40 Thirty Years 
that he would soon rise and hasten to follow his track. 
He however returned safe ; in the morning, and report- 
ed that, foreseeing night would set in before he could 
get across the lake, he prudently retired into the 
woods before dark, where he remained until daylight ; 
when the men, who had been despatched to look for 
him, met him returning to the house, shivering with 
cold, he having been unprovided with the materials 
for lighting a fire ; which an experienced voyager never 
neglects to carry. 
We had mild weather until the 20th of December. 
On the 13th there had been a decided thaw, which 
caused the Saskatchawan, which had again frozen, to 
re-open, and. the passage across it was interrupted for 
two days. ‘We now received more agreeable accounts 
from the Indians, who are recovering strength, and 
beginning to hunt a little ; but it is generally feared 
that their spirits have been so much depressed by the 
loss of their children and relatives, that the season will 
be far advanced before they can be roused to any ex- 
ertion in searching for animals beyond what may be 
necessary for their own support. It is much to be re- 
gretted that these poor men, during their long inter- 
course with Europeans, have not been taught how 
pernicious is the grief which produces total inactivity, 
and that they have not beer furnished with any of the 
consolations which the Christian religion never fails to 
