Indeed
had it not been for the precaution and generosity of the Indians we must
have gone without sustenance until we reached the fort.
On the 1st of November our men began to make a raft to enable us to cross
a river which was not even frozen at the edges. It was soon finished and
three of us embarked, being seated up to the ankles in water. We each
took a pine branch for a paddle and made an effort to gain the opposite
shore in which, after some time (and not without strong apprehensions of
drifting into the Slave Lake) we succeeded. In two hours the whole party
was over, with a comfortable addition to it in the shape of some fine
fish which the Indians had caught: of course we did not forget to take
these friends with us and, after passing several lakes, to one of which
we saw no termination, we halted within eight miles to the fort. The
Great Slave Lake was not frozen.
In crossing a narrow branch of the lake I fell through the ice but
received no injury; and at noon we arrived at Fort Providence and were
received by Mr. Weeks, a clerk of the North-West Company in charge of the
establishment. I found several packets of letters for the officers, which
I was desirous of sending to them immediately but, as the Indians and
their wives complained of illness and inability to return without rest, a
flagon of mixed spirits was given them and their sorrows were soon
forgotten. In a quarter of an hour they pronounced themselves excellent
hunters and capable of going anywhere; however their boasting ceased with
the last drop of the bottle when a crying scene took place which would
have continued half the night had not the magic of an additional quantity
of spirits dried their tears and once more turned their mourning into
joy. It was a satisfaction to me to behold these poor creatures enjoying
themselves for they had behaved in the most exemplary and active manner
towards the party, and with a generosity and sympathy seldom found even
in the more civilised parts of the world, and the attention and affection
which they manifested towards their wives evinced a benevolence of
disposition and goodness of nature which could not fail to secure the
approbation of the most indifferent observer.
The accounts I here received of our goods were of so unsatisfactory a
nature that I determined to proceed, as soon as the lake was frozen, to
Moose-Deer Island or if necessary to the Athabasca Lake, both to inform
myself of the grounds of the unceremonious and negligent manner in which
the Expedition had been treated and to obtain a sufficient supply of
ammunition and other stores to enable it to leave its present situation
and proceed for the attainment of its ultimate object.
November 9.
I despatched to Fort Enterprise one of the men with the letters and a
hundred musket-balls which Mr. Weeks lent me on condition that they
should be returned the first opportunity. An Indian and his wife
accompanied the messenger. Lieutenant Franklin was made acquainted with
the exact state of things, and I awaited with much impatience the
freezing of the lake.
November 16.
A band of Slave Indians came to the fort with a few furs and some bear's
grease. Though we had not seen any of them it appeared that they had
received information of our being in the country and knew the precise
situation of our house, which they would have visited long ago but from
the fear of being pillaged by the Copper Indians. I questioned the chief
about the Great Bear and Marten Lakes, their distance from Fort
Enterprise, etc., but his answers were so vague and unsatisfactory that
they were not worth attention; his description of Bouleau's Route (which
he said was the shortest and best and abundant in animals) was very
defective though the relative points were sufficiently characteristic had
we not possessed a better route. He had never been at the sea and knew
nothing about the mouth of the Copper-Mine River. In the evening he made
his young men dance and sometimes accompanied them himself. They had four
feathers in each hand. One commenced moving in a circular form, lifting
both feet at the same time, similar to jumping sideways. After a short
time a second and third joined and afterwards the whole band was dancing,
some in a state of nudity, others half dressed, singing an unmusical wild
air with (I suppose) appropriate words, the particular sounds of which
were ha! ha! ha! uttered vociferously and with great distortion of
countenance and peculiar attitude of body, the feathers being always kept
in a tremulous motion. The ensuing day I made the chief acquainted with
the object of our mission and recommended him to keep at peace with his
neighbouring tribes and to conduct himself with attention and friendship
towards the whites. I then gave him a medal, telling him it was the
picture of the King whom they emphatically term their Great Father.
November 18.
We observed two mock moons at equal distances from the central one, and
the whole were encircled by a halo, the colour of the inner edge of the
large circle was a light red inclining to a faint purple.
November 20.
Two parhelia were observable with a halo; the colours of the inner edge
of the circle were a bright carmine and red lake intermingled with a rich
yellow, forming a purplish orange; the outer edge was pale gamboge.
