A single fish, or a bird or squirrel,
now and then, serves to mitigate, if it does not satisfy, hunger. He has
but little, I am told, at the best estate; but, to make amends for
this, he is satisfied and even happy with little. This is certainly a
philosophic way of taking life, but it is, if I do not mistake it, stoic
philosophy, and has been learned, by painful lessons of want, from early
youth and childhood. Where want is the common lot, the power of
endurance which the race have must be a common attainment.
_9th_. This day I hired an interpreter for the government, to attend at
the office daily, a burly-faced, large man of some five-and-forty, by
the name of Yarns. He tells me that he was born at Fort Niagara, of
Irish parentage, to which an originally fair skin, blue eyes, and sandy
hair, bear testimony. He has spent life, it seems, knocking about
trading posts, in the Indian country, being married, has _metif_
children, and speaks the Chippewa tongue fluently--I do not know how
accurately.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251