hree days. The ice on
the Saskatchewan River and some parts of the lake broke up and the
travelling across either became dangerous. On this account the absence of
Wilks, one of our men, caused no small anxiety. He had incautiously
undertaken the conduct of a sledge and dogs in company with a person
going to Swampy River for fish. On their return, being unaccustomed to
driving, he became fatigued and seated himself on his sledge where his
companion left him, presuming that he would soon rise and hasten to
follow his track. He however returned safe in the morning and reported
that, foreseeing night would set in before he could get across the lake,
he prudently retired into the woods before dark where he remained until
daylight, when the men who had been despatched to look for him met him
returning to the house, shivering with cold, he having been unprovided
with the materials for lighting a fire, which an experienced voyager
never neglects to carry.

We had mild weather until the 20th of December. On the 13th there had
been a decided thaw that caused the Saskatchewan, which had again frozen,
to reopen and the passage across it was interrupted for two days. We now
received more agreeable accounts from the Indians who were recovering
strength and beginning to hunt a little; but it was generally feared that
their spirits had been so much depressed by the loss of their children
and relatives that the season would be far advanced before they could be
roused to any exertion in searching for animals beyond what might be
necessary for their own support. It is much to be regretted that these
poor men, during their long intercourse with Europeans, have not been
taught how pernicious is the grief which produces total inactivity, and
that they have not been furnished with any of the consolations which the
Christian religion never fails to afford. This however could hardly have
been expected from persons who have permitted their own offspring the
half-casts to remain in lamentable ignorance on a subject of such vital
importance. It is probable however that an improvement will soon take
place among the latter class, as Governor Williams proposes to make the
children attend a Sunday school and has already begun to have divine
service performed at his post.

The conversations which I had with the gentlemen in charge of these posts
convinced me of the necessity of proceeding during the winter into the
Athabasca department, the residents