Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/355

Rh embers. And so the grand business of life goes unceasingly round, interrupted only by sleep! Another physical singularity of the northern tribes is, that though capable of resisting, with great fortitude, the most intense cold, they are wonderfully fond of fire. At an establishment, even when the weather is mild and pleasant out of doors, they are to be seen heaping on fuel in the house, and actually sitting cross-legged on the hearth, where a white man would speedily be roasted. I have, however, remarked, that the invariable effect of the North American climate is to render even Europeans more chilly than on their first arrival; from which we must infer that there is something debilitating in the climate or mode of life.

During ten days in March I was absent on an excursion, with two servants and two natives, for the carcases of a couple of deer placed "en cache" by the latter to the southward of Great Bear Lake. When we reached the place, we found that the deposit had been wantonly opened for the purpose of purloining part of the meat, which was already paid for. The consequence was, that the ravenous wolverenes had obtained free ingress, and left us little more than the bones. The camp having removed still farther southward, I dismissed the Indians, and with my