heaven, ever did. Yet the coincidence is singular, in other respects,
at such a distance of time and place.]

The Nascopies depend principally on the rein-deer for subsistence,--a
dependence which the erratic habits of these animals render extremely
precarious. Should they happen to miss the deer on their passage
through the country in autumn, they experience the most grievous
inconvenience, and often privations, the succeeding winter; as
they must then draw their living from the lakes, with unremitting
toil,--boring the ice, which is sometimes from eight to nine feet
thick, for the purpose of setting their hooks, and perhaps not taking
a single fish after a day's hard work. Nevertheless, they must still
continue their exertions till they succeed, shifting their hooks from
one part of the lake to another, until every spot is searched. They
understand the art of setting nets under the ice perfectly. Towards
the latter end of December, however, the fish gain the deep water,
and remain still to the latter end of March. Not a fish enters the net
during this period.

Partridges are very numerous in certain localities, but cannot be
trusted to as a means of living, as every part of the country affords
them food, and when much annoyed at one place they move off to
another.

It will be seen from the foregoing remarks, that the Nascopies, like
all other erratic tribes, are subject to the vicissitudes their mode
of life necessarily involves; at one time wallowing in abundance, at
another dying of want. Fortunately for themselves, they are at present
the most independent of the whites of any other Indians on this
continent, the Esquimaux excepted. The few fur-bearing animals their