Devoid As Were
Their Attitudes Of Grace And Their Music Of Harmony We Were Much Amused
By The Novelty Of The Exhibition.
In the midst of this scene an untoward accident occurred which for a time
interrupted our amusements.
The tent, in which Dr. Richardson and I
lodged having caught fire from some embers that had been placed in it to
expel the mosquitoes, was entirely burnt. Hepburn, who was sleeping
within it close to some powder, most providentially awoke in time to
throw it clear of the flame and rescue the baggage before any material
injury had been received. We dreaded the consequences of this disaster
upon the fickle minds of the Indians and wished it not to be communicated
to them. The chief however was soon informed of it by one of his people
and expressed his desire that no future misfortune should be concealed
from him. We found that he was most concerned to hear that the flag had
been burnt, but we removed his anxiety on that point by the assurance
that it could easily be repaired. We were advised by Mr. Wentzel to
recommence the dancing after this event lest the Indians should imagine,
by our putting a stop to it, that we considered the circumstance as an
unfavourable commencement of our undertaking. We were however deeply
impressed with a grateful sense of the Divine Providence in averting the
threatened destruction of our stores, which would have been fatal to
every prospect of proceeding forward this season.
August 1.
This morning the Indians set out, intending to wait for us at the mouth
of the Yellow-Knife River. We remained behind to pack our stores in bales
of eighty pounds each, an operation which could not be done in the
presence of these Indians as they are in the habit of begging for
everything they see. Our stores consisted of two barrels of gunpowder,
one hundred and forty pounds of ball and small shot, four fowling-pieces,
a few old trading guns, eight pistols, twenty-four Indian daggers, some
packages of knives, chisels, nails, and fastenings for a boat; a few
yards of cloth, some blankets, needles, looking-glasses, and beads,
together with nine fishing-nets, having meshes of different sizes. Our
provision was two casks of flour, two hundred dried reindeer tongues,
some dried moose-meat, portable soup, and arrowroot, sufficient in the
whole for ten days' consumption, besides two cases of chocolate, and two
canisters of tea. We engaged another Canadian voyager at this place and
the Expedition then consisted of twenty-eight persons, including the
officers, and the wives of three of our voyagers, who were brought for
the purpose of making shoes and clothes for the men at the winter
establishment; there were also three children belonging to two of these
women.*
(*Footnote. The following is the list of the officers and men who
composed the Expedition on its departure from Fort Providence:
John Franklin, Lieutenant of the Royal Navy and Commander.
John Richardson, M.D., Surgeon of the Royal Navy.
Mr. George Back, of the Royal Navy, Admiralty Midshipman.
Mr. Robert Hood, of the Royal Navy, Admiralty Midshipman.
Mr. Frederick Wentzel, Clerk to the North-West Company.
John Hepburn, English seaman.
Canadian voyagers:
Joseph Peltier, Matthew Pelonquin, dit Credit, Solomon Belanger, Joseph
Benoit, Joseph Gagne, Pierre Dumas, Joseph Forcier, Ignace Perrault,
Francois Samandre, Gabriel Beauparlant, Vincenza Fontano, Registe
Vaillant, Jean Baptiste Parent, Jean Baptiste Belanger, Jean Baptiste
Belleau, Emanuel Cournoyee, Michel Teroahaute, an Iroquois,
Interpreters:
Pierre St. Germain, Jean Baptiste Adam, Chipewyan Bois Brules.)
Our observations place Fort Providence in latitude 62 degrees 17 minutes
19 seconds North, longitude 114 degrees 9 minutes 28 seconds West; the
variation of the compass is 33 degrees 35 minutes 55 seconds East and the
dip of the needle 86 degrees 38 minutes 02 seconds. It is distant from
Moose-Deer Island sixty-six geographic miles. This is the last
establishment of the traders in this direction, but the North-West
Company have two to the northward of it on the Mackenzie River. It has
been erected for the convenience of the Copper and Dog-Rib Indians who
generally bring such a quantity of reindeer meat that the residents are
enabled, out of their superabundance, to send annually some provision to
the fort at Moose-Deer Island. They also occasionally procure moose and
buffalo meat, but these animals are not numerous on this side of the
lake. Few furs are collected. Les poissons inconnus, trout, pike, carp,
and white-fish are very plentiful, and on these the residents principally
subsist. Their great supply of fish is procured in the latter part of
September and the beginning of October, but there are a few taken daily
in the nets during the winter. The surrounding country consists almost
entirely of coarse-grained granite, frequently enclosing large masses of
reddish felspar. These rocks form hills which attain an elevation of
three hundred or four hundred feet about a mile behind the house; their
surface is generally naked but in the valleys between them grow a few
spruce, aspen, and birch trees, together with a variety of shrubs and
berry-bearing plants.
On the afternoon of the 2nd of August we commenced our journey, having,
in addition to our three canoes, a smaller one to convey the women; we
were all in high spirits, being heartily glad that the time had at length
arrived when our course was to be directed towards the Copper-Mine River
and through a line of country which had not been previously visited by
any European. We proceeded to the northward along the eastern side of a
deep bay of the lake, passing through various channels formed by an
assemblage of rocky islands; and at sunset encamped on a projecting point
of the north main shore eight miles from Fort Providence. To the westward
of this arm, or bay of the lake, there is another deep bay that receives
the waters of a river which communicates with Great Marten Lake where the
North-West Company had once a post established.
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