In fact his
complaints were so groundless in comparison with the real injury we
sustained from the want of supplies that we were led to believe they were
preferred solely for the purpose of cloaking his own want of attention to
the terms of his engagement. He then shifted his ground and stated that
if we endeavoured to make a voyage along the sea-coast we should
inevitably perish, and he advised us strongly against persisting in the
attempt. This part of his harangue, being an exact transcript of the
sentiments formerly expressed by our interpreters, induced us to conclude
that they had prompted his present line of conduct by telling him that we
had goods or rum concealed. He afterwards received a portion of our
dinner in the manner he had been accustomed to do, and seemed inclined to
make up matters with us in the course of the evening, provided we added
to the present offered to him. Being told however that this was
impossible since we had already offered him all the rum we had and every
article of goods we could spare from our own equipment his obstinacy was
a little shaken, and he made some concessions but deferred giving a final
answer until the arrival of Humpy his elder brother. The young men
however did not choose to wait so long and at night came for the rum,
which we judged to be a great step towards a reconciliation.
St. Germain, the most intelligent of our two interpreters and the one who
had most influence with the Indians, being informed that their defection
was in a great measure attributed to the unguarded conversations he had
held with them, and which he had in part acknowledged, exerted himself
much on the following day in bringing about a change in their sentiments
and with some success. The young men, though they declined hunting,
conducted themselves with the same good humour and freedom as formerly.
Akaitcho being as he said ashamed to show himself kept close in his tent
all day.
On the 24th one of the women who accompanied us from Athabasca was sent
down to Fort Providence under charge of the old chief who came some days
before for medicine for his eyes. Angelique and Roulante, the other two
women, having families, preferred accompanying the Indians during their
summer hunt. On the 25th clothing and other necessary articles were
issued to the Canadians as their equipment for the ensuing voyage. Two or
three blankets, some cloth, ironwork, and trinkets were reserved for
distribution amongst the Esquimaux on the sea-coast. Laced dresses were
given to Augustus and Junius. It is impossible to describe the joy that
took possession of the latter on the receipt of this present. The happy
little fellow burst into ecstatic laughter as he surveyed the different
articles of his gay habiliments.*
(*Footnote. These men kept their dresses and delighted in them. An Indian
chief on the other hand only appears once before the donor in the dress
of ceremony which he receives and then transfers it to some favourite in
the tribe whom he desires to reward by this robe of honour.)
In the afternoon Humpy the leader's elder brother, Annoethaiyazzeh,
another of his brothers, and one of our guides arrived with the remainder
of Akaitcho's band; as also Long-legs, brother to the Hook, with three of
his band. There were now in the encampment thirty hunters, thirty-one
women, and sixty children, in all one hundred and twenty-one of the
Copper Indian or Red-Knife tribe. The rest of the nation were with the
Hook on the lower part of the Copper-Mine River.
Annoethaiyazzeh is remarkable amongst the Indians for the number of his
descendants; he has eighteen children living by two wives, of whom
sixteen were at the fort at this time.
In the evening we had another formidable conference. The former
complaints were reiterated and we parted about midnight without any
satisfactory answer to my questions as to when Akaitcho would proceed
towards the river and where he meant to make provision for our march. I
was somewhat pleased however to find that Humpy and Annoethaiyazzeh
censured their brother's conduct and accused him of avarice.
On the 26th the canoes were removed from the places where they had been
deposited as we judged that the heat of the atmosphere was now so great
as to admit of their being repaired without risk of cracking the bark. We
were rejoiced to find that two of them had suffered little injury from
the frost during the winter. The bark of the third was considerably rent
but it was still capable of repair.
The Indians sat in conference in their tents all the morning and in the
afternoon came into the house charged with fresh matter for discussion.
Soon after they had seated themselves and the room was filled with the
customary volume of smoke from their calumets the goods which had been
laid aside were again presented to the leader, but he at once refused to
distribute so small a quantity amongst his men and complained that there
were neither blankets, kettles, nor daggers amongst them, and in the
warmth of his anger he charged Mr. Wentzel with having advised the
distribution of all our goods to the Canadians and thus defrauding the
Indians of what was intended for them. Mr. Wentzel of course immediately
repelled this injurious accusation and reminded Akaitcho again that he
had been told on engaging to accompany us that he was not to expect any
goods until his return. This he denied with an effrontery that surprised
us all, when Humpy, who was present at our first interview at Fort
Providence, declared that he heard us say that no goods could be taken
for the supply of the Indians on the voyage; and the first guide added,
"I do not expect anything here, I have promised to accompany the white
people to the sea and I will therefore go, confidently relying upon
receiving the stipulated reward on my return." Akaitcho did not seem
prepared to hear such declarations from his brothers and, instantly
changing the subject, began to descant upon the treatment he had received
from the traders in his concerns with them with an asperity of language
that bore more the appearance of menace than complaint.
