Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/347

Rh or rather synonymous, for ignorance is the parent of superstition. As the young men who assisted us to Kendall River, and who carried my little wolves to the establishment, were on their way thither, they stopped at the hunting-camp, where they found the blind old man, already spoken of, at the point of death. The singular thought instantly occurred to the conjuring doctor that the skin of one of the poor little animals, taken off and applied, yet warm with the vital heat, to the breast of the expiring man, would reanimate him and restore his vigour. The experiment was tried, but I need not add in vain.

This aged man's was the only natural death that occurred within our knowledge during the summer, for the natives enjoyed abundance, and were happily free from all sickness; but, on the 20th of October, we received the distressing news of the murder of two young Dog-rib girls in the direction of the Coppermine, a few days after our return from that river. They had gone out to a little distance from the camp, in order to carry home venison, when they were assailed by some dastardly lurking wretch, who despatched the poor defenceless creatures with a knife. Many and various were the opinions respecting the perpetrators of this detestable crime; even the Esquimaux were accused; but