266 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1772. at wrestling by near half a score different men the same evening. 

 January. ]yjy guide, Matonabbee, who at that time had no less than 

 seven wives, all women grown, besides a young girl of eleven 

 or twelve years old, would have put in for the prize also, had 

 not one of his wives made him ashamed of it, by telling him 

 that he had already more wives than he could prqperly attend. 

 This piece of satire, however true, proved fatal to the poor 

 girl who dared to make so open a declaration ; for the great 

 man, Matonabbee, who would willingly have been thought 

 equal to eight or ten men in every respect, took it as such an 

 affront, that he fell on her with both hands and feet, and bruised 

 her to such a degree, that after lingering some time she died. 

 When the Athapuscow Indians took the above Dog-ribbed 

 Indian woman prisoner, they, according to the universal cus- 

 tom of those savages, surprised her and her party in [266] the 

 night, and killed every soul in the tent, except herself and three 

 other young women. Among those whom they killed, were 

 her father, mother, and husband. Her young child, four or 

 five months old, she concealed in a bundle of clothing, and 

 took with her undiscovered in the night ; but when she 

 arrived at the place where the Athapuscow Indians had left 

 their wives (which was not far distant), they began to examine 

 her bundle, and finding the child, one of the women took it 

 from her, and killed it on the spot. 



This last piece of barbarity gave her such a disgust to 

 those Indians, that notwithstanding the man who took care of 

 her treated her in every respect as his wife, and was, she said, 

 remarkably kind to, and even fond of her ; so far was she 

 from being able to reconcile herself to any of the tribe, that 

 she rather chose to expose herself to misery and want, than 

 live in ease and affluence among persons who had so cruelly 

 murdered her infant.* The [267] poor woman's relation of 



* It is too common a case with most of the tribes of Southern Indians for 

 the women to desire their husbands or friends, when going to war, to bring 

 them a slave, that they may have the pleasure of killing it ; and some of these 



