North-West Continent of America. 



99 



determined to risk my surgical reputation, and accordingly 

 took him under my care. I immediately formed a pouU 

 tice of bark, stripped from the roots of the spruce-fir, 

 which I applied to the wound, having first washed it with 

 the juice of the hark : this proved a very painful dressing : 

 in a few days, however, the wound was clean, and the proud 

 flesh around it destroyed. I wished very much in this state 

 of the business to have separated the thumb from the hand, 

 which I well knew must be effected before the cure could 

 be performed ; but he would not consent to that operation, 

 till, by the application of the vitriol, the flesh by which 

 the thumb was suspended, was shrivelled almost to a 

 thread. When I had succeeded in this object, I perceived 

 that the wound was closing rather faster than I desired. 

 The salve I applied on the occasion was made of the Ca- 

 nadian balsam, wax, and tallow dropped from a burning 

 candle into water. In short, I was so successful, that 

 about Christmas my patient engaged in an hunting party, 

 and brought me the tongue of an elk : nor was he finally 

 ungrateful. When he left me I received the warmest ac- 

 knowledgments, both from himself, and his relations with 

 whom he departed, for my care of him. I certainly did 

 not spare my time or attention on the occasion, as I regu- 

 larly dressed his wound three times a day, during the 

 course of a month. 



On the 5th in the morning the weather was calm, clear, 

 and very cold ; the wind blew from the South- West, and 

 in the course of the afternoon it began to thaw. I had al- 

 ready observed at Athabasca, that this wind never failed 

 to bring us clear, mild weather, whereas, when it blew from 

 the "opposite quarter, it produced snow. Here it is much 

 more perceptible, for if it blows hard South- West for four 

 hours, a thaw is the consequence, and if the wind is at 

 North-East it brings sleet and snow. To this cause it may 

 be attributed, that there is now so little snow in this part of 

 the world. These warm winds come off the Pacific Ocean, 

 which cannot, in a direct line, be very far from us ; the 

 distance being so short, that though they pass over moun- 

 tains covered with snow, there is nottime for them to cool. 



There being several of the natives at the house at this 

 time, one of them, who had received an account of the 

 death of his father, proceeded in silence to his lodge, and 

 began to fire off his gun. As it was night, and such a noise 

 being so uncommon at such an hour, especially when it 



