently 

 drowned), at the distance of a full mile from 

 the nearest land. I had been trying for a trout 

 in the river, and happening to espy in the sand 

 an old copper kettle, much bruised, I had the 

 curiosity to take it up ; and hearing something 

 rattle within, I had it forced open, when it was 

 found to contain thirty-four balls, a file broken 

 into three pieces, an awl, a fire-steel, and a 

 crooked knife. This, to an Indian valuable 

 property, had apparently been thrown away, 

 according to the custom unfortunately prevail- 

 ing with that people, either as an expiatory 

 sacrifice for some calamity, or as a token of 

 extreme affliction for the loss of a wife or child. 

 At 9 p. m., the boat's runners having been 

 repaired, and the dogs' feet cased with leather 

 shoes, we recommenced the route; and soon after- 

 wards being attracted by some stones piled upon 

 an island, from which bits of moss laid in a line 

 led to the shore, I expected to have discovered a 



