he intention of
returning to her own country, but the distance being so great, and the
way being unknown to her, she forgot the track, so she built the hut
in which they found her, to protect her from the weather during the
winter, and here she had resided from the first setting in of the cold
weather. For seven months she had seen no human face. During all this
time she had supported herself in comparative comfort by snaring
grouse, rabbits, and squirrels; she had also killed two or three
beaver, and some porcupines. That she did not seem to have been in
want was evident, as she had a small stock of provisions by her when
she was discovered, and was in good health and condition; and Hearne
thought her "one of the finest women", of the real Indian type, that
he had seen in any part of North America.

"The methods practised by this poor creature to procure a livelihood
were truly admirable, and are great proofs that necessity is the real
mother of invention. When the few deer sinews that she had an
opportunity of taking with her were all expended in making snares and
sewing her clothing, she had nothing to supply their place but the
sinews of the rabbits' [he means hares'] legs and feet; these she
twisted together for that purpose with great dexterity and success.
The rabbits, &c, which she caught in those snares, not only furnished
her with a comfortable subsistence, but of the skins she made a suit
of neat and warm clothing for the winter. It is scarcely possible to
conceive that a person in her forlorn situation could be so composed
as to be capable of contriving or executing anything that was not
absolutely necessary to her existence; but there were sufficient
proofs that she had extended her care much farther, as all her
clothing, beside being calculated for real service, showed great taste
and exhibited no little variety of ornament. The materials, though
rude, were very curiously wrought and so judiciously placed as to make
the whole of her garb have a very pleasing, though rather romantic,
appearance.

"Her leisure hours from hunting had been employed in twisting the
inner rind or bark of willows into small lines, like net twine, of
which she had some hundred fathoms by her; with this she intended to
make a fishing net as soon as the spring advanced. It is of the inner
bark of willows, twisted in this manner, that the Dog-rib Indians make
their fishing nets, and they are much preferable to those made by the
No