ior and his companion arrived; I found that,
instead of hunting, they had passed the whole time in a drunken fit, at
a short distance from the tent. In reply to our angry questions, the
Warrior held out an empty vessel, as if to demand the payment of a debt,
before he entered into any new negotiation. Not being inclined to starve
his family, we set out for another Indian tent, ten miles to the
southward, but we found only the frame, or tent poles, standing, when we
reached the spot. The men, by digging where the fire-place had been,
ascertained that the Indians had quitted it the day before; and as their
marches are short, when encumbered with the women and baggage, we sought
out their track, and followed it. At an abrupt angle of it, which was
obscured by trees, the men suddenly disappeared; and hastening forward
to discover the cause, I perceived them both still rolling at the foot
of a steep cliff, over which they had been dragged while endeavouring to
stop the descent of their sledges. The dogs were gazing silently, with
the wreck of their harness about them, and the sledges deeply buried in
the snow. The effects of this accident did not detain us long, and we
proceeded afterwards with greater caution.

The air was warm at noon, and the solitary but sweet notes of the jay,
the earliest spring bird, were in every wood. Late in the evening we
descried the ravens wheeling in circles round a small grove of poplars,
and, according to our expectations, found the Indians encamped there.

The men were absent hunting, and returned unsuccessful. They had been
several days without provisions, and thinking that I could depend upon
the continuance of their exertions, I gave them a little rum; the next
day they set out, and at midnight they swept by us with their dogs in
close pursuit.

In the morning we found that a moose had eaten the bark of a tree near
our fire. The hunters, however, again failed; and they attributed the
extreme difficulty of approaching the chase, to the calmness of the
weather, which enabled it to hear them at a great distance.

They concluded, as usual, when labouring under any affliction, that they
were tormented by the evil spirit; and assembled to beat a large
tambourine, and sing an address to the Manito, or deity, praying for
relief, according to the explanation which I received; but their prayer
consisted of only three words, constantly repeated. One of the hunters
yet remained abroad; and as the