The task, he
relinquished his design and returned to Fort Enterprise to await relief
with the others. There was another note for the gentleman in charge of
Fort Providence desiring him to send meat, blankets, shoes, and tobacco.
Akaitcho wished me to join him on the ensuing day at a place which the
boy knew where they were going to fish, and I was the more anxious to do
so on account of my companions, but particularly that I might hear a full
relation of what had happened and of the Commander's true situation,
which I suspected to be much worse than he had described.
In the afternoon I joined the Indians and repeated to Akaitcho what St.
Germain had told him; he seemed much affected and said he would have sent
relief directly though I had not been there; indeed his conduct was
generous and humane. The next morning at an early hour three Indians with
loaded sledges of meat, skins, shoes, and a blanket, set out for Fort
Enterprise; one of them was to return directly with an answer from
Captain Franklin to whom I wrote but, in the event of his death, he was
to bring away all the papers he could find, and he promised to travel
with such haste as to be able to return to us on the fourth day. I was
now somewhat more at ease, having done all in my power to succour my
unfortunate companions, but was very anxious for the return of the
messenger. The Indians brought me meat in small quantities though
sufficient for our daily consumption and, as we had a little ammunition,
many were paid on the spot for what they gave.
On the 9th I had the satisfaction of seeing the Indian arrive from Fort
Enterprise. At first he said they were all dead but shortly after he gave
me a note which was from the Commander and then I learned all the fatal
particulars which had befallen them. I now proposed that the chief should
immediately send three sledges loaded with meat to Fort Enterprise,
should make a cache of provision at our present encampment, and also that
he should here await the arrival of the Commander. By noon two large
trains laden with meat were sent off for Fort Enterprise. The next day we
proceeded on our journey and arrived at Fort Providence on the 21st of
November.
CONCLUSION OF MR. BACK'S NARRATIVE.
...
CONCLUSION.
I have little now to add to the melancholy detail into which I felt it
proper to enter, but I cannot omit to state that the unremitting care and
attentions of our kind friends Mr. McVicar and Mr. McAuley, united with
our improved diet to promote to the restoration of our health, so that by
the end of February the swellings of our limbs which had returned upon us
entirely subsided, and we were able to walk to any part of the island.
Our appetites gradually moderated and we nearly regained our ordinary
state of body before the spring. Hepburn alone suffered from a severe
attack of rheumatism which confined him to his bed for some weeks. The
usual symptoms of spring having appeared, on the 25th of May we prepared
to embark for Fort Chipewyan. Fortunately on the following morning a
canoe arrived from that place with the whole of the stores which we
required for the payment of Akaitcho and the hunters. It was extremely
gratifying to us to be thus enabled, previous to our departure, to make
arrangements respecting the requital of our late Indian companions, and
the more so as we had recently discovered that Akaitcho and the whole of
his tribe, in consequence of the death of the leader's mother and the
wife of our old guide Keskarrah, had broken and destroyed every useful
article belonging to them and were in the greatest distress. It was an
additional pleasure to find our stock of ammunition more than sufficient
to pay them what was due, and that we could make a considerable present
of this most essential article to every individual that had been attached
to the Expedition.
We quitted Moose-Deer Island at five P.M. on the 26th, accompanied by Mr.
McVicar and Mr. McAuley and nearly all the voyagers at the establishment,
having resided there about five months, not a day of which had passed
without our having cause of gratitude for the kind and unvaried
attentions of Mr. McVicar and Mr. McAuley. These gentlemen accompanied us
as far as Fort Chipewyan where we arrived on the 2nd of June, here we met
Mr. Wentzel and the four men who had been sent with him from the mouth of
the Copper-Mine River, and I think it due to that gentleman to give his
own explanation of the unfortunate circumstances which prevented him from
fulfilling my instructions respecting the provisions to have been left
for us at Fort Enterprise. (See below.)
In a subsequent conversation he stated to me that the two Indians who
were actually with him at Fort Enterprise whilst he remained there
altering his canoe were prevented from hunting, one by an accidental
lameness, the other by the fear of meeting alone some of the Dog-Rib
Indians.
We were here furnished with a canoe by Mr. Smith and a bowman to act as
our guide and, having left Fort Chipewyan on the 5th, we arrived on the
4th of July at Norway House. Finding at this place that canoes were about
to go down to Montreal I gave all our Canadian voyagers their discharges
and sent them by those vessels, furnishing them with orders on the Agent
of the Hudson's Bay Company for the amount of their wages. We carried
Augustus down to York Factory where we arrived on the 14th of July, and
were received with every mark of attention and kindness by Mr. Simpson
the Governor, Mr. McTavish, and indeed by all the officers of the United
Companies.
