116 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. After leaving Island Lake, we continued our old course 



January, j^g^^gg^ the West and North West, and travelled at the easy 

 rate of eight or nine miles a day. Provisions of all kinds 

 were scarce till the sixteenth, when the Indians killed twelve 

 deer. This induced us to put up, though early in the day ; 

 and finding great plenty of deer in the neighbourhood of our 

 little encampment, it was agreed by all parties to remain 

 a few days, in order to dry and pound some meat to make 

 it lighter for carriage. 

 22d. Having, by the twenty-second, provided a sufficient stock 

 of provision, properly prepared, to carry with us, and repaired 

 our sledges and snow-shoes, we again pursued our course 

 in the North West quarter ; and in the afternoon spoke with 

 a stranger, an Indian, who had one of Matonabbee's wives 

 under his care. He did not remain in our company above 

 an hour, as he only smoked part of a few pipes with his 

 friends, and returned to his tent, which could not [74] be far 

 distant from the place where we lay that night, as the woman 

 and her two children joined us next morning, before we had 

 taken down our tent and made ready for moving. Those 

 people were the first strangers whom we had met since we 

 left the Fort, though we had travelled several hundred miles ; 

 which is a proof that this part of the country is but thinly 

 inhabited. It is a truth well known to the natives, and 

 doubtless founded on experience, that there are many very 

 extensive tracts of land in those parts, which are incapable 

 of aflTording support to any number of the human race even 

 during the short time they are passing through them, in the 

 capacity of migrants, from one place to another ; much less 

 are they capable of affording a constant support to those 

 who might wish to make them their fixed residence at any 

 season of the year. It is true, that few rivers or lakes in 

 those parts are entirely destitute of fish ; but the uncertainty 

 of meeting with a sufficient supply for any considerable time 

 together, makes the natives very cautious how they put their 



