122 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. This method of hunting, if it deserves the name, is some- 



■ times so successful, that many families subsist by it without 

 having occasion to move their tents above once or twice during 

 the course of a whole winter ; and when the Spring advances, 

 both the deer and Indians draw out to the Eastward, on the 

 ground which is entirely barren, or at least what is so called 

 in those parts, as it neither produces trees or shrubs of any 

 kind, so that moss and some little grass is all the herbage 

 which is to be found on it. Such an easy way of procuring a 

 comfortable maintenance in the Winter months, (which is by 

 far the worst time of the year), is wonderfully well adapted 

 to the support of the aged and infirm, but is too apt to 

 occasion a habitual indolence in the young and active, who 

 frequently spend a whole Winter in this indolent manner : 

 and as those parts of the country are almost destitute of every 

 animal of the furr kind, it cannot be [81] supposed that those 

 who indulge themselves in this indolent method of procuring 

 food can be masters of any thing for trade ; whereas those 

 who do not get their livelihood at so easy a rate, generally 

 procure furrs enough during the Winter to purchase a sufficient 

 supply of ammunition, and other European goods, to last 

 them another year. This is nearly the language of the more 

 industrious among them, who, of course, are of most import- 

 ance and value to the Hudson's Bay Company, as it is from 

 them the furrs are procured which compose the greatest part 

 of Churchill trade. But in my opinion, there cannot exist 

 a stronger proof that mankind was not created to enjoy 

 happiness in this world, than the conduct of the miserable 

 beings who inhabit this wretched part of it ; as none but the 

 aged and infirm, the women and children, a few of the more 

 indolent and unambitious part of them, will submit to remain 

 in the parts where food and clothing are procured in this easy 

 manner, because no animals are produced there whose furrs 

 are valuable. And what do the more industrious gain by 

 giving themselves all this additional trouble .'* The real wants 



