rne
remarks the fortitude with which they bore this, nor did one of them
ever speak of revenge. But the expedition's scarcity of food obliged
them to push on from morning till night, day after day; yet the road
being very bad, and their sledges heavy, they were seldom able to do
more than eighteen miles a day. Hearne himself writes that he never
spent so dull a Christmas. For the last three days he had not tasted a
morsel of anything, except a pipe of tobacco and a drink of snow
water, yet he had to walk daily from morning till night heavily laden.
However, at the end of December they reached Island Lake, where they
entered a camp of Matonabi's people, and here they found a little
food in the way of fish and dried venison. From Island Lake they made
their way in a zigzag fashion, stopping often to drive reindeer into
pounds to secure large supplies of venison and of skins, till, in the
month of April, 1771, they reached a small lake with an almost
unpronounceable name, which meant "Little Fish Hill", from a high hill
which stood at the west end of this sheet of water.

On an island in this lake they pitched their tents, as deer were very
numerous. During this time also they were busily employed in preparing
staves of birch wood, about seven or eight feet long, to serve as tent
poles in the summer, and in the winter to be converted into snowshoe
frames. Here also Chief Matonabi purchased another wife. He had now
with him no less than seven, most of whom would for size have made
good grenadiers. He prided himself much on the height and strength of
his wives, and would frequently say few women could carry off heavier
loads. In fact in this country wives were very seldom selected for
their beauty, but rather for their strength.

"Ask a Northern Indian," wrote Hearne, "'What is beauty?' He will
answer: 'A broad, flat face, small eyes, high cheekbones, three or
four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a broad
chin, a clumsy hook nose, and a tawny hide.'"

But the model woman amongst these Indians was one who was capable of
dressing all kinds of skins and making them into clothing, and who was
strong enough to carry a load of about a hundred pounds in weight in
summer, and to haul perhaps double that weight on a sledge in winter.
"As to their temper, it is of little consequence; for the men have a
wonderful facility in making the most stubborn comply with as much
alacrity as could possibly be expected." Whe