Note 263 — Chapter VII

"While I remained among the Indians, a couple, whose tent was adjacent to mine, lost a son of four years of age. The parents were so much affected at the death of their child, that they observed the usual testimonies of grief with such extreme rigor as through the weight of sorrow and loss of blood to occasion the loss of the father. The woman, who had hitherto been inconsolable, no sooner saw her husband expire than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned. I took an opportunity of asking her the reason of so extraordinary a transition, when she informed me that her child was so young it would have been unable to support itself in the world of spirits, and both she and her husband were apprehensive that its situation would be far from happy. No sooner, however, did she behold her husband depart for the same place, who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection, but was a good hunter, and would be able to provide plentifully for its support, than she ceased to mourn. She said she had now no reason to continue her tears, as the child on whom she doted was under the care and protection of a fond father, and she had now only one wish remaining ungratified, that of herself being with them."—Carver.