Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/197

 that possible remedy, which is incident to the crisis of disease and the influence of habit. I now travelled with even more industry than before; and in the course of a few days the swelling was entirely reduced: this experiment, however, was not very pleasant; especially, after a few hours rest.

I am confident that people, who are exposed to want both of food and clothing, and also to pain, suffer much less than is imagined; and particularly so if their minds are engaged in any interesting undertaking. Man may, by habit, render almost any situation tolerable; and I agree with Seneca, that if our sufferings are not very great we can bear them with firmness; and if they are very great we shall soon be relieved from them by death. During at least one half of the time employed in performing my tour from New-Hampshire to Detroit, I was afflicted by the tooth-ache; but notwithstanding this circumstance, and also the toils and privations which I experienced, I do not remember a moment, during this period, in which I did not possess a balance of pleasure. The solitude which surrounded me, the novelty of my situation, and the interesting prospects which frequently presented themselves, often rendered me very happy.

In the course of a day or two after adopting my new mode of travelling, I was so fortunate as to meet with several Indians, and of them I purchased a pair of deerskin shoes. Indian women often accompany the men in their hunting expeditions; and {93} one may frequently see them in the woods employed in dressing Deer and Elk skins, and in making shoes of them. They use the sinews of animals and the fibres of the inner bark of trees instead of thread.

The weather was still rather severe, and the water beneath the surface of the snow and ice exceedingly cold;