BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

lOG W. F. WENTZEL'S
Mr. McKenzie,
Dear Sir,
LETTER No.4.
McKenzie River, April 30th, 1811.
Depending entirely on your generosity for forgiveness in not
writing so fully as might have been expected from a person
buried as we are in this country, I beg leave to state briefly
that 1 am gratefully sensible of your kindness towards me and
hope for a continuance of your good will.
Starvation. This last winter has been the most melancholy and most
disastrous that could ever have befallen to anyone single man
to support without becoming torpidly stupid or totally senseless.
(1) Our distresses and sufferings have been so great, that, of
four Christians who were left at this establishment last Fall, I
am the only survivor, and in a state more easily conceived than
described, \vhen I inform you that, from the 13th of December
1810 to the 12th January, we knew, nor saw any kind of meat
but dressed moose deer skins and green parchment skins. At
this date we received only seven plues (2) of fresh meat and were
upon this little supply no less than eight mouths, of course it
was but two meals.
From that period to the 11th of March, we lived upon nothing
else but dried beaver skins; our number was then increased to
thirteen, and fifteen during the space of twenty-two days. _We
destroyed in order to keep ourselves alive upward of three
(1) See: Mr. Keith's letter, 5th January, 1812, from Great Bear Lake.
(2) The value of seven beaver skin ••