uld shew her
kindness, and give a proof of his courage, in shooting her, that she
might go home to her relations. "I have seen many winters, she added,
and am now become a burden, in not being able to assist in getting
provisions; and dragging me through the country, as I am unable to
walk, is a toil, and brings much distress:--take your gun." She then
drew her blanket over her head, and her son immediately deprived her of
life: in the apparent consciousness of having done an act of filial
duty and of mercy.

The old man who was brought to the Settlement, by his daughter for
relief soon recovered, so as to become exceedingly troublesome by
coming almost daily to my room. I succeeded at length in starting them
for some hunters' tents on the plains, where they expressed a wish to
go, if supplied with provisions to carry them there, by killing a small
dog, and giving it to them for food. An ox would not have been more
acceptable to a distressed European family than this animal was to
these Indians. But on leaving me two more families came to my residence
in a state of starvation. Necessity had compelled them to eat their
dogs, and they themselves were harnessed to their sledges, dragging
them in a most wretched and emaciated condition. One of the men
appeared to be reduced to the last stage of existence, and upon giving
him a fish and a few cooked potatoes, such was his natural affection
for his children, that, instead of voraciously devouring the small
portion of food, he divided it into morsels, and gave it to them in the
most affectionate manner. His children from their appearance had
partaken of by far the largest share of that scanty supply which he had
lately been able to obtain in hunting. They pitched their tents at a
short distance below in the woods, and the poor man came to me next
morning with the request that I would bleed him for a violent pain
which he complained of in his side. This I refused to do, and gave him
a note to the medical gentleman of the Colony, promising to call on him
the next day. When I saw him I found that he had not delivered the
note, but had bled himself in the foot with the flint from his gun, and
spoke of having experienced considerable relief. The party were
dreadfully distressed for provisions, and had actually collected at
their tents the remains of a dog which had died, with part of the head
of a horse, that had been starved to death in the severity of the
winter, and which was t