On the 14th a robin (turdus migratorius) appeared; this bird is hailed by the natives as the infallible precursor of warm weather. Ducks and geese were also seen in numbers, and the rein-deer advanced to the northward. The merganser, (mergus serrator,) which preys upon small fish, was the first of the duck tribe that appeared; next came the teal, (anas crecca,) which lives upon small insects that abound in the waters at this season; and lastly the goose, which feeds upon berries and herbage. Geese appear at Cumberland House, in latitude 54°, usually about the 12th of April; at Fort Chipewyan, in latitude 59°, on the 25th of April; at Slave Lake, in latitude 61°, on the 1st of May; and at Fort Enterprise, in latitude 64° 28', on the 12th or 14th of the same month.
On the 16th a minor chief amongst the Copper Indians, attended by his son, arrived from Fort Providence to consult Dr. Richardson. He was affected with snow-blindness, which was soon relieved by the dropping of a little laudanum into his eyes twice a day. Most of our own men had been lately troubled with this complaint, but it always yielded in twenty or thirty hours to the same remedy.
On the 21st all our men returned from the Indians, and Akaitcho was on his way to the fort. In the afternoon two of his young men arrived to announce his visit, and to request that he might be received with a salute and other marks of respect that he had been accustomed to on visiting Fort Providence in the spring. I complied with his desire although I regretted the expenditure of ammunition, and sent the young men away with the customary present of powder to enable him to return the salute, some tobacco, vermilion to paint their faces, a comb and a looking-glass.
At eleven Akaitcho arrived; at the first notice of his appearance the flag was hoisted at the fort, and upon his nearer approach, a number of muskets were fired by a party of our people, and returned by his young men. Akaitcho, preceded by his standard-bearer, led the party, and advanced with a slow and stately step to the door where Mr. Wentzel and I received him. The faces of the party were daubed with vermilion, the old men having a spot on the right cheek, the young ones on the left. Akaitcho himself was not painted. On entering he sat down on a chest, the rest placed themselves in a circle on the floor. The pipe was passed once or twice round, and in the mean time a bowl of spirits and water, and a present considerable for our circumstances of cloth, blankets, capots, shirts, &c., was placed on the floor for the chief's acceptance, and distribution amongst his people. Akaitcho then commenced his speech, but I regret to say, that it was very discouraging, and indicated that he had parted with his good humour, at least since his March visit. He first inquired, whether, in the event of a passage by sea being discovered, we should come to his lands in any ship that might be sent? And being answered, that it was probable but not quite certain, that some one amongst us might come; he expressed a hope that some suitable present should be forwarded to himself and nation; "for," said he, "the great Chief who commands where all the goods come from, must see from the drawings and descriptions of us and our country that we are a miserable people." I assured him that he would be remembered, provided he faithfully fulfilled his engagement with us.
He next complained of the non-payment of my notes by Mr. Weeks, from which he apprehended that his own reward would be withheld. "If," said he, "your notes to such a trifling amount are not accepted, whilst you are within such a short distance, and can hold communication with the fort, it is not probable that the large reward which has been promised to myself and party, will be paid when you are far distant, on your way to your own country. It really appears to me," he continued, "as if both the Companies consider your party as a third company, hostile to their interests, and that neither of them will pay the notes you give to the Indians."
Afterwards, in the course of a long conference, he enumerated many other grounds of dissatisfaction; the principal of which were our want of attention to him as chief, the weakness of the rum formerly sent to him, the smallness of the present now offered, and the want of the chief's clothing, which he had been accustomed to receive at Fort Providence every spring. He concluded, by refusing to receive the goods now laid before him.
In reply to these complaints it was stated that Mr. Weeks's conduct could not be properly discussed at such a distance from his fort; that no dependence ought to be placed on the vague reports that floated through the Indian territory; that, for our part, although we had heard many stories to his (Akaitcho's) disadvantage, we discredited them all; that the rum we had sent him, being what the great men in England were accustomed to drink, was of a milder kind, but, in fact, stronger than what he had been accustomed to receive; and that the distance we had come, and the speed with which we travelled, precluded us from bringing large quantities of goods like the traders; that this had been fully explained to him when he agreed to accompany us; and that, in consideration of his not receiving his usual spring outfit, his debts to the Company had been cancelled, and a present, much greater than any he had ever received before, ordered to be got ready for his return. He was further informed, that we were much disappointed in not receiving any dried meat from him, an article indispensable for our summer voyage, and which, he had led us to believe there was no difficulty in procuring; and that, in fact, his complaints were so groundless, in comparison with the real injury we sustained from the want of supplies, that we were led to believe they were preferred solely for the purpose of cloaking his own want of attention to the terms of his engagement. He then shifted his ground, and stated, that if we endeavoured to make a voyage along the sea-coast we should inevitably perish; and he advised us strongly against persisting in the attempt. This part of his harangue being an exact transcript of the sentiments formerly expressed by our interpreters, induced us to conclude that they had prompted his present line of conduct, by telling him, that we had goods or rum concealed. He afterwards received a portion of our dinner, in the manner he had been accustomed to do, and seemed inclined to make up matters with us in the course of the evening, provided we added to the present offered to [him.] Being told, however, that this was [impossible,] since we had already offered him all the rum we had, and every article of goods we could spare from our own equipment, his obstinacy was a little shaken, and he made some concessions, but deferred giving a final answer, until the arrival of Humpy, his elder brother. The young men, however, did not choose to wait so long, and at night came for the rum, which we judged to be a great step towards a reconciliation.
St. Germain, the most intelligent of our two interpreters, and the one who had most influence with the Indians, being informed that their defection was, in a great measure, attributed to the unguarded conversations he had held with them, and which he had in part acknowledged, exerted himself much, on the following day, in bringing about a change in their sentiments, and with some success. The young men, though they declined hunting, conducted themselves with the same good humour and freedom as formerly. Akaitcho being, as he said, ashamed to shew himself, kept close in his tent all day.
On the 24th, one of the women who accompanied us from Athabasca, was sent down to Fort Providence, under charge of the old chief, who came some days before for medicine for his eyes. Angelique and Roulante, the other two women, having families, preferred accompanying the Indians during their summer hunt. On the 25th, clothing, and other necessary articles, were issued to the Canadians as their equipment for the ensuing voyage. Two or three blankets, some cloth, iron work, and trinkets were reserved for distribution amongst the Esquimaux on the sea-coast. Laced dresses were given to Augustus and Junius. It is impossible to describe the joy that took possession of the latter on the receipt of this present. The happy little fellow burst into extatic laughter, as he surveyed the different articles of his gay habiliments[5].
[5] These men kept their dresses, and delighted in them. An Indian Chief, on the other hand, only appears once before the donor in the dress of ceremony which he receives, and then transfers it to some favourite in the tribe whom he desires to reward by this "robe of honour."