172 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



its feet, and placed the hatchets within our reach. The night was 

 stormy, and apprehension kept me long awake; but finding my 

 companion in so deep a sleep, that nothing could have roused him, 

 except the actual gripe of a wolf, I thought it advisable to imitate 

 his example, as much as was in my power, rather than bear the 

 burthen of anxiety alone. At day-light we shook off the snow, 

 which was heaped upon us, and endeavoured to kindle a fire ; but 

 the violence of the storm defeated all our attempts. At length two 

 Indians arrived, with whose assistance we succeeded, and they took 

 possession of it, to show their sense of our obligations to them. 

 We were ashamed of the scene before us ; the entrails of the moose 

 and its young, which had been buried at our feet, bore testimony 

 to the nocturnal revel of the wolves, during the time we had slept. 

 This was a fresh subject of derision for the Indians, whose appetites, 

 however, would not suffer them to waste long upon us a time so 

 precious. They soon finished what the wolves had begun, and with 

 as little aid from the art of cookery, eating both the young moose, 

 and the contents of the paunch, raw. 



I had scarcely secured myself by a lodge of branches from the 

 snow, and placed the moose in a position for my sketch, when we 

 were stormed by a troop of women and children, with their sledges 

 and dogs. We obtained another short respite from the Indians, but 

 our blows could not drive, nor their caresses entice, the hungry 

 dogs from the tempting feast before them. 



I had not finished my sketch, before the impatient crowd tore 

 the moose to pieces, and loaded their sledges with meat. On our 

 way a to the tent, a black wolf rushed out upon an Indian, who 

 happened to pass near its den. It was shot ; and the Indians car- 

 ried away three black whelps, to improve the breed of their dogs. 

 I purchased one of them, intending to send it to England, but it 

 perished for want of proper nourishment. 



The latitude of these tents, was 53° 12' 46" N., and longitude 



