There seems to be no foundation for the opinion generally entertained that the natives do not suffer from the stings of these insects.  The incrustation of filth with which their bodies are covered undoubtedly affords some protection, the skin not being so easily pierced; but no incrustation, however thick, can be a defence against the attacks of myriads; and in fact, the natives complain as loudly of the mosquitoes as the whites.

The Indians of this quarter are denominated Swampies, a tribe of the Cree nation, whose language they speak with but little variation, and in their manners and customs there is a great similarity.  But the Swampies are a degenerate race, reduced by famine and disease to a few families; and these have been still farther reduced by an epidemic which raged among them this summer.  They were attacked by it immediately on their return from the interior with the produce of their winter hunts, and remained in hopes of being benefited by medical advice and attendance.  Their hopes, however, were not realized; they were left entirely in charge of a young man without experience and without humanity; and the disease was unchecked.  Every day the death of some poor wretch was made known to us by the firing of guns, by which the survivors fancied the evil spirit was frightened away from the souls of their departed friends.

Not many years ago this part of the country was periodically visited by immense herds of rein-deer; at present there is scarcely one to be found.  Whether their disappearance is owing to their having changed the course of their migrations, or to their destruction by the natives, who waylaid them on their passage, and killed them by hundreds, is a question not easily determined.  It may be they have only forsaken this part of the country for a time, and may yet return in as great numbers as ever:  be that as it may, the present want to which the Indians are subject, arises from the extreme scarcity of those animals, whose flesh and skins afforded them food and clothing.  Their subsistence is now very precarious; derived principally from snaring rabbits and fishing; and rabbits also fail periodically.

Their fare during summer, however, soon obliterates the remembrance of the privations of winter:  fish is then found in every lake, and wild-fowl during the moulting season become an easy prey; while young ducks and geese are approached in canoes, and are destroyed with arrows in great numbers, ere they have acquired the use of their wings.  The white man similarly situated would undoubtedly think of the long winter he had passed in want, and would provide for the next while he could;—­so much foresight, however, does not belong to the Indian character.