Tuesday, 20th.At ten a.m., I quitted the Fort, accompanied by five of our men and the two Indians, the latter dragging each sixty pounds of pemmican on their sledges. Captain Back, the officers, and men assembled to give us a farewell salute of three hearty cheers, which served to renew my regret at leaving a society whose members had endeared themselves to me by unremitting attention to their duties, and the greatest personal kindness. We crossed the lake expeditiously, favoured by a north-west gale, and then continued our course to the southward until sunset. The mode of bivouacking in the winter, as well as the course of proceeding, having been so fully described in my former Narrative, and by several other travellers in this country, I need not repeat them. We usually set forward at the first appearance of light and marched until sunset, halting an hour to breakfast. The rate of walking depended on the depth of snow; where the track was good, we made about two miles in the hour.
On the evening of the second day, we were deserted by our Indian companions, who, as we afterwards learned, took advantage of the rest of the party being some distance in advance of them, to turn back to the nearest wood, and there deposit the pemmican on a stage which they constructed by the road side. Supposing that they had only halted in consequence of the gale that was then blowing, we did not send to look after them before the following morning, when every trace of their path was covered with the snow drift; and as I considered we might possibly spend some time in a fruitless search, I thought the wisest course was to put the party and dogs on a shorter allowance than usual, and proceed on our journey. Their conduct affords another instance of the little dependence that ought to be placed on the Indians of this country, when more than ordinary exertion is required.
We travelled fifty miles through a swampy level country, thinly wooded, with a few ridges of hills visible in the distance, east and west of our course. The country was uneven and better wooded for the succeeding thirty miles. We next crossed a steep range of hills elevated about eight hundred feet above the surrounding land, and then passing over a succession of lower hills and vallies, descended to the Mackenzie, and following that river for thirty miles, came to Fort SimpsonMarch. on the 8th of March; the whole distance being two hundred and twenty miles, and for the last one hundred and seventy miles, through a well wooded country. We crossed several rivers which flow into the Mackenzie, and some considerable lakes which are laid down in the map. But one solitary family of Indians were seen on the journey, and these were stationed within a day's march of Fort Simpson. They had inclosed large tracts of ground with hedges, in which they set snares for hares, and, being very successful, were living in abundance, and were well clothed, their dress consisting principally of hare skins.
As soon as Mr. Smith, the chief Factor of the District, was informed of our approach, and that we were short of provisions, in consequence of the Indians having made off with the pemmican, he kindly sent a supply of fresh meat for our use; and on our arrival at the Fort, he gave us the most friendly reception. Our Indian guide had never been nearer to Fort Simpson by land, than the Lake of the Elevated Land, and only once by the course of the Mackenzie, many years before the Fort was built; and yet if he had not been led aside by falling upon the track leading to the Indians above-mentioned, he would have come upon the Mackenzie, directly opposite Fort Simpson. His course he told me was governed by his recollection of a particular mountain, which he remembered to have noticed from the Mackenzie, and which we now passed within two miles, but on his former visit, he did not approach it nearer than eighteen miles. Its outline must have appeared so different when seen from these distances, that one can hardly imagine a less observant eye than that of an Indian recognising any of its distinguishing points, especially as it was not a detached mountain, but formed one of a line of hills of considerable extent. Our dogs being completely tired, I remained a week to recruit their strength. During this interval I had the opportunity of examining all the accounts which the Hudson's Bay Company had to present for supplies to the Expedition from this department, and of making provision for the outward journey of Captain Back and his party. Arrangements were also made, that the Hudson's Bay Company should take, at a valuation, the spare stores of the Expedition on its quitting Bear Lake. I accompanied Mr. Smith to a part of the River of the Mountains, where a portion of the bank, several acres in extent, had been torn off, and thrown a considerable distance into the channel of the river. The disruption took place in the preceding November, some days after the water had been frozen, and when there was no apparent cause for its separation. When the water is flowing over the banks, and the earth is in consequence loosened, the falling of the bank is not unfrequent in the Mackenzie, though on a much smaller scale than in this instance. I can only account for the separation of the mass after the ground had been frozen, by the supposition, that there was some spring of warm water in its rear, which loosened the soil, and that the pressure of the ice contributed, with the weight of snow at the top, to its overthrow.
At the time of my visit, an Indian woman committed suicide, by hanging herself, in a fit of jealousy, at an encampment a short distance from the Fort. I had thought that suicide was extremely rare among the Northern Indians; but I subsequently learned that it was not so uncommon as I had imagined, and I was informed of two instances that occurred in the year of 1826. The weather was remarkably mild; during my stay icicles were formed on the southern front of the house, and there were many other indications of an early spring.
