OF THE POLAR SEA. 93 
through the tribe. Many died, aud most of the 
survivors were so enfeebled as to be unable to 
pursue the necessary avocations of hunting and 
fishing. Even those who experienced only a 
slight attack, or escaped the sickness altogether, 
dispirited by the scenes of misery which envi- 
roned them, were rendered incapable of afford- 
ing relief to their distressed relations, and spent 
their time in conjuring and drumming to avert 
the pestilence. Those who were able came to 
the fort and received relief, but many who had 
retired with their families to distant corners, to 
pursue their winter hunts, experienced all the 
horrors of famine. One evening, early in the 
month of January, a poor Indian entered the 
North-West Company’s House, carrying his only 
child in his arms, and followed by his starving 
wife. They had been hunting apart from the 
other bands, had been unsuccessful, and whilst 
in want were seized with the epidemical disease. 
An Indian is accustomed to starve, and it is not 
easy to elicit from him an account of his suffer- 
ings. This poor man’s story was very brief; as 
soon as the fever abated, he set out with his wife 
for Cumberland House, having been previously 
reduced to feed on the bits of skin | and offal, 
which remained about their encampment. Even 
this miserable fare was exhausted, and they 
ae 
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