Answers were so vague and unsatisfactory that
they were not worth attention; his description of Bouleau's Route (which
he said was the shortest and best and abundant in animals) was very
defective though the relative points were sufficiently characteristic had
we not possessed a better route. He had never been at the sea and knew
nothing about the mouth of the Copper-Mine River. In the evening he made
his young men dance and sometimes accompanied them himself. They had four
feathers in each hand. One commenced moving in a circular form, lifting
both feet at the same time, similar to jumping sideways. After a short
time a second and third joined and afterwards the whole band was dancing,
some in a state of nudity, others half dressed, singing an unmusical wild
air with (I suppose) appropriate words, the particular sounds of which
were ha! ha! ha! uttered vociferously and with great distortion of
countenance and peculiar attitude of body, the feathers being always kept
in a tremulous motion. The ensuing day I made the chief acquainted with
the object of our mission and recommended him to keep at peace with his
neighbouring tribes and to conduct himself with attention and friendship
towards the whites. I then gave him a medal, telling him it was the
picture of the King whom they emphatically term their Great Father.
November 18.
We observed two mock moons at equal distances from the central one, and
the whole were encircled by a halo, the colour of the inner edge of the
large circle was a light red inclining to a faint purple.
November 20.
Two parhelia were observable with a halo; the colours of the inner edge
of the circle were a bright carmine and red lake intermingled with a rich
yellow, forming a purplish orange; the outer edge was pale gamboge.
December 5.
A man was sent some distance on the lake to see if it was sufficiently
frozen for us to cross. I need scarcely mention my satisfaction when he
returned with the pleasing information that it was.
December 7.
I quitted Fort Providence, being accompanied by Mr. Wentzel, Beauparlant,
and two other Canadians, provided with dogs and sledges. We proceeded
along the borders of the lake, occasionally crossing deep bays, and at
dusk encamped at the Gros Cap, having proceeded twenty-five miles.
December 8.
We set out on the lake with an excessively cold north-west wind and were
frequently interrupted by large pieces of ice which had been thrown up by
the violence of the waves during the progress of congelation, and at dusk
we encamped on the Reindeer Islands.
