AN ACCOUCHEMENT. 93 



obliged to join openly in the mirth ; and the ex- 

 pression of face of some of the youths thus preyed 

 upon, as they endeavoured to force a smile in their 

 distress, was irresistibly comic. The loss fell ulti- 

 mately on the store, as Mr. Bell had to furnish the 

 party with food for their return, though in that case 

 he did not certainly select titbits. When at length 

 the great move was made, and the fishery party, 

 exceeding forty in number, went off, in the end of 

 March news came that the wife of one of the hunters, 

 a very small woman, had been taken with the 

 pains of labour. The three females belonging to 

 the fort went to her aid, and found the new-born 

 infant, the mother's first child, wrapped in a deer's 

 skin and stuck into a hole made in the snow. It 

 was brought into the house, and dressed by the fire. 

 This event delayed the mother's departure about 

 two hours. She then set out dragging a sledge, 

 and having her first-born suspended between her 

 shoulders, in a bag or Indian cradle. She was not 

 suffered, however, to profit by the well-beaten path 

 pursued by the rest of the party, who had gone 

 before her, but had to make a new track parallel 

 to it through the loose snow, always a laborious 

 task, even to a stout man. Want of success in 

 hunting, or some other calamity, was sure to befal 

 an Indian who should incautiously tread in her 

 footsteps. This was the custom ; no slight or 



