>From the journal of Alexander HENRY, the younger, chief factor at the North West Company's post at Pembina, 1807, Dec. 29th: "An extraordinary affair occurred this morning. One of Mr. HENEY's Orkney lads, apparently indisposed, requested me to allow him to remain in my house for a short time. I was surprised at the fellow's demand; however, I told him to sit down and warm himself. I returned to my own room, where I had not been long before he sent one of my people, requesting the favour of speaking with me. Accordingly, I stepped down to him, and was much surprised to find him extended on the hearth, uttering dreadful lamentations; he stretched out his hands toward me, and in piteous tones begged me to be kind to a poor, helpless, abandoned wretch, who was not of the sex I had supposed, but an unfortunate Orkney girl, pregnant, and actually in childbirth. In saying this she opened her jacket, and displayed a beautiful pair of round, white breasts..." This excerpt is from a historical novel, details below. I have not seen the book, but am quoting from a review, which says that the novel is "based on a young Orkney woman who disguised herself as a man to work in Rupert's Land until she gave birth in 1807. With a feminist imagination, Thomas explores Gunn's radical adventure, the origins of her child and her painful separation from him - narrated by an Orcadian minister named Magnus INKSTER." I don't know what is the ratio of novel to history. The book is "Isobel Gunn" by Audrey Thomas, Penguin $29.99 [Cdn]. I know NOTHING MORE about the book, but thought the List might find this interesting. Ken Harrison North Vancouver, Canada mcharrison@compuserve.com HARRISON Yorkshire, Staffordshire, London (Highgate/Hampstead) POTCHIT Yorkshire FISHER London (Highgate/Hampstead) GRIFFIN Staffordshire STANLEY Staffordshire HENDERSON Dumfries SMELLIE Lanark, Orkney, Glasgow, Tasmania STIRRAT Glasgow BAIN Caithness MILLER Caithness, Swaziland SPENCE Orkney TRAILL Orkney SELKRIG Lanark WICKETSHAW Lanark MORRISON Perthshire, Islay, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Australia (Vic) BAIRD Renfrew HAMM Australia (Vic) THOMPSON Suffolk AGGUS Suffolk BRIGHTWELL Suffolk LAWSON Clackmannan McNABB Islay MURRAY Dumfries, Renfrew CALDWELL Tyrone, Renfrew GILLESPIE Dumfries HENDERSON Dumfries TAKET Dumfries GRAHAM Tyrone Genealogists never die ... they just lose their census.