304 DREADFUL STATE OF STARVATION. 



had now only one son left, a very fine boy, named 

 Betshi, of whom he was doatingly fond, and certainly 

 would not be likely to make a meal of him mitil all 

 other relations and friends were disposed of. This 

 old fellow was one of Sir J. Franklin's hunters, when 

 he wintered here in 1826. I visited the site of his 

 dwelling, almost within a stone's throw of our own 

 rude hut ; but a shapeless mass of rubbish, and a few 

 stones still remaining of some of the chimneys, were all 

 to be seen of his resting-place ; and I coidd not help 

 thinking how busy Time had been with both. This 

 building must have been large ; the traces of eleven 

 chimneys mark its extent : it was tenanted by about 

 forty persons, including the people of the North-west 

 Fur-trading Company. Dr., now Sir John, Richardson, 

 was at first here with Sir John Franklin ; but the 

 quantity of fish caught being insufficient for the 

 maintenance of all, he removed with a party to a 

 distance along the lake. Their resting-point has ever 

 since been called Richardson's Fishery. 



The number of victims to starvation in this country 

 has been very great. In 1845 (?) the Company's 

 people at Fort Good Hope were without subsistence, 

 and the Indians dying in crowds. The gentleman in 

 charge of the station at that time heard one night the 

 blows of the axe in the lodges near the Fort, by which 



