I despatched to Fort Enterprise one of the men with the letters and a
hundred musket-balls which Mr. Weeks lent me on condition that they
should be returned the first opportunity.
An Indian and his wife
accompanied the messenger. Lieutenant Franklin was made acquainted with
the exact state of things, and I awaited with much impatience the
freezing of the lake.
November 16.
A band of Slave Indians came to the fort with a few furs and some bear's
grease. Though we had not seen any of them it appeared that they had
received information of our being in the country and knew the precise
situation of our house, which they would have visited long ago but from
the fear of being pillaged by the Copper Indians. I questioned the chief
about the Great Bear and Marten Lakes, their distance from Fort
Enterprise, etc., but his 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.
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