204. 
120%, 
eye 
September: 
28th. 
3eth. 
A JOURNEY TO THE 
drefs fkins, and provide our Winter clothing; 
alfo to make {now-fhoes and temporary fledges, 
as well as to prepare a large quantity of dried 
meat and fat to carry with us; for by the ac- 
counts of the Indians, they have always experi- J 
enced a great fcarcity of deer, and every other _ 
kind of game, in the direGtion they propofed we 
fhould go when we left Point Lake. | 
‘Toward the middle of the month, the weather 
became quite mild and open, and continued fo 
till the end of it; but there was fo much con- 5 | 
ftant and inceflant rain, that it rotted moft of our | 
tents. Onthe twenty-eighth, however, the wind 
fettled in the North Weft quarter, when the wea- | 
ther grew fo cold, that by the thirtieth all the 
ponds, lakes, and other Handing waters, were 
frozen over fo hard that we were enabled to crofs 
them on the ice without danger. 
Among the various fuperftitious cuftoms of 
thofe people, it is worth remarking, and ought 
to have been mentioned it its proper place, that 
immediately after my companions had killed the J 
Efquimaux at the Copper River, they confidered — 
themfelves in a ftate of uncleannefs, which induce JJ 
ed them to pra¢tife fome very curious and un- — 
ufual ceremonies. In the firft place, all who — 
were abfolutely concerned in the murder were 
prohibited from cooking any kind of victuals, 
either for themfelves or others. As luckily there 
were two in company who had not fhed blood, 
they were employed always as cocks till we join- 
ed 
