468 A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



as that which we had suffered ; as will be seen hereafter, by his own 

 narrative. 



November 8. — The Indians this morning requested us to remove to 

 an encampment on the banks of the river, as they were unwilling to 

 remain in the house in which the bodies of our deceased com- 

 panions were lying exposed to view. We agreed to remove, but the 

 day proved too stormy, and Dr. Kichardson and Hepburn having 

 dragged the bodies to a short distance, and covered them with snow, 

 the objections of the Indians to remain in the house were removed, 

 and they began to clear our room of the accumulation of dirt and 

 fragments of pounded bones. The improved state of our apartment, 

 and the large and cheerful fires they kept up, produced in us a 

 sensation of comfort to which we had long been strangers. In the 

 evening they brought in a pile of dried wood, which was lying on 

 the river-side, and on which we had often cast a wishful eye, being 

 unable to drag it up the bank. The Indians set about every thing 

 with an activity that amazed us. Indeed, contrasted with our 

 emaciated figures and extreme debility, their frames appeared to us 

 gigantic, and their strength supernatural. These kind creatures 

 next turned their attention to our personal appearance, and pre- 

 vailed upon us to shave and wash ourselves. The beards of the 

 Doctor and Hepburn had been untouched since they left the sea- 

 coast, and were become of a hideous length, and peculiarly offensive 

 to the Indians*. The Doctor and I suffered extremely from dis- 

 tention, and therefore ate sparingly. Hepburn was getting better, 

 and Adam recovered his strength with amazing rapidity. 



* The first alvine discharges after we received food, were, as Hearne remarks on a 

 similar occasion, attended with excessive pain. Previous to the arrival of the Indians the 

 urinary secretion was extremely abundant, and we were obliged to rise from bed in con- 

 sequence upwards of ten times in a night. This was an extreme annoyance in our 

 reduced state. It may, perhaps, be attributed to the quantity of the country tea that we 

 drank. 



