n recording their war exploits, and communicating information
without the knowledge of letters and the art of printing.

We proceeded, after the wife had put some kettles upon the back of a
miserable looking dog, and had taken her accustomed burden, the tent
with other articles, on her own. The little ones were also severally
laden with a knapsack, and the whole had the appearance of a camp of
gypsies moving through the country.

The 17th. Before we struck our tents this morning, the signs which the
old man left upon the piece of wood yesterday, brought his two sons,
whom he had left hunting, and who had walked nearly the whole of the
night to overtake us. We had now no provisions but what we shot on our
journey, and the addition to our party made every one active in the
pursuit of game as it appeared. The next day we passed Cape Churchill,
and came to a tent of Chipewyan or Northern Indians. The question was
not asked if we were hungry, but immediately on our arrival the women
were busily employed in cooking venison for us; and the men proposed to
go with us to Churchill. As soon as we had finished eating, the tent
was struck, and the whole party proceeded, with the old man a-head,
with a long staff in his hand, followed by his five sons and two
daughters, and the rest of us in the train, which suggested to my mind
the patriarchal mode of travelling. The 19th, our progress was slow,
from being again annoyed with mosquitoes, in a bad track, through a wet
swampy ground. As soon as we had passed the beacon, which was erected
as a landmark to the shipping that formerly sailed to Churchill, as the
Company's principal depot, before its destruction by Perouse, two of
the Indians left us, to take a circuit through some islands by the sea,
to hunt for provision. We pitched our tents early, in expectation that
they would join us, but we saw nothing of them that evening. It is
customary, as we were then travelling, to take only one blanket, in
which you roll yourself for the night, without undressing. On laying
down, upon a few willow twigs, I soon afterwards felt so extremely
cold, from the wind blowing strong off a large field of ice drifted on
the shore, that I was obliged to call the servant to take down the
tent, and wrap it round me, before I could get any sleep. The sudden
variation of the weather, however, gave me no cold, nor did it
interrupt a good appetite, which the traveller in these regions usually
enjoys.

Had w