56 EXCESS IN DRINKING. 



of wood on which is either carved or painted 

 the symbols of the tribe the deceased belonged 

 to, and which are taken from the different 

 animals of the country. 



April 6— One of the principal settlers 

 informed me this morning, that an Indian had 

 stabbed one of his wives in a fit of intoxication 

 at an encampment near his house. I imme- 

 diately went to the Lodge to inquire into the 

 circumstance, and found that the poor woman 

 had been stabbed in wanton cruelty, through 

 the shoulder and the arm, but not mortally. 

 The Indians were still drunk, and some of 

 them having knives in their hands, I thought 

 it most prudent to withdraw from their tents, 

 without offering any assistance. The Indians 

 appear to me to be generally of an inoffensive 

 and hospitable disposition; but spirituous 

 liquors, like war, infuriate them with the 

 most revengeful and barbarous feelings. They 

 are so conscious of this effect of drinking, that 

 they generally deliver up their guns, bows and 

 arrows, and knives, to the officers, before they 

 begin to drink at the Company's Post; and 

 when at their tents, it is the first care of the 

 women to conceal them, during the season of 

 riot and intoxication. 



A considerable quantity of snow fell on the 



