Every
article of goods we could spare from our own equipment his obstinacy was
a little shaken, and he made some concessions but deferred giving a final
answer until the arrival of Humpy his elder brother. The young men
however did not choose to wait so long and at night came for the rum,
which we judged to be a great step towards a reconciliation.
St. Germain, the most intelligent of our two interpreters and the one who
had most influence with the Indians, being informed that their defection
was in a great measure attributed to the unguarded conversations he had
held with them, and which he had in part acknowledged, exerted himself
much on the following day in bringing about a change in their sentiments
and with some success. The young men, though they declined hunting,
conducted themselves with the same good humour and freedom as formerly.
Akaitcho being as he said ashamed to show himself kept close in his tent
all day.
On the 24th one of the women who accompanied us from Athabasca was sent
down to Fort Providence under charge of the old chief who came some days
before for medicine for his eyes. Angelique and Roulante, the other two
women, having families, preferred accompanying the Indians during their
summer hunt. On the 25th clothing and other necessary articles were
issued to the Canadians as their equipment for the ensuing voyage. Two or
three blankets, some cloth, ironwork, and trinkets were reserved for
distribution amongst the Esquimaux on the sea-coast. Laced dresses were
given to Augustus and Junius. It is impossible to describe the joy that
took possession of the latter on the receipt of this present. The happy
little fellow burst into ecstatic laughter as he surveyed the different
articles of his gay habiliments.*
(*Footnote. These men kept their dresses and delighted in them. An Indian
chief on the other hand only appears once before the donor in the dress
of ceremony which he receives and then transfers it to some favourite in
the tribe whom he desires to reward by this robe of honour.)
In the afternoon Humpy the leader's elder brother, Annoethaiyazzeh,
another of his brothers, and one of our guides arrived with the remainder
of Akaitcho's band; as also Long-legs, brother to the Hook, with three of
his band. There were now in the encampment thirty hunters, thirty-one
women, and sixty children, in all one hundred and twenty-one of the
Copper Indian or Red-Knife tribe. The rest of the nation were with the
Hook on the lower part of the Copper-Mine River.
Annoethaiyazzeh is remarkable amongst the Indians for the number of his
descendants; he has eighteen children living by two wives, of whom
sixteen were at the fort at this time.
