A half and, as our men had to
traverse each portage four times, with a load of one hundred and eighty
pounds, and return three times light, they walked in the whole upwards of
one hundred and fifty miles. The total length of our voyage from
Chipewyan is five hundred and fifty-three miles.*
(*Footnote.
Stony and Slave Rivers: 260 statute miles.
Slave Lake: 107 statute miles.
Yellow-Knife River: 156.5 statute miles.
Barren country between the source of the Yellow-Knife River and Fort
Enterprise: 29.5 statute miles.
Total: 553 statute miles.)
A fire was made on the south side of the river to inform the chief of our
arrival, which, spreading before a strong wind, caught the whole wood,
and we were completely enveloped in a cloud of smoke for the three
following days.
On the next morning our voyagers were divided into two parties, the one
to cut the wood for the building of a storehouse and the other to fetch
the meat as the hunters procured it. An interpreter was sent with
Keskarrah the guide to search for the Indians who had made the fire seen
on Saturday, from whom we might obtain some supplies of provision.
