CHIPEWYANS. 



187 



found. The boat filled and went down, with 

 the sail set and fastened to the mast, which was 

 the state in which it was found ; but whether 

 she struck upon the point of a sunken rock, 

 or swamped at the conflux of the waters off the 

 mouth of the river at the return of the tide, 

 not a man survived to tell the melancholy tale. 



The 10th. — I began to make preparations 

 for my return to York Factory, in the supply 

 of ammunition and a couple of days' provisions 

 for our journey. As every thing we took was 

 borne on the back of the men, we deemed this 

 sufficient, with the supply we were likely to 

 obtain in our walk through a country which 

 at this season of the year generally abounds 

 with wild fowl. It was painful to see several 

 Indian women in an infirm state of health and 

 lame, continually begging for a little oatmeal, 

 or picking tripe de roche for a subsistence, 

 being unable to follow the tribe they belonged 

 to; and, upon inquiry, I found that it was a 

 common custom among the Chipewyans, to 

 leave the aged, the infirm, and the sick, when 

 supposed incapable of recovery, to perish for 

 want ! and that one-half of the aged probably 

 die in this miserable condition ! The common 

 feelings of humanity suggest the question,— 

 Could not some establishment be formed, as 



