MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. 95 



from us, and after being fed for two days, an inti- 

 mation was made to him that he would receive no 

 more rations ; on which he followed the others, 

 and, as we afterwards learnt, soon procured another 

 helpmate. 



The singular national custom of the women 

 being the property of the strongest, had been acted 

 upon a short time previously at the fishery. A 

 blind man, who was more assiduous in setting trout 

 lines, and more successful as a fisherman than most 

 of the others, was deprived of his wife on the 

 general movement of the party, by an old fellow 

 who wanted her to drag his sledge. Mr. Bell 

 questioned the ancient Paris about the truth of 

 the report when he came to the fort, and instead 

 of denying the fact, or seeming ashamed, he gloried 

 in the deed as a manly action. A child, the off- 

 spring of her former connection, followed the for- 

 tunes of the mother. 



After Mr. Bell and I quitted the fort in May, the 

 Tein-deer migrating towards the sea-coast left the 

 Indians again in straitened circumstances. The 

 active hunters moved towards the open country in 

 quest of musk-oxen, and the more helpless threw 

 themselves on Mr. Rae's compassion at the fort. 

 He distributed among them the remains of the 

 dried meat brought from Fort Simpson, and a 

 quantity of musk -bull meat, which was too strong 



