Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/23

 and was subsequently put to death by their companions ; or whether the severe stretch to which his faculties had been subjected for several years brought on a temporary hallucination of mind, under the influence of which the melancholy tragedy took place, is known only to God, and to the surviving actors in that tragedy.

But it must be noticed, in support of the former supposition, that the depositions of those who pretend to describe the manner of his death are contradictory in the extreme. Moreover, the North American half-breed is, of all races in the world, that which most retains the odium in longum jaciens. Mr. Simpson had, five years before, incurred the animosity of the half-breeds of Red River by inflicting a chastisement on one of them who had grossly insulted him, and they then threatened his life.

Three of his companions were of this race. They saw Mr. Simpson returning to England after having achieved an object important in itself, but of which they even exaggerated the importance; their long-treasured animosity was likely to have shewn itself in threats and insults, if not in actual attack; and hence—it is the opinion of many intelligent men who have examined the circumstances, and are acquainted with the