ACEOSS THE SUB-AECTICS OF CANADA 



rabbits that might be caught in the woods. We were also- 

 out of supplies, but now the scows were hourly expected. 

 Expectations, however, afforded poor satisfaction to hungry 

 stomachs, and no less than five days passed before these 

 materialized. In the meantime, though we were not entirely 

 without food ourselves, some of the natives suffered much 

 distress. At one Cree camp visited I witnessed a most piti- 

 able sight. There was the whole family of seven or eight 



AN INDIAN CAMP. 



persons seated on the ground about their smoking camp-fire,, 

 but without one morsel of food, while children, three or four 

 years old, were trying to satisfy their cravings at the mother's 

 breast. "We had no food to give them, but gladdened their 

 hearts by handing around some pieces of tobacco, of which 

 all Indians, if not all savages, are passionately fond. 



In addition to the unpleasantness created by lack of pro- 

 visions, our stay at Fort McMurray was attended with ex- 

 tremely wet weather, which made it necessary to remain ia 



40 



