102 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



light; when the men, who had been des- 

 patched to look for him, met him return- 

 ing to the house, shivering with cold, he 

 having been unprovided with the materials 

 for lighting a fire; which an experienced 

 voyager never neglects to carry. 



We had mild weather until the 20th of 

 December. On the 13th there had been a 

 decided thaw, that caused the Saskatcha- 

 wan, which had again frozen, to re-open, 

 and the passage across it was interrupted 

 for two days. We now received more 

 agreeable accounts from the Indians, who 

 were recovering strength, and beginning to 

 hunt a little; but it was generally feared 

 that their spirits had been so much de- 

 pressed by the loss of their children and 

 relatives, that the season would be far ad- 

 vanced before they could be roused to any 

 exertion in searching for animals beyond 

 what might be necessary for their own sup- 

 port. It is much to be regretted that these 

 poor men, during their long intercourse with 

 Europeans, have not been taught how per- 

 nicious is the grief which produces total 



