On Their Return, Being Unaccustomed To
Driving, He Became Fatigued And Seated Himself On His Sledge Where His
Companion Left Him, Presuming That He Would Soon Rise And Hasten To
Follow His Track.
He however returned safe in the morning and reported
that, foreseeing night would set in before he could get
Across the lake,
he prudently retired into the woods before dark where he remained until
daylight, when the men who had been despatched to look for him met him
returning to the house, shivering with cold, he having been unprovided
with the materials for lighting a fire, which an experienced voyager
never neglects to carry.
We had mild weather until the 20th of December. On the 13th there had
been a decided thaw that caused the Saskatchewan, which had again frozen,
to reopen and the passage across it was interrupted for two days. We now
received more agreeable accounts from the Indians who were recovering
strength and beginning to hunt a little; but it was generally feared that
their spirits had been so much depressed by the loss of their children
and relatives that the season would be far advanced before they could be
roused to any exertion in searching for animals beyond what might be
necessary for their own support. It is much to be regretted that these
poor men, during their long intercourse with Europeans, have not been
taught how pernicious is the grief which produces total inactivity, and
that they have not been furnished with any of the consolations which the
Christian religion never fails to afford.
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