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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 Saskatchewan, 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 whooping-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.
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