he highest stations of civilized life. Of
the moral degradation, however, of these people, in common with that of
the Canadian voyageurs, it is difficult to exhibit an accurate picture.
Suffice it to say, that it is a degradation which, in some respects,
exceeds even that of the native Indian himself.

In starting from the Company's Post, on my return to the Colony, it was
my hope that we should cross the point of Winipeg Lake to the mouth of
the Red River, in one day, as we had done in our way thither; but about
two o'clock in the afternoon, I perceived, as I was in the cariole,
that the driver had mistaken his way. I told him of his error, but he
persisted in the opinion that he was right, and drove on till the
evening closed upon us, without his finding the entrance to the Red
River. Night came on, and the dogs were exhausted with fatigue, which
obliged us to stop, though not before one of them contrived to slip his
head out of the collar. It happened that we were near some wood on the
edge of the lake, but in reaching it we sank in soft drift snow up to
the middle; and it was a considerable time before we could make our
preparations for the night, under the spreading branches of a pine
tree. We got but little rest from the small fire that we were able to
make, and from our bad encampment. The next morning, I found that the
driver was greatly embarrassed in his idea of our exact situation, and
he led me throughout the day from one point of wood to another, over
the ice, on the borders of the lake, in a directly contrary way to that
in which we ought to have gone. We had no food for our dogs, and on
coming to our encampment for the night, the animals were completely
worn out with fatigue; and what added to our trials, was the loss of
the flint, which the man dropped in the snow, the first time he
attempted to strike the steel to kindle a fire. After some difficulty
we succeeded, with a small gun-flint, which I found in my pocket, and
we bivouacked upon the snow, before an insufficient fire, from the
scanty wood we were able to collect. It was my wish to have divided the
little provision that remained with the dogs, as they had eaten nothing
for two days, and I considered them scarcely able to move with the
cariole the next morning, at the same time intending to kill one of
them the following evening, to meet our wants, should we not succeed in
recovering our track. The driver assured me, however, that they would
go an