78 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1770. he closely pursued his hunting for several days, and seldom 



^"^^ ■ returned to the tent till after dark, while those at the tent 

 passed most of their time in smoking and sleeping. 



Several days passed without any signs of relief, till the 



loth. loth, when my guide continued out longer than ordinary, 

 which made us conjecture that he had met with strangers, or 

 seen some deer, or other game, which occasioned his delay. 

 We all therefore lay down to sleep, having had but little 

 refreshment for the three preceding days, except a pipe of 

 tobacco and a draught of water ; even partridges had become 

 so scarce that not one was to be got ; the heavy thaws had 

 driven them all out towards the barren grounds. About mid- 

 night, to our [24] great joy, our hunter arrived, and brought 

 with him the blood and fragments of two deer that he had 

 killed. This unexpected success soon roused the sleepers, 

 who, in an instant, were busily employed in cooking a large 

 kettle of broth, made with the blood, and some fat and scraps 

 of meat shred small, boiled in it. This might be reckoned 

 a dainty dish at any time, but was more particularly so in our 

 present almost famished condition. 



After partaking of this refreshment, we resumed our rest, 

 and early in the morning set out in a body for the place where 

 the deer were lying. As we intended to make our stay but 

 short, we left our tent standing, containing all our baggage. 



nth. On our arrival at the place of destination, some were immedi- 

 ately employed in making a hut or barrocado with young 

 pine trees ; while one man skinned the deer, the remainder 

 went a hunting, and in the afternoon returned to the hut, 

 after having killed two deer. 



Several days were now spent in feasting and gluttony ; 

 during which the Indians killed five more deer and three fine 

 beavers ; finding at last, however, that there was little pros- 

 pect of procuring either more deer or beavers, we determined 

 to return to our tent, with the remains of what we had already 

 obtained. 



