Written at Alfoxden, where I read Hearne's Journey with deep 
      interest. It was composed for the volume of Lyrical Ballads.
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        When a Northern Indian, from sickness, is unable to continue his 
      journey with his companions, he is left behind, covered over with 
      deer-skins, and is supplied with water, food, and fuel, if the 
      situation of the place will afford it. He is informed of the track 
      which his companions intend to pursue, and if he be unable to 
      follow, or overtake them, he perishes alone in the desert; unless 
      he should have the good fortune to fall in with some other tribes 
      of Indians. The females are equally, or still more, exposed to the 
      same fate. See that very interesting work HEARNE'S "Journey from 
      Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean." In the high northern 
      latitudes, as the same writer informs us, when the northern lights 
      vary their position in the air, they make a rustling and a 
      crackling noise, as alluded to in the following poem.