andsome birch-rind canoe, about twenty-two feet
in length, comparatively new, and certainly very little used, lay
thrown up among the bushes at the beach. We supposed that the violence
of a storm had rent it in the way it was found, and that the people
who were in it had perished; for the iron nails, of which there was no
want, all remained in it. Had there been any survivors, nails being
much prized by these people, they never having held intercourse with
Europeans, such an article would most likely have been taken out for
use again. All the birch trees in the vicinity of the lake had been
rinded, and many of them and of the spruce fir or var (_Pinus
balsamifera_, Canadian balsam tree) had the bark taken off, to use the
inner part of it for food, as noticed before.

Their wooden repositories for the dead are what are in the most
perfect state of preservation. These are of different constructions,
it would appear, according to the character or rank of the persons
entombed. In one of them, which resembled a hut, ten feet by eight or
nine, and four or five feet high in the centre, floored with squared
poles, the roof covered with rinds of trees, and in every way well
secured against the weather inside and the intrusion of wild beasts,
there were two grown persons laid out at full length on the floor, the
bodies wrapped round with deer-skins. One of these bodies appeared to
have been placed here not longer ago than five or six years. We
thought there were children laid in here also. On first opening this
building, by removing the posts which formed the ends, our curiosity
was raised to the highest pitch; but what added to our surprise, was
the discovery of a white deal coffin, containing a skeleton neatly
shrouded in white muslin. After a long pause of conjecture how such a
thing existed here, the idea of _Mary March_ occurred to one of the
party, and the whole mystery was at once explained[B].

In this cemetery were deposited a variety of articles, in some
instances the property, in others the representations of the property
and utensils, and of the achievements, of the deceased. There were two
small wooden images of a man and woman, no doubt meant to represent
husband and wife; a small doll, which we supposed to represent a child
(for _Mary March_ had to leave her only child here, which died two
days after she was taken): several small models of their canoes; two
small models of boats; an iron axe; a bow and quiver of a