[247] CHAP. VIII. 



Transactions and Remarks from our Arrival on the South Side 

 of the Athapuscow Lake, till our Arrival at Prince of 

 Wales's Fort on Churchill River. 



Cross the /Athapuscow Lake — Description of it and its productions^ as far as 

 could be discovered in TVinter^ when the snow was on the ground — Fish 

 found in the lake — Description of the buffalo ; — of the moose or elky and 

 the method of dressing their skins — Find a woman alone that had not 

 seen a human face for more than seven months — Her account how she 

 came to be in that situation ; and her curious method of procuring a live- 

 lihood — Many of my Indians wrestled for her — Arrive at the Great 

 Athapuscow River — Walk along the side of the River for several daySy 

 and then strike off to the Eastward — Difficulty in getting through the 

 woods in many places — Meet with some strange Northern Indians on 

 their return from the Fort — Meet more strangers^ whom my cojnpanions 

 plundered^ and from whom they took one of their young women — Curious 

 manner of life which those strangers lead^ and the reason they gave for 

 roving so far from their usual residence — Leave the fine level country 

 of the Athapuscowsy and arrive at the Stony Hills of the Northern 

 Indian Country — Meet some strange Northern Indians^ one of whom 

 carried a letter for me to Prince of Wales s Forty in March one thousand 

 seven hundred and seventy-one^ and now gave me an answer to it, dated 

 twentieth of June following — Indians begin preparing wood-work and 

 birch-rind for canoes — The equinoctial gale very severe — Indian method 

 of running the moose deer down by speed of foot — Arrival at Theeleyaxa 

 River — See some strangers — The brutality of my companions — A tre- 

 mendous gale and snow-drift — Meet with more strangers ; — Remarks 

 on it — Leave all the elderly people and children, [248] and proceed 

 directly to the Fort — Stop to build canoes, and then advance — Several 

 of the Indians die through hunger, and many others are obliged to decline 

 the journey for want of ammunition — A violent storm and inundation, 

 that forced us to the top of a high hill, where we suffered great distress 



