192 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



our recent loss. The general occupation of 

 Mr. Isbester during the winter, is to follow 

 or find out the Indians, and collect their 

 furs, and his present journey will appear 

 adventurous to persons accustomed to the 

 certainty of travelling on a well-known road. 

 He was going in search of a band of In- 

 dians, of whom no information had been re- 

 ceived since last October, and his only 

 guide for finding them was their promise to 

 hunt in a certain quarter ; but he looked at 

 the jaunt with indifference, and calculated 

 on meeting them in six or seven days, for 

 which time only he had provision. Few 

 persons in this country suffer more from 

 want of food than those occasionally do who 

 are employed on this service. They are 

 served with a sufficiency of provision to 

 serve until they reached the part where the 

 Indians are expected to be ; but it fre- 

 quently occurs that, on their arrival at the 

 spot, they have gone elsewhere, and that a 

 recent fall of snow has hidden their track, 

 in which case the voyagers have to wander 

 about in search of them ; and it often hap- 



