SW_GH1804_042

where they remain till the 1st of the 4th month. During this interval they never leave their holes, and as they lay up no store for the winter sup-ply, it is certain they live without eating. The Indians say they live by sucking their paws. The means by which their lives are supported in their recluse situation, I shall not undertake to determine. I shall however observe that when taken from their dens they are always very fat. We have met with much of their meat, and can assert that we have seen the thickness of four inches of fat between the skin and the lean which covers the ribs. During the winter the Indians find the bears by searching for their dens in the trees, which they know by the marks made by the claws of the bear in climbing. We have now reached the waters of the lakes, having to day forded one of the forks of the St. Mary's river. On our way we passed for a few miles along a road one hundred feet wide, cut by General Wayne's army for transporting pro-visions from the great Miami to the St. Mary's river. The road is now grown up with briars and shrubs. Shortly after we had made our fire, and with the approach of night we heard at a short dis-tance from us, a whooping in the woods. We had reason to believe from the shrill and uncom-mon whoop, that it was the voice of an Indian, and having understood that it was a custom among them when about to approach a camp, to