ne, having succeeded in bearing off her child
uninjured.

"The trader, on his arrival at the settlements, learned that his white
or civilized wife had died during his absence, and after a short
interval devoted to the usual formalities of mourning, he united his
destinies with another and highly amiable lady. The second season his
wife accompanied him on his annual voyage up the Missouri, to his
trading-house, the abode of his squaw.

"Previously to his arrival, however, he dispatched a messenger to his
dependents at the trading-house, directing them to prevent his squaw
from appearing in the presence of his wife. She was accordingly sent
off to the village of her nation, a distance of sixty or seventy
miles. But she could not long remain there, and soon returned with her
little boy on her back, and, accompanied by some of her friends, she
encamped near her husband's residence. She sent her son to the trader,
who treated him affectionately. On the succeeding day the trader sent
for his squaw, and, after making her some presents, he directed her to
accompany her friends, who were then on their way to their
hunting-grounds.

"She departed without a murmur, as it is not unusual with the Omawhaws
to send off one of their wives, on some occasions, while they remain
with the favourite one.

"About two months afterwards the trader recalled her. Overjoyed with
what she supposed to be her good fortune, she lost no time in
presenting herself before the husband whom she tenderly loved. But
great was her disappointment, when the husband demanded the surrender
of the child, and renounced for the future any association with
herself, directing her to return to her people, and to provide for her
future well-being in any way she might choose.

"Overpowered by her feelings, on this demand and repudiation, she ran
from the house, and finding a pirogue on the river shore, she paddled
over to the opposite side and made her escape into the forest with her
child. The night was cold, and attended with a fall of snow and hail.
Reflecting upon her disconsolate condition, she resolved to return
again in the morning, and with the feelings of a wife and a mother to
plead her cause before the arbiter of her fate, and endeavour to
mitigate the cruel sentence.

"Agreeably to this determination, she once more approached him upon
whom she believed she had claims paramount to those of any other
individual. 'Here is our child,' said she: 'I do not