to request some provision for his family, whom he represented to be in a state of starvation, accompanied them.  His party had been suffering greatly under the epidemic diseases of whooping-cough and measles; and the hunters were still in too debilitated a state to go out and provide them with meat.  A supply was given to him and the men were directed to bring his father, an old and faithful hunter, to the house, that he might have the comforts of nourishment and warmth.  He was brought accordingly but these attentions were unavailing as he died a few days afterwards.  Two days before his death I was surprised to observe him sitting for nearly three hours, in a piercingly sharp day, in the saw-pit, employed in gathering the dust and throwing it by handfuls over his body, which was naked to the waist.  As the man was in possession of his mental faculties I conceived he was performing some devotional act preparatory to his departure, which he felt to be approaching and, induced by the novelty of the incident, I went twice to observe him more closely; but when he perceived that he was noticed he immediately ceased his operation, hung down his head and, by his demeanour, intimated that he considered my appearance an intrusion.  The residents at the fort could give me no information on the subject and I could not learn that the Indians in general observe any particular ceremony on the approach of death.

November 15.

The sky had been overcast during the last week; the sun shone forth once only and then not sufficiently for the purpose of obtaining observations.  Faint coruscations of the Aurora Borealis appeared one evening but their presence did not in the least affect the electrometer or the compass.  The ice daily became thicker in the lake and the frost had now nearly overpowered the rapid current of the Saskatchewan River; indeed parties of men who were sent from both the forts to search for the Indians and procure whatever skins and provisions they might have collected crossed that stream this day on the ice.  The white partridges made their first appearance near the house, which birds are considered as the infallible harbingers of severe weather.

Monday, November 22.

The Saskatchewan and every other river were now completely covered with ice except a small stream not far from the fort through which the current ran very powerfully.  In the course of the week we removed into the house our men had prepared since our arrival.  We found it at first extremely cold notwithstanding that a good fire was kept in each apartment and we frequently experienced the extremes of heat and cold on opposite sides of the body.

November 24.