Two canoes in order to lessen
the consumption of provisions during our voyage or journey along the
coast and, as Mr. Wentzel had expressed a desire of proceeding no farther
than the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, which was seconded by the
Indians who wished him to return with them, I readily relieved his
anxiety on this subject, the more so as I thought he might render greater
service to us by making deposits of provision at certain points than by
accompanying us through a country which was unknown to him, and amongst a
people with whom he was totally unacquainted. My intentions were
explained to him in detail but they were of course to be modified by
circumstances.
On the 14th a robin (Turdus migratorius) appeared; this bird is hailed by
the natives as the infallible precursor of warm weather. Ducks and geese
were also seen in numbers and the reindeer advanced to the northward. The
merganser (Mergus serrator) which preys upon small fish, was the first of
the duck tribe that appeared; next came the teal (Anas crecca) which
lives upon small insects that abound in the waters at this season; and
lastly the goose which feeds upon berries and herbage. Geese appear at
Cumberland House in latitude 54 degrees usually about the 12th of April;
at Fort Chipewyan in latitude 59 degrees on the 25th of April; at Slave
Lake in latitude 61 degrees on the 1st of May; and at Fort Enterprise in
latitude 64 degrees 28 minutes on the 12th or 14th of the same month.
On the 16th a minor chief amongst the Copper Indians attended by his son
arrived from Fort Providence to consult Dr. Richardson. He was affected
with snow-blindness which was soon relieved by the dropping of a little
laudanum into his eyes twice a day. Most of our own men had been lately
troubled with this complaint but it always yielded in twenty or thirty
hours to the same remedy.
On the 21st all our men returned from the Indians and Akaitcho was on his
way to the fort. In the afternoon two of his young men arrived to
announce his visit and to request that he might be received with a salute
and other marks of respect that he had been accustomed to on visiting
Fort Providence in the spring. I complied with his desire although I
regretted the expenditure of ammunition and sent the young man away with
the customary present of powder to enable him to return the salute, some
tobacco, vermilion to paint their faces, a comb and a looking-glass.
At eleven Akaitcho arrived; at the first notice of his appearance the
flag was hoisted at the fort and upon his nearer approach a number of
muskets were fired by a party of our people and returned by his young
men. Akaitcho, preceded by his standard-bearer, led the party and
advanced with a slow and stately step to the door where Mr. Wentzel and I
received him. The faces of the party were daubed with vermilion, the old
men having a spot on the right cheek, the young ones on the left.
Akaitcho himself was not painted. On entering he sat down on a chest, the
rest placed themselves in a circle on the floor. The pipe was passed once
or twice round and in the meantime a bowl of spirits and water and a
present considerable for our circumstances of cloth, blankets, capots,
shirts, etc., was placed on the floor for the chief's acceptance and
distribution amongst his people. Akaitcho then commenced his speech but I
regret to say that it was very discouraging and indicated that he had
parted with his good humour, at least since his March visit. He first
inquired whether, in the event of a passage by sea being discovered, we
should come to his lands in any ship that might be sent? And being
answered that it was probable but not quite certain that someone amongst
us might come, he expressed a hope that some suitable present should be
forwarded to himself and nation, "for" said he, "the great Chief who
commands where all the goods come from must see from the drawings and
descriptions of us and our country that we are a miserable people." I
assured him that he would be remembered, provided he faithfully fulfilled
his engagement with us.
He next complained of the non-payment of my notes by Mr. Weeks, from
which he apprehended that his own reward would be withheld. "If," said
he, "your notes to such a trifling amount are not accepted whilst you are
within such a short distance and can hold communication with the fort, it
is not probable that the large reward which has been promised to myself
and party will be paid when you are far distant on your way to your own
country. It really appears to me," he continued, "as if both the
Companies consider your party as a third company, hostile to their
interests, and that neither of them will pay the notes you give to the
Indians."
Afterwards in the course of a long conference he enumerated many other
grounds of dissatisfaction, the principal of which were our want of
attention to him as chief, the weakness of the rum formerly sent to him,
the smallness of the present now offered, and the want of the chief's
clothing, which he had been accustomed to receive at Fort Providence
every spring. He concluded by refusing to receive the goods now laid
before him.
In reply to these complaints it was stated that Mr. Weeks' conduct could
not be properly discussed at such a distance from his fort, that no
dependence ought to be placed on the vague reports that floated through
the Indian territory, that for our part, although we had heard many
stories to his (Akaitcho's) disadvantage, we discredited them all, that
the rum we had sent him, being what the great men in England were
accustomed to drink, was of a milder kind but in fact stronger than what
he had been accustomed to receive, and that the distance we had come and
the speed with which we travelled precluded us from bringing large
quantities of goods like the traders, that this had been fully explained
to him when he agreed to accompany us and that, in consideration of his
not receiving his usual spring outfit, his debts to the Company had been
cancelled and a present, much greater than any he had ever received
before, ordered to be got ready for his return.
