SS Sn eS aon

X1V A GENERAL HISTORY

near half the furs which they had colleéted during the winter and the

{pring.

About the fame time, two of the eftablifhments on the Affiniboin
river, were attacked with lefs juftice, when feveral white men, anda
greater number of Indians were killed. In fhort, it appeared, that the
natives had formed a refolution to extirpate the traders; and, without
entering into any further reafonings on the fubjeét, it appears to be in-
controvertible, that the irregularity purfued in carrying on the trade has
brought it into its prefent forlorn fituation; and nothing but the greateft
calamity that could have befallen the natives, faved the traders from
deftru€tion: this was the fmall pox, which fpread its deftructive and
defolating power, as the fre confumes the dry grafs of the field. The
fatal infe€tion fpread around with a baneful rapidity which no flight .
could efcape, and with a fatal effe€t that nothing could refift. It de-
{troyed with its peftilential breath whole families and tribes; and the
horrid fcene prefented to thofe who had the melancholy and affliGing
opportunity of beholding it, a combination of the dead, the dying, and
fuch as to avoid the horrid fate of their friends around them, pre-
pared to difappoint the plague of its prey, by terminating their own
exiflence.

The habits and lives of thefe devoted people, which provided not to-
day for the wants of to-morrow, muft have heightened the pains of fuch
an affliction, by leaving them not only without remedy, but even without

alleviation. Nought was left them but to fubmit in agony and defpair.

To