Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/99

. To complete the crews, we required only two additional men, whom Chief Factor Smith promptly provided from among several volunteers, the service being now popular with the northern voyageurs. We likewise engaged, as hunters for Great Bear Lake, a Chipewyan family, comprehending an old man, his two sons and two sons-in-law, accompanied by their wives and children.

It is with sincere pleasure I take this occasion of observing, that the harsh treatment of their women, for which the Chipewyans were, not long since, remarkable, even among the North American tribes, is now greatly alleviated, especially among those who have frequent communication with the establishments. At Great Bear Lake I had many opportunities of witnessing the conduct of this particular family, and always saw the females treated with kindness.

The present Chipewyan character, indeed, contrasts most favourably with that of the party which accompanied Hearne on his discovery of the Coppermine River, and who massacred the unhappy Esquimaux, surprised asleep in their tents at the Bloody Fall. A large proportion of the Company's servants, and, with very few exceptions, the officers, are united to native women. A kindly feeling of relationship thus exists