The greatest temperature was 1 degree above zero and the lowest
51 degrees below.
On the 5th of March the people returned from Slave Lake bringing the
remainder of our stores consisting of a cask of flour, thirty-six pounds
of sugar, a roll of tobacco, and forty pounds of powder. I received a
letter from Mr. Weeks wherein he denied that he had ever circulated any
reports to our disadvantage, and stated that he had done everything in
his power to assist us, and even discouraged Akaitcho from leaving us
when he had sent him a message saying that he wished to do so if he was
sure of being well received at Fort Providence.
We mentioned the contents of the letter to the Indians who were at the
house at the time, when one of the hunters, who had attended the men on
their journey, stated that he had heard many of the reports against us
from Mr. Weeks himself and expressed his surprise that he should venture
to deny them. St. Germain soon afterwards arrived from Akaitcho and
informed us that he left him in good humour and apparently not harbouring
the slightest idea of quitting us.
On the 12th we sent four men to Fort Providence, and on the 17th Mr. Back
arrived from Fort Chipewyan, having performed since he left us a journey
of more than one thousand miles on foot. I had every reason to be much
pleased with his conduct on this arduous undertaking, but his exertions
may be best estimated by the perusal of the following narrative.
MR. BACK'S NARRATIVE OF HIS JOURNEY TO CHIPEWYAN, AND RETURN.
On quitting Fort Enterprise with Mr. Wentzel and two Canadians,
accompanied by two hunters and their wives, our route lay across the
barren hills. We saw during the day a number of deer and occasionally a
solitary white wolf, and in the evening halted near a small knot of
pines. Owing to the slow progress made by the wives of the hunters we
only travelled the first day a distance of seven miles and a half. During
the night we had a glimpse of the fantastic beauties of the Aurora
Borealis and were somewhat annoyed by the wolves whose nightly howling
interrupted our repose. Early the next morning we continued our march,
sometimes crossing small lakes (which were just frozen enough to bear us)
and at other times going large circuits in order to avoid those which
were open. The walking was extremely bad throughout the day for,
independent of the general unevenness of the ground and the numberless
large stones which lay scattered in every direction, the unusual warmth
of the weather had dissolved the snow which not only kept us constantly
wet but deprived us of a firm footing, so that the men with their heavy
burdens were in momentary apprehension of falling.
