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94 Juvenile Letters.

the northern ocean, an immenfe tra[(c?)]t of coun-
try, unknown to the civilized world. Mr. 
Hearne is the only white man, ever known to have penetrated to any great extent into that
wildernefs. He found the inhabitants in a moft debafed fituation ; miferably poor, igno-
rant, and barbarous. At the extremity of his journey, where the Copper-mine river empties into the north fea, the fun is above the hori-zon the whole twenty-four hours in the fum-
mer feafon. Mr. Hearne fuffered much from 
cold and hunger ; depending wholly for fub-
fiftence upon what game he might chance to
kill on his journey, or the fifh he might take in the rivers and lakes.

On his return home, he fays, "On the
"eleventh of January, as fome of my compan-
"ions were hunting, they faw the track of a
"ftrange Snow-fhoe, which they followed ; 
"and at a confiderable diftance came to a lit-
"tle hut, where they difcovered a young wo-
"man fitting alone. As they found that fhe
"underftood their language, they brought
"her with them to the tents. On examina-
                                     tion,

Juvenile Letters. 95

"tion, fhe proved to be one of the Weftern
"Dogribbed Indians, who had been taken
"prifoner by the Athapufcow Indians, in the
"Summer of 1770; and in the following Sum-
"mer, when the Indians that took her prifon-
"er were near this part, fhe had eloped from
"them, with an intent to return to her own
"country ; but the diftance being fo great,
"and having, after fhe was taken prifoner,
"been carried in a canoe the whole way, the
"turnings and windings of the rivers and 
"lakes were fo numerous, that fhe forgot the
"track ; fo fhe built the hut in which we 
"found her, to prote[(c?)]t her from the weather
"during the winter, and here fhe had refided
"from the firft fetting in of the fall.
"From her account of the moons paft since
"her elopement, it appeared that fhe had been
"near feven months without feeing a human
"face ; during all which time fhe had fup-
"ported herfelf very well by fnaring partridges,
"rabbits, and squirrels. She had also killed
"two or three beavers, and fome porcupines.
"That fhe did not seem to have been in want
                                        "is

Transcription Notes:
I followed the instructions to type words out in full instead of leaving them hyphenated across two lines. I wasn't sure if "examination" at the bottom of page 94 was handled correctly in the transcription but I went ahead and made it clear it was "examination" instead of "examination, tion" ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-05 14:26:27 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-05 19:32:00