It is of the inner
bark of willows, twisted in this manner, that the Dog-rib Indians make
their fishing nets, and they are much preferable to those made by the
Northern Indians.
"Five or six inches of an iron hoop, made into a knife, and the shank
of an arrowhead of iron, which served her as an awl, were all the
metals this poor woman had with her when she eloped, and with these
implements she had made herself complete snowshoes, and several other
useful articles.
"Her method of making a fire was equally singular and curious, having
no other materials for that purpose than two hard sulphurous stones.
These, by long friction and hard knocking, produced a few sparks,
which at length communicated to some touchwood (a species of fungus
which grew on decayed poplars); but as this method was attended with
great trouble, and not always with success, she did not suffer her
fire to go out all the winter...."
Hearne regained Prince of Wales's Fort on Hudson Bay in June, 1772.
Subsequently he was dispatched, in the year 1774, to found the first
great inland trading station and fort of the Hudson's Bay Company
which was established at any considerable distance westward of Hudson
Bay--the first step, in fact, which led to this chartered company
becoming in time the ruler and colonizing agent of Alberta and British
Columbia.
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