rds: on looking towards the
aperture in the roof what was our astonishment at beholding the
faces of _two Indians_, calmly surveying us in the quiet
occupation of _their_ abode. In an instant we shouted--"The
Indians!" and in a moment every one was on the alert, and each
taking his arms rushed to the door--not a creature was to be
seen; in vain we looked around;--no trace, save the marks of
footsteps on the snow, was to be discovered, but these seemed
almost innumerable. We fired about a dozen shots into the
woods, and then retired to our dwelling. ---- and I then
resolved to take alternate watch, and every half hour, at least
to walk round the house. During the night, however, we were not
again disturbed, save by the howling of wolves and barking of
foxes.
E.S.

After the capture of Mary March, the next attempt, in order of time,
to discover the Red Indians was made by JAMES CORMACK, Esq., in 1822,
and for that purpose he crossed the whole interior of the
Island--starting from Random Bar on the Eastward on the 6th September,
and finding his way out at St. George's Bay, on the 2nd November
following. During this excursion he suffered great privation,--which
few men could have endured, and which few men indeed, would have
undertaken with only one companion. Mr. Cormack did not succeed in the
main object he had in view, yet was his trouble anything but
profitless. We now possess through his means a general knowledge of
the interior of our Island--together with a specific account of its
soil--its geological and mineralogical aspect--its varied natural
productions--of trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, &c., all named and
methodically described--the kind of animals met with, and a variety of
other useful information.

In the following year, 1823, and early in the spring of that year,
three females, a mother and two daughters, in Badger Bay, near
Exploits Bay, being in a starving condition, allowed themselves in
despair, to be quietly captured by some English furriers who
accidentally came upon them. Fortunately their miserable appearance,
when within gunshot, led to the unusual circumstance of their not
being fired at. The husband of the elder woman in attempting to avoid
the observation of the white men, tried to cross the creek upon the
ice, fell through and was drowned. About a month before this