NORTHERN OCEAN 185 



were on the West side of the river. When we had finished 1771. 

 our meal, which was the first we had enjoyed for many hours, •'"^* 

 the Indians told me that they were again ready to assist me in 

 making an end of my survey. It was then about five o'clock 

 in the morning of the seventeenth, the sea being in sight from 17th. 

 the North West by West to the North East, about eight miles 

 distant. I therefore set instantly about commencing my sur- 

 vey, and pursued it to the mouth of the river, which I found 

 all the way so full of shoals and falls that it was not navigable 

 even for a boat, and that it emptied itself into the sea over a 

 ridge or bar. [163] The tide was then out ; but I judged from 

 the marks which I saw on the edge of the ice, that it flowed 



animal ; and the farther digestion has taken place, the better it is suited to 

 their taste. It is impossible to describe or conceive the pleasure they seem to 

 enjoy when eating such unaccountable food : nay, I have even seen them eat 

 whole handfuls of maggots that were produced in meat by fly-blows ; and it 

 is their constant custom, when their noses bleed by any accident, to lick their 

 blood into their mouths, and swallow it. Indeed, if we consider the inhospitable 

 part of the globe they are destined to inhabit, and the great distresses to which 

 they are frequently driven by hunger in consequence of it, we shall no longer 

 be surprized at finding they can relish any thing in common with the meanest 

 of the animal creation, but rather admire the wisdom and kindness of Provi- 

 dence in forming the palates and powers of all creatures in such a manner as is 

 best adapted to the food, climate, and every other circumstance which may be 

 incident to their respective situations. 



It is no less true, that these people, when I first knew them, would not eat 

 any of our provisions, sugar, raisins, figs, or even bread ; for though some of 

 them would put a bit of it into their mouths, they soon spit it out again with evi- 

 dent marks of dislike ; so that they had no greater relish for our food than we 

 had for theirs. At present, however, they will eat any part of our provisions, 

 either fresh or salted ; and some of them will drink a draft of porter, or a little 

 brandy and water ; and they are now so far civilized, and attached to the Eng- 

 lish, that I am persuaded any of the Company's servants who could habituate 

 themselves to their diet and manner of life, might now live as secure under their 

 protection, as under that of any of the tribes of Indians who border on Hudson's 

 Bay. 



They live in a state of perfect freedom; no one apparently claiming the superi- 

 ority over, or acknowledging the least subordination to another, except what is 

 due from children to their parents, or such of their kin as take care of them when 

 they are young and incapable of providing for themselves. There is, however, 

 reason to think that, when grown up to manhood, they pay some attention to 

 the advice of the old men, on account of their experience. 



