We
Regretted To Find The Posts Of Both The Companies Extremely Bare Of
Provision But, As The Gentlemen In Charge
Had despatched men on the
preceding evening to a band of Indians in search of meat and they
promised to
Furnish us with whatever should be brought, it was deemed
advisable to wait for their return as the smallest supply was now of
importance to us. Advantage was taken of the delay to repair effectually
the canoe which had been broken in the Dog Rapid. On the next evening the
men arrived with the meat and enabled Mr. McLeod of the North-West
Company to furnish us with four hundred pounds of dried provisions. Mr.
McVicar of the Hudson's Bay Company also supplied one hundred and fifty
pounds. This quantity we considered would be sufficient until we could
join the hunters. We also obtained three fishing-nets, a gun, and a pair
of pistols, which were all the stores these posts could furnish, although
the gentlemen in charge were much disposed to assist us.
Moose-Deer Island is about a mile in diameter and rises towards the
centre about three hundred feet above the lake. Its soil is in general
sandy, in some parts swampy. The varieties of the northern berries grow
abundantly on it. The North-West Company's fort is in latitude 61 degrees
11 minutes 8 seconds North, longitude 113 degrees 51 minutes 37 seconds
West, being two hundred and sixty statute miles distant from Fort
Chipewyan by the river course. The variation of the compass is 25 degrees
40 minutes 47 seconds East. The houses of the two Companies are small and
have a bleak northern aspect. There are vast accumulations of driftwood
on the shores of the lake, brought down by the river, which afford plenty
of fuel. The inhabitants live principally on the fish, which the lake at
certain seasons furnishes in great abundance; of these the white-fish,
trout, and poisson inconnu are considered the best. They also procure
moose, buffalo, and reindeer meat occasionally from their hunters; but
these animals are generally found at the distance of several days' walk
from the forts. The Indians who trade here are Chipewyans. Beavers,
martens, foxes, and muskrats are caught in numbers in the vicinity of
this great body of water. The mosquitoes here were still a serious
annoyance to us but less numerous than before. They were in some degree
replaced by a small sandfly, whose bite is succeeded by a copious flow of
blood and considerable swelling but is attended with incomparably less
irritation than the puncture of the mosquito.
On the 27th of July we embarked at four A.M. and proceeded along the
south shore of the lake through a narrow channel, formed by some islands,
beyond the confluence of the principal branch of the Slave River; and as
far as Stony Island, where we breakfasted. This island is merely a rock
of gneiss that rises forty or fifty feet above the lake and is
precipitous on the north side.
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