Our
First Act Was Again To Return Our Grateful Praises To The Almighty For
The Manifold Instances Of His Mercy Towards Us.
Having found here some
articles which Mr. Back had sent across from Moose-Deer Island I
determined on awaiting the arrival of Akaitcho and his party in order to
present these to them and to assure them of the promised reward as soon
as it could possibly be procured.
In the afternoon of the 14th Akaitcho with his whole band came to the
fort. He smoked his customary pipe and made an address to Mr. Weeks in
the hall previous to his coming into the room in which Dr. Richardson and
I were. We discovered at the commencement of his speech to us that he had
been informed that our expected supplies had not come. He spoke of this
circumstance as a disappointment indeed sufficiently severe to himself,
to whom his band looked up for the protection of their interests, but
without attaching any blame to us. "The world goes badly," he said "all
are poor; you are poor, the traders appear to be poor, I and my party are
poor likewise, and since the goods have not come in we cannot have them.
I do not regret having supplied you with provisions for a Copper Indian
can never permit white men to suffer from want of food on his lands
without flying to their aid. I trust however that we shall, as you say,
receive what is due next autumn, and at all events," he added in a tone
of good humour, "it is the first time that the white people have been
indebted to the Copper Indians." We assured him the supplies should
certainly be sent to him by the autumn if not before.
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