Cumberland House was originally built by Hearne, a year or two after his
return from the Copper-Mine{15} River, and has ever since been
considered by the Hudson's Bay Company as a post of considerable
importance. Previous to that time, the natives carried their furs down
to the shores of Hudson's Bay, or disposed of them nearer home to the
French Canadian traders, who visited this part of the country as early
as the year 1697.

The Cumberland House district, extending about one hundred and fifty
miles from east to west along the banks of the Saskatchawan, and about
as far from north to south, comprehends, on a rough calculation, upwards
of twenty thousand square miles, and is frequented at present by about
one hundred and twenty Indian hunters. Of these a few have several
wives, but the majority only one; and, as some are unmarried, we shall
not err greatly in considering the number of married women as only
slightly exceeding that of the hunters. The women marry very young, have
a custom of suckling their children for several years, and are besides
exposed constantly to fatigue and often to famine; hence they are not
prolific, bearing upon an average not more than four children, of whom
two may attain the age of puberty. Upon these data, the amount of each
family may be stated at five, and the whole Indian population in the
district at five hundred.

This is but a small population for such an extent of country, yet their
mode of life occasionally subjects them to great privations. The winter
of our residence at Cumberland House proved extremely severe to the
Indians. The hooping-cough made its appearance amongst them in the
autumn, and was followed by the measles, which in the course of the
winter spread through the tribe. Many died, and most of the survivors
were so enfeebled as to be unable to pursue the necessary avocations of
hunting and fishing. Even those who experienced only a slight attack, or
escaped the sickness altogether, dispirited by the scenes of misery
which environed them, were rendered incapable of affording relief to
their distressed relations, and spent their time in conjuring and
drumming to avert the pestilence. Those who were able came to the fort
and received relief, but many who had retired with their families to
distant corners, to pursue their winter hunts, experienced all the
horrors of famine. One evening, early in the month of January, a poor
Indian entered the North-West Company's Hous