Many wolves prowled nightly about the house and even ventured upon the
roof of the kitchen, which is a low building, in search of food;
Keskarrah shot a very large white one, of which a beautiful and correct
drawing was made by Mr. Hood.
The temperature in February was considerably lower than in the preceding
month although not so low as in December, the mean being minus 25.3
degrees. The greatest temperature was 1 degree above zero and the lowest
51 degrees below.
On the 5th of March the people returned from Slave Lake bringing the
remainder of our stores consisting of a cask of flour, thirty-six pounds
of sugar, a roll of tobacco, and forty pounds of powder. I received a
letter from Mr. Weeks wherein he denied that he had ever circulated any
reports to our disadvantage, and stated that he had done everything in
his power to assist us, and even discouraged Akaitcho from leaving us
when he had sent him a message saying that he wished to do so if he was
sure of being well received at Fort Providence.
We mentioned the contents of the letter to the Indians who were at the
house at the time, when one of the hunters, who had attended the men on
their journey, stated that he had heard many of the reports against us
from Mr. Weeks himself and expressed his surprise that he should venture
to deny them. St. Germain soon afterwards arrived from Akaitcho and
informed us that he left him in good humour and apparently not harbouring
the slightest idea of quitting us.
On the 12th we sent four men to Fort Providence, and on the 17th Mr. Back
arrived from Fort Chipewyan, having performed since he left us a journey
of more than one thousand miles on foot. I had every reason to be much
pleased with his conduct on this arduous undertaking, but his exertions
may be best estimated by the perusal of the following narrative.
MR. BACK'S NARRATIVE OF HIS JOURNEY TO CHIPEWYAN, AND RETURN.
On quitting Fort Enterprise with Mr. Wentzel and two Canadians,
accompanied by two hunters and their wives, our route lay across the
barren hills. We saw during the day a number of deer and occasionally a
solitary white wolf, and in the evening halted near a small knot of
pines. Owing to the slow progress made by the wives of the hunters we
only travelled the first day a distance of seven miles and a half. During
the night we had a glimpse of the fantastic beauties of the Aurora
Borealis and were somewhat annoyed by the wolves whose nightly howling
interrupted our repose. Early the next morning we continued our march,
sometimes crossing small lakes (which were just frozen enough to bear us)
and at other times going large circuits in order to avoid those which
were open. The walking was extremely bad throughout the day for,
independent of the general unevenness of the ground and the numberless
large stones which lay scattered in every direction, the unusual warmth
of the weather had dissolved the snow which not only kept us constantly
wet but deprived us of a firm footing, so that the men with their heavy
burdens were in momentary apprehension of falling. In the afternoon a
fine herd of deer was descried and the Indians, who are always anxious
for the chase and can hardly be restrained from pursuing every animal
they see, set out immediately. It was late when they returned, having had
good success and bringing with them five tongues and the shoulder of a
deer. We made about twelve miles this day. The night was fine and the
Aurora Borealis so vivid that we imagined more than once that we heard a
rustling noise like that of autumnal leaves stirred by the wind; but
after two hours of attentive listening we were not entirely convinced of
the fact. The coruscations were not so bright nor the transition from one
shape and colour to another so rapid as they sometimes are, otherwise I
have no doubt from the midnight silence which prevailed that we should
have ascertained this yet undecided point.
The morning of the 20th was so extremely hazy that we could not see ten
yards before us; it was therefore late when we started and during our
journey the hunters complained of the weather and feared they should lose
the track of our route. Towards the evening it became so thick that we
could not proceed, consequently we halted in a small wood situated in a
valley, having only completed a distance of six miles.
The scenery consisted of high hills which were almost destitute of trees,
and lakes appeared in the valleys. The cracking of the ice was so loud
during the night as to resemble thunder and the wolves howled around us.
We were now at the commencement of the woods and at an early hour on the
21st continued our journey over high hills for three miles, when the
appearance of some deer caused us to halt and nearly the remainder of the
day was passed in hunting them. In the evening we stopped within sight of
Prospect Hill having killed and concealed six deer. A considerable
quantity of snow fell during the night.
The surrounding country was extremely rugged, the hills divided by deep
ravines and the valleys covered with broken masses of rocks and stones;
yet the deer fly (as it were) over these impediments with apparent ease,
seldom making a false step, and springing from crag to crag with all the
confidence of the mountain goat. After passing Reindeer Lake (where the
ice was so thin as to bend at every step for nine miles) we halted,
perfectly satisfied with our escape from sinking into the water.
