The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1876-02-25

resumed his journey, but in the wrong di-
rection and, after another night spent on
the plain, running about in a circle to pre-
serve warmth, his third days travel brought
him within thirty miles Of the fort, and very
far from the track. Here hope seems to
have deserted him; and, after having hung
a portion of his clothes On a tree 10 attract
the attention of any passer-by, he lag down
and was frozen to death. When his dead
body was recovered, he lay with one hand on
his heart, the other containing a compass.
1t was easily coEpreheuded by the expe-
rienccd plain travellers who found the body
that Mr.. Mackenzie, on realizing himself
as lost, n1Est have grown SO excited as to
lose his presence of mind, or he would have
known his necessary general position WITH
regard TO the river, and have acted other
wise than he d6. With his practical
knowledge Of the use of the compass. and
of the country over which he travelled, he
could lave brought himself to any point
he chose but the lost feeling had bereft
him OF reason within three days. Being of
more than average intellectually, and of
\
responding rapidity.
The influence of This feeling upon those
of n lower order of culture, ana of a differ
cnt temperament, may be seen in the case
of a half breed, named Lavie, personally
known to the writer. This person was by
occupation a uoyageur during the summer
season, and a trapper and hunter in the
binary, being unable to read or write, and
his habit apathetic, living much alone.
Some of his ponies having strayed off upon
the prairie during the winter months, Lavie
went in quest of them. The prairie was n
native heath to him, which he had trodden
from infancy with the same assurance that
ordinary mortais walk the pavement. lie
had no fear of being lost; every depression
in the sncw-claI earth, every stunted
shrub, was a landmark to guide him on his
way. Yet. after an absence of half a day.
a storm arose which obscured the landscape,
and Lavic, despite his prairie craft, found
himself lost. He accepted the situation,
and, knowing that any efforts to extricate
himself until after subsidence Of the storm
would prove fluitess, set about making
preparations for his safety from freezing.
He attached himself to a clump OF cotton
wood-trees as n landmark, and walked in
a circle about it. Night came on, and he
still walked. Day followed, and night
again found him still walking, with the
storm unabated. At length his moccasins
wore OF bis feet. lie took the long nit
tens from his hands. and tied them to his
feet in lieu of shoes, Then he walked or
through the third, fourth and fifth days
and nights, supporting life by chewing his
leather hunting shirt. The sixth morning
he found his feet frozen, and striking the
beaten path like bits of wood his hands
in like condition, and bis face bnt little
better. During that day, however, some
wandering Indians discovered him in an
apparently dying condition. They took
him TO n ncighboring military post and,
after the surgeon had beren him of portions
of both feet and hands, and taken a piece
from his face, Lave got well.
When found by the Indians, it is worthy
of remark that with tile exception of ex-
haustion, the man was mentally more acute
than when he was first lost. During all
those fearful days and nights the combina-
tion of terror, despair, and, above all,
longing for fellowship, which really con-
stitute the lost feeling, had striven against
that dull intellectually and apathetic tenn
pcrment i'll vain. There were an indiffer-
ence to, aud an ignorance of, the finer parts
of the torture, which effectually shielded
him from danger. He simply did not know
enough to experience any of the feelings
which would have wrecked a higher order
of intellect. True, he knew that if the
storm subsidized he could escape but this
assurance could not of fitselfhave supported
him after the fourth day, probably. when,
bad he been capable of entertaining it, the
lost feeling would have overcome him.
Among the numerous instances which
have come to the personal notice of the
| writer rs illustrative of the fact that Wis
itatiou of the lost feeling almost invariably
produces insanity, and that, generally
/ speaking, the higher the order of intelli-
/ gence always up to a certain point of the
| lost person, the more painful, if not fatal
/ will the insanity prove, l know OF none
! better than the following
! There was employed as a farm hand, in
! a certain place where the writer resided, n
/ deserter from the United States army. He
was a young man of rather lore thai or
! dinary ability, and tolerably conversant
with prairie life. 1t was the custom of the
| farmers of that region to cut hay at some
! distance on the prairie in the rear Of their
| farms, stack it on the spot, and haul it to
! the barns in the winter required. In
| accordance with this established usage, the
/ young man in question was dispatched
/ with ox-sleds one winters day af.er hay.
! He took with him, for the sake of company,
/ a boy belonging to a neighboring farm-a
! little lad of about twelve years of age. and