He then took the charcoal from
Beaulieu and inserted a track along the sea-coast which he had followed
in returning from a war excursion made by his tribe against the
Esquimaux. He detailed several particulars of the coast and the sea which
he represented as studded with well-wooded islands and free from ice
close to the shore in the month of July, but not to a great distance. He
described two other rivers to the eastward of the Copper-Mine River which
also fall into the Northern Ocean, the Anatessy, which issues from the
Contwayto or Rum Lake, and the Thloueeatessy or Fish River, which rises
near the eastern boundary of the Great Slave Lake; but he represented
both of them as being shallow and too much interrupted by barriers for
being navigated in any other than small Indian canoes.
Having received this satisfactory intelligence I wrote immediately to Mr.
Smith of the North-West Company and Mr. McVicar of the Hudson's Bay
Company, the gentlemen in charge of the posts at the Great Slave Lake, to
communicate the object of the Expedition and our proposed route, and to
solicit any information they possessed or could collect from the Indians
relative to the countries we had to pass through and the best manner of
proceeding. As the Copper Indians frequent the establishment on the north
side of the lake I particularly requested them to explain to that tribe
the object of our visit and to endeavour to procure from them some guides
and hunters to accompany our party. Two Canadians were sent by Mr. Keith
with these letters.
The month of April commenced with fine and clear but extremely cold
weather; unfortunately we were still without a thermometer and could not
ascertain the degrees of temperature. The coruscations of the Aurora
Borealis were very brilliant almost every evening of the first week and
were generally of the most variable kind. On the 3rd they were
particularly changeable. The first appearance exhibited three illuminated
beams issuing from the horizon in the north, east, and west points, and
directed towards the zenith; in a few seconds these disappeared and a
complete circle was displayed, bounding the horizon at an elevation of
fifteen degrees. There was a quick lateral motion in the attenuated beams
of which this zone was composed. Its colour was a pale yellow with an
occasional tinge of red.
On the 8th of April the Indians saw some geese in the vicinity of this
lake but none of the migratory birds appeared near the houses before the
15th when some swans flew over. These are generally the first that
arrive; the weather had been very stormy for the four preceding days and
this in all probability kept the birds from venturing farther north than
where the Indians had first seen them.
In the middle of the month the snow began to waste daily and by degrees
it disappeared from the hills and the surface of the lake. On the 17th
and 19th the Aurora Borealis appeared very brilliant in patches of light
bearing North-West. An old Cree Indian having found a beaver-lodge near
to the fort, Mr. Keith, Back, and I accompanied him to see the method of
breaking into it and their mode of taking those interesting animals. The
lodge was constructed on the side of a rock in a small lake having the
entrance into it beneath the ice. The frames were formed of layers of
sticks, the interstices being filled with mud, and the outside was
plastered with earth and stones which the frost had so completely
consolidated that to break through required great labour with the aid of
the ice chisel and the other iron instruments which the beaver hunters
use. The chase however was unsuccessful as the beaver had previously
vacated the lodge.
On the 21st we observed the first geese that flew near the fort and some
were brought to the house on the 30th but they were very lean. On the
25th flies were seen sporting in the sun and on the 26th the Athabasca
River, having broken up, overflowed the lake along its channel; but
except where this water spread there was no appearance of decay in the
ice.
May.
During the first part of this month the wind blew from the North-West and
the sky was cloudy. It generally thawed during the day but froze at
night. On the 2nd the Aurora Borealis faintly gleamed through very dense
clouds.
We had a long conversation with Mr. Dease of the North-West Company who
had recently arrived from his station at the bottom of the Athabasca
Lake. This gentleman, having passed several winters on the Mackenzie's
River and at the posts to the northward of Slave Lake, possessed
considerable information respecting the Indians and those parts of the
country to which our inquiries were directed, which he very promptly and
kindly communicated. During our conversation an old Chipewyan Indian
named the Rabbit's Head entered the room, to whom Mr. Dease referred for
information on some point. We found from his answer that he was a stepson
of the late chief Matonnabee who had accompanied Mr. Hearne on his
journey to the sea, and that he had himself been of the party but, being
then a mere boy, he had forgotten many of the circumstances. He confirmed
however the leading incidents related by Hearne and was positive he
reached the sea, though he admitted that none of the party had tasted the
water. He represented himself to be the only survivor of that party. As
he was esteemed a good Indian I presented him with a medal which he
received gratefully and concluded a long speech upon the occasion by
assuring me he should preserve it carefully all his life.
