288 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1772. and at night got clear of all woods, and lay on the barren 

 ^^' ground. The same day several of the Indians struck off 

 another way, not being able to [294] proceed to the Fort for 

 want of ammunition. As we had for some days past made 

 good journies, and at the same time were all heavy-laden, and 

 in great distress for provisions, some of my companions were 

 so weak as to be obliged to leave their bundles of furrs ;* and 

 many others were so reduced as to be no longer capable of 

 proceeding with us, having neither guns nor ammunition ; so 

 that their whole dependence for support was on the fish they 

 might be able to catch ; and though fish was pretty plentiful 

 in most of the rivers and lakes hereabout, yet they were not 

 always to be depended on for such an immediate supply of 

 food as those poor people required. 



Though I had at this time a sufficient stock of ammunition 

 to serve me and all my proper companions to the Fort, yet 

 self-preservation being the first law of Nature, it was thought 

 advisable to reserve the greatest part of it for our own use ; 

 especially as geese and other smaller birds were the only game 

 now to be met with, and which, in times of scarcity, bears 

 hard on the articles of powder and shot. Indeed most of the 

 Indians who actually accompanied me the whole way to the 

 Factory had some little ammunition remaining, which enabled 

 them to travel in times of real scarcity better than those whom 

 we left behind; and though [295] we assisted many of them, 

 yet several of their women died for want. It is a melancholy 

 truth, and a disgrace to the little humanity of which those 

 people are possessed, to think, that in times of want the 

 poor women always come off short ; and when real distress 

 approaches, many of them are permitted to starve, when the 

 males are amply provided for. 



* All the furrs thus left were properly secured in caves and crevices of the 

 rocks, so as to withstand any attempt that might be made on them by beasts of 

 prey, and were well shielded from the weather ; so that, in all probability, few 

 of them were lost. 



