not. Near York Factory, in 1831, this propensity, contrary to all the remonstrances of the gentlemen of that place, led to the indiscriminate destruction of a countless herd of reindeer, while crossing the broad stream of Haye's River, in the height of summer. The natives took some of the meat for present use, but thousands of carcases were abandoned to the current, and infected the river banks, or floated out into Hudson's Bay, there to feed the sea-fowl and the Polar bear. As if it were a judgment for this barbarous slaughter, in which women and even children participated, the deer have never since visited that part of the country in similar numbers. It is to their own head-strong imprudence, which the example and influence of the traders cannot at all times control, that the occasional deaths by starvation among the natives, and still more rare abandonment of the aged and helpless, must be ascribed.
The quantity of provisions furnished by the Indians to the establishments throughout the northern districts is inconsiderable. In the winter season it is generally limited to the rib-pieces of the moose, red, and rein-deer, half-dried in the smoke of their tents, and the bones removed for lightness of carriage; to which a
