In the beginning of October a party had been sent to the westward to
search for birch to make snowshoe frames, and the Indian women were
afterwards employed in netting the shoes and preparing leather for winter
clothing to the men. Robes of reindeer skins were also obtained from the
Indians and issued to the men who were to travel as they were not only a
great deal lighter than blankets but also much warmer and altogether
better adapted for a winter in this climate. They are however unfit for
summer use as the least moisture causes the skin to spoil and lose its
hair. It requires the skins of seven deer to make one robe. The finest
are made of the skins of young fawns.
The fishing having failed as the weather became more severe was given up
on the 5th. It had procured us about one thousand two hundred white-fish,
from two to three pounds each. There are two other species of Coregoni in
Winter Lake, Back's grayling and the round-fish; and a few trout, pike,
methye, and red carp were also occasionally obtained from the nets. It
may be worthy of notice here that the fish froze as they were taken out
of the nets, in a short time became a solid mass of ice and, by a blow or
two of the hatchet, were easily split open, when the intestines might be
removed in one lump. If in this completely frozen state they were thawed
before the fire they recovered their animation. This was particularly the
case with the carp and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly as Dr.
Richardson occupied himself with examining the structure of the different
species of fish and was always in the winter under the necessity of
thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so far
as to leap about with much vigour after it had been frozen for thirty-six
hours.
From the 12th to the 16th we had fine and, for the season, warm weather;
and the deer, which had not been seen since the 26th of October,
reappeared in the neighbourhood of the house, to the surprise of the
Indians who attributed their return to the barren grounds to the unusual
mildness of the season. On this occasion, by melting some of our pewter
cups, we managed to furnish five balls to each of the hunters, but they
were all expended unsuccessfully, except by Akaitcho who killed two deer.
By the middle of the month Winter River was firmly frozen over except the
small rapid at its commencement which remained open all the winter. The
ice on the lake was now nearly two feet thick. After the 16th we had a
succession of cold, snowy, and windy weather. We had become anxious to
hear of the arrival of Mr. Back and his party at Fort Providence. The
Indians, who had calculated the period at which a messenger ought to have
returned from thence to be already passed, became impatient when it had
elapsed and, with their usual love of evil augury, tormented us by their
melancholy forebodings. At one time they conjectured that the whole party
had fallen through the ice; at another that they had been waylaid and cut
off by the Dog-Ribs. In vain did we urge the improbability of the former
accident, or the peaceable character of the Dog-Ribs, so little in
conformity with the latter. "The ice at this season was deceitful," they
said "and the Dog-Ribs, though unwarlike, were treacherous." These
assertions, so often repeated, had some effect upon the spirits of our
Canadian voyagers who seldom weigh any opinion they adopt, but we
persisted in treating their fears as chimerical for, had we seemed to
listen to them for a moment, it is more than probable that the whole of
our Indians would have gone to Fort Providence in search of supplies, and
we should have found it extremely difficult to have recovered them.
The matter was put to rest by the appearance of Belanger on the morning
of the 23rd and the Indians, now running into the opposite extreme, were
disposed to give us more credit for our judgment than we deserved. They
had had a tedious and fatiguing journey to Fort Providence and for some
days were destitute of provisions.
Belanger arrived alone; he had walked constantly for the last
six-and-thirty hours, leaving his Indian companions encamped at the last
woods, they being unwilling to accompany him across the barren grounds
during the storm that had prevailed for several days and blew with
unusual violence on the morning of his arrival. His locks were matted
with snow and he was encrusted with ice from head to foot so that we
scarcely recognised him when he burst in upon us. We welcomed him with
the usual shake of the hand but were unable to give him the glass of rum
which every voyager receives on his arrival at a trading post.
As soon as his packet was thawed we eagerly opened it to obtain our
English letters. The latest were dated on the preceding April. They came
by way of Canada and were brought up in September to Slave Lake by
North-West Company's canoes.
We were not so fortunate with regard to our stores; of ten pieces, or
bales of 90 pounds weight, which had been sent from York Factory by
Governor Williams five of the most essential had been left at the Grand
Rapid on the Saskatchewan, owing, as far as we could judge from the
accounts that reached us, to the misconduct of the officer to whom they
were entrusted and who was ordered to convey them to Cumberland House.
Being overtaken by some of the North-West Company's canoes he had
insisted on their taking half of his charge as it was intended for the
service of Government.
