338 Thirty Years 
Obstruction Rapid, it had been proposed to give him 
a reward upon our arrival at a post. His principles, 
however, unsupported by a belief in the divine truths 
of Christianity, were unable to withstand the pressure 
of severe distress. His countrymen, the Iroquois, are 
generally Christians, but he was totally uninstructed 
and ignorant of the duties inculcated by Christianity ; 
and from his long residence in the Indian country, 
seems to have imbibed, or retained, the rules of con- 
duct which the southern Indians prescribe to them- 
selves. 
On the two following days we had mild but thick 
snowy weather, and as the view was too limited to 
enable us to preserve a straight course, we remained 
encamped amongst a few willows and dwarf pines, 
about five miles from the tent. We found a species 
of cornicularia, a kind of lichen, that was good to eat 
when moistened and toasted over the fire ; and we 
had a good many pieces of singed buffalo hide remain- 
ing. & = ’ 
On the 26th, the weather being clear and extremely 
cold, we resumed our march, which was very painful 
from the depth of the snow, particularly on the mar- 
gins of the small lakes that lay inour route. We fre- 
quently sunk under the load of our blankets, and 
were obliged to assist each other in getting up. After 
walking about three miles and a half, however, we 
