A party who had been sent to Akaitcho returned bringing three hundred and
seventy pounds of dried meat and two hundred and twenty pounds of suet,
together with the unpleasant information that a still larger quantity of
the latter article had been found and carried off, as he supposed, by
some Dog-Ribs who had passed that way.
The weather becoming daily colder all the lakes in the neighbourhood of
the house were completely, and the river partially, frozen over by the
middle of the month. The reindeer now began to quit us for more southerly
and better-sheltered pastures. Indeed their longer residence in our
neighbourhood would have been of little service to us, for our ammunition
was almost completely expended though we had dealt it of late with a very
sparing hand to the Indians. We had however already secured in the
storehouse the carcasses of one hundred deer together with one thousand
pounds of suet and some dried meat, and had moreover eighty deer stowed
up at various distances from the house. The necessity of employing the
men to build a house for themselves before the weather became too severe
obliged us to put the latter en cache, as the voyagers term it, instead
of adopting the more safe plan of bringing them to the house. Putting a
deer en cache means merely protecting it against the wolves and still
more destructive wolverines by heavy loads of wood or stones; the latter
animal however sometimes digs underneath the pile and renders the
precautions abortive.
On the 18th Mr. Back and Mr. Wentzel set out for Fort Providence
accompanied by Beauparlant, Belanger, and two Indians, Akaiyazza and
Tholezzeh, with their wives, the Little Forehead and the Smiling Marten.
Mr. Back had volunteered to go and make the necessary arrangements for
transporting the stores we expected from Cumberland House and to
endeavour to obtain some additional supplies from the establishments at
Slave Lake. If any accident should have prevented the arrival of our
stores and the establishments at Moose-Deer Island should be unable to
supply the deficiency he was, if he found himself equal to the task, to
proceed to Chipewyan. Ammunition was essential to our existence and a
considerable supply of tobacco was also requisite, not only for the
comfort of the Canadians, who use it largely and had stipulated for it in
their engagements, but also as a means of preserving the friendship of
the Indians. Blankets, cloth, and iron-work were scarcely less
indispensable to equip our men for the advance next season.
Mr. Wentzel accompanied Mr. Back to assist him in obtaining from the
traders, on the score of old friendship, that which they might be
inclined to deny to our necessities. I forwarded by them letters to the
Colonial Office and Admiralty detailing the proceedings of the Expedition
up to this period.
On the 22nd we were surprised by a visit from a dog; the poor animal was
in low condition and much fatigued. Our Indians discovered by marks on
his ears that he belonged to the Dog-Ribs. This tribe, unlike the
Chipewyans and Copper Indians, had preserved that useful associate of man
although, from their frequent intercourse with the latter people, they
were not ignorant of the prediction alluded to in a former page. One of
our interpreters was immediately despatched with an Indian to endeavour
to trace out the Dog-Ribs, whom he supposed might be concealed in the
neighbourhood from their dread of the Copper Indians; although we had no
doubt of their coming to us were they aware of our being here. The
interpreter however returned without having discovered any traces of
strange Indians, a circumstance which led us to conclude that the dog had
strayed from his masters a considerable time before.
Towards the end of the month the men completed their house and took up
their abode in it. It was thirty-four feet long and eighteen feet wide,
was divided into two apartments and was placed at rightangles to the
officers' dwelling and facing the storehouse, the three buildings forming
three sides of a quadrangle.
On the 26th Akaitcho and his party arrived, the hunting in this
neighbourhood being terminated for the season by the deer having retired
southward to the shelter of the woods.
The arrival of this large party was a serious inconvenience to us from
our being compelled to issue them daily rates of provision from the
store. The want of ammunition prevented us from equipping and sending
them to the woods to hunt and, although they are accustomed to subsist
themselves for a considerable part of the year by fishing or snaring the
deer, without having recourse to firearms, yet on the present occasion
they felt little inclined to do so and gave scope to their natural love
of ease as long as our storehouse seemed to be well stocked. Nevertheless
as they were conscious of impairing our future resources they did not
fail occasionally to remind us that it was not their fault, to express an
ardent desire to go hunting, and to request a supply of ammunition
although they knew that it was not in our power to give it.
The summer birds had by this time entirely deserted us, leaving for our
winter companions the raven, cinereous crow, ptarmigan, and snow-bird.
The last of the waterfowl that quitted us was a species of diver of the
same size with the Colymbus arcticus but differing from it in the
arrangement of the white spots on its plumage, and in having a
yellowish-white bill.
