NORTHERN OCEAN 85 



Providence threw any thing in my way, my stomach has 1770. 

 scarcely been able to retain more than two or three ounces, • 

 without producing the most oppressive pain. Another dis- 

 agreeable circumstance of long fasting is, the extreme difficulty 

 and pain attending the natural evacuations for the first time ; 

 and which is so dreadful, that of it none but those who have 

 experienced can have an adequate idea. 



To record in detail each day's fare since the commence- 

 ment of this journey, would be little more than a dull repetition 

 of the same occurrences. A sufficient idea of it may be given 

 in a few words, by observing that it may justly be said to have 

 been either all feasting, or all famine ; sometimes we had too 

 much, seldom just enough, frequently too little, and often 

 none at all. It will be only necessary to say that we have 

 fasted many times two whole days and nights ; twice upwards 

 of three days ; and once, while at She-than-nee, near seven 

 days, during which we tasted not a mouthful of anything, 

 except a few cranberries, water, scraps of old leather, and 

 burnt bones. On those pressing occasions I have frequently 

 seen the Indians examine their wardrobe, [34] which consisted 

 chiefly of skin-clothing, and consider what part could best be 

 spared ; sometimes a piece of an old, half-rotten deer skin, 

 and at others a pair of old shoes, were sacrificed to alleviate 

 extreme hunger. The relation of such uncommon hardships 

 may perhaps gain little credit in Europe ; while those who are 

 conversant with the history of Hudson's Bay, and who are 

 thoroughly acquainted with the distress which the natives of 

 the country about it frequently endure, may consider them as 

 no more than the common occurrences of an Indian life, in 

 which they are frequently driven to the necessity of eating one 

 another.* 



* It is the general opinion of the Southern Indians, that when any of their 

 tribe has been driven to the necessity of eating human flesh, they become so 

 fond of it, that no person is safe in their company. And though it is well 

 known they are never guilty of making this horrid repast but when driven to it 

 by necessity, yet those who have made it are not only shunned, but so univer- 



