On arrival at the mouth of the river we found that our nets had
not produced more than enough to supply a scanty meal to the men whom we
had left behind, but this was now of little importance as the acquisition
of meat we had made would enable us to proceed without more delay to
Slave Lake. The poisson inconnu mentioned by Mackenzie is found here. It
is a species of the Genus Salmo, and is said by the Indians to ascend
from the Arctic Sea but, being unable to pass the cascade of the Slave
River, is not found higher than this place. In the evening a violent
thunderstorm came on with heavy rain, thermometer 70 degrees.
At a very early hour on the following morning we embarked and continued
to paddle against a very strong wind and high waves under the shelter of
the bank of the rivers until two P.M. when, having arrived at a more
exposed part of the stream, the canoes took in so much water that we were
obliged to disembark on a small island. The river here is from one mile
and a quarter to one mile and three-quarters wide. Its banks are of
moderate height, sandy, and well wooded.
SLAVE LAKE AND FORT PROVIDENCE.
July 24.
We made more progress notwithstanding the continuance of the wind. The
course of the river is very winding, making in one place a circuit of
seven or eight miles round a peninsula which is joined to the west bank
by a narrow isthmus. Near the foot of this elbow a long island occupies
the centre of the river which it divides into two channels. The longitude
was obtained near to it 113 degrees 25 minutes 36 seconds and variation
27 degrees 25 minutes 14 seconds North, and the latitude 60 degrees 54
minutes 52 seconds North, about four miles farther down. We passed the
mouth of a broad channel leading to the north-east termed La Grande
Riviere de Jean, one of the two large branches by which the river pours
its waters into the Great Slave Lake; the flooded delta at the mouth of
the river is intersected by several smaller channels through one of
which, called the Channel of the Scaffold, we pursued our voyage on the
following morning and by eight A.M. reached the establishment of the
North-West Company on Moose-Deer Island. We found letters from Mr.
Wentzel, dated Fort Providence, a station on the north side of the lake,
which communicated to us that there was an Indian guide waiting for us at
that post; but that the chief and the hunters who were to accompany the
party had gone to a short distance to hunt, having become impatient at
our delay.
Soon after landing I visited the Hudson's Bay post on the same island and
engaged Pierre St. Germain, an interpreter for the Copper Indians.
