NORTHERN OCEAN 131 



and though another person had the humanity to haul her 1771. 

 sledge for her, (for one day only,) she was obliged to carry a ^"' 

 considerable load beside her little charge, and was frequently 

 obliged to wade knee-deep in water and wet snow. Her very 

 looks, exclusive of her moans, were a sufficient proof of the 

 great pain she endured, insomuch that although she was a 

 person I greatly disliked, her distress at this time so overcame 

 my prejudice, that I never felt more for any of her sex in my 

 life ; indeed her sighs pierced me to the soul, and rendered 

 me very miserable, as it was not in my power to relieve her. 



When a Northern Indian woman is taken in labour, a 

 small tent is erected for her, at such a distance from the other 

 tents that her cries cannot easily be heard, and the other 

 women and young girls are her constant visitants : no male, 

 except children in arms, ever offers to approach her. It is a 

 circumstance perhaps to be lamented, that these people never 

 attempt to assist each other on those occasions, even in the 

 most critical cases. This is in some measure owing to delicacy, 

 but more probably to an opinion they entertain that nature is 

 [93] abundantly sufficient to perform every thing required, 

 without any external help whatever. When I informed them 

 of the assistance which European women derive from the skill 

 and attention of our midwives, they treated it with the utmost 

 contempt ; ironically observing, " that the many hump-backs, 

 bandy-legs, and other deformities, so frequent among the 

 English, were undoubtedly owing to the great skill of the 

 persons who assisted in bringing them into the world, and to 

 the extraordinary care of their nurses afterward." 



A Northern Indian woman after child-birth is reckoned 

 unclean for a month or five weeks ; during which time she 

 always remains in a small tent placed at a little distance from 

 the others, with only a female acquaintance or two ; and 

 during the whole time the father never sees the child. Their 

 reason for this practice is, that children when first born are 

 sometimes not very sightly, having in general large heads, and 



