56 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



themselves with the activity which such a task re- 

 quired. Fortunately nothing serious occurred, 

 though one of them once fell with considerable 

 violence. During the day one of the hunters broke 

 through the ice, but was soon extricated ; when it 

 became dark we halted near the Bow String Port- 

 age, greatly disappointed at not having reached 

 the lake. The weather was cloudy, accompanied 

 with thick mist and snow. The Indians expected 

 to have found here a bear in its den, and to have 

 made a hearty meal of its flesh ; indeed it had 

 been the subject of conversation all day, and they 

 had even gone so far as to divide it, frequendy 

 asking me what part I preferred ; but when we 

 came to the spot— oh ! lamentable ! it had already 

 faUen a prey to the devouring appetites of some 

 more fortunate hunters, who had only left suffi- 

 cient evidence that such a thing had once existed. 

 One of our men, however, caught a fish, which 

 With the assistance of some weed scraped from 

 the rocks, (tripe de roche,) which forms a glutinous 

 substance, made us a tolerable supper ; it was not 

 of the most choice kind, but yet good enough for 

 hungry men. While we were eating it I perceived 

 one of the women busily employed scraping an 

 old skm, the contents of which her husband pre- 

 sented us with. They consisted of pounded meat, 

 fot, and a greater proportion of Indians' and deers' 

 hmv than either; and though such a mixture may 