Thursday, 15th.On the afternoon of the 15th of March I took leave of Mr. Smith, who kindly furnished me with his best dog for my cariole, one of mine having proved unfit for the journey to Slave Lake; we were also indebted to him for the skin of a mountain goat and a lynx; and to Mr. M'Pherson for the skins of several smaller animals and birds, from the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, which they added to our collection. Having sent back one of my men with the Indian guides to Bear Lake, we had now only two sledges; but as we were unable to carry the whole of our lading, Mr. Smith had the goodness to send a sledge and one of his men to convey a part of the provisions for four days. At the distance of eight miles we met two men with a cariole and sledge, which Mr. M'Vicar had sent for my use from Slave Lake; but being well provided I did not require the services of this party, though we derived great benefit from their track as we proceeded, and also from some deposits of provision which they had made on the route.
Wednesday, 21st.Following the course of the Mackenzie, we arrived, on the 21st, at the expansion of the river called the Little Lake, and there had the pleasure of meeting two Canadians, on their way to Bear Lake, with a packet of letters from England. We hastened towards the shore and encamped; and though the night was piercingly cold, I spent the greatest part of it most agreeably, scanning the contents of the box by the unsteady light of a blazing fire. After breakfast next morning I despatched the packet to its destination, under the charge of M'Leay, who had accompanied me from Bear Lake, and retained one of the Canadians in his stead. We arrived at Fort Resolution, on the Slave Lake to breakfast, on the 26th, and I once more had the happiness of receiving the friendly attentions of Mr. M'Vicar, to whom it will be remembered by the readers of my last Narrative, that the members of that Expedition were so greatly indebted for his tender care of them after their sufferings. Dr. Richardson had quitted this place in the preceding December, for the purpose of joining Mr. Drummond, the Assistant Botanist in the Saskatchawan River, and that he might have the benefit of an earlier spring than in this quarter to collect plants. The prospect here being completely wintry, I made another halt of eight days, being desirous of remaining as long as I could, without incurring the risk of exposure to the thaw on my way to Fort Chipewyan.
I was glad to find that the Chipewyans and Copper Indians were at length employing dogs to drag their sledges. A superstitious belief that their own origin was derived from those animals, had for several years past thrown this laborious and degrading occupation on the poor women, who, by the change, experienced a most happy relief. It was indeed, highly gratifying to observe that these Indians no longer beat their wives in the cruel manner to which they had been formerly accustomed; and that, in the comparative tenderness with which they now treat the sex, they have made the first and greatest step to all moral and general improvement.
It will be recollected that on receiving, at Bear Lake, a report of the traces of white people having been seen near the sea-coast, I had requested that Mr. M'Vicar would collect a party of Indians, and send them to the spot to convey a letter from me to Captain Parry. Mr. M'Vicar now informed me that some Indians had left his Fort for the purpose, under the charge of a Canadian, named Joseph St. Pierre, who volunteered for the occasion, but the Indians continued with him only for a short distance beyond the east end of Slave Lake, when they became weary of their journey, and dropping off one by one, left him alone. St. Pierre, however, having determined to deliver the letter to Captain Parry, if possible, persevered for many days in a fruitless search for the river on the banks of which the marks were reported to have been seen; even after he had sustained the loss of all his clothes (except those on his person,) by the grass catching fire when he was asleep; but at length, being short of food, his shoes worn out, and almost without covering for his feet, he was compelled to return to the Fort. He was not at the house at the time of my visit, but I left an order with Mr. M'Vicar, that he might be rewarded for his zeal and exertions, and handsomely remunerated for his loss.
April.The subsequent journey to the Athabasca Lake occupied eight days; we arrived at Fort Chipewyan in the afternoon of the 12th of April. I found Mr. Stewart, the Chief Factor of the Department, surrounded by a large body of Indians, who quitted the Fort as soon as they had exchanged their furs, in order to seek their living by fishing and hunting wild fowl, instead of passing four or five weeks in indolence about the Establishment, as had been their custom at this season for many preceding years. This beneficial change of conduct, on their part, is owing to the Hudson's Bay Company having ceased to bring spirits into the northern department; and to some other judicious regulations which the Directors have made respecting the trade with the natives. The plans now adopted offer supplies of clothes, and of every necessary, to those Indians who choose to be active in the collection of furs; and it was pleasing to learn, that the natives in this quarter had shown their acquiescence in these measures by increased exertion during the preceding winter. Some other very wholesome regulations have been introduced by the Company; amongst others, the Sabbath is ordered to be properly observed, and Divine Service to be read at every post. They have also directed, where the soil will allow, a portion of ground to be cultivated for the growth of culinary vegetables at each of their establishments, and I witnessed the good effects of this order, even at this advanced post, where the ground is rocky; the tables of the officers being supplied daily, and those of the men frequently, with potatoes and barley. Such luxuries were very rarely found beyond Cumberland House, on the route that we travelled during my former journey.