The party was now reduced to five persons, Adam, Peltier, Benoit, Samandré and myself. Continuing the journey we came after an hour’s walk to some willows and encamped under the shelter of a rock, having walked in the whole four miles and a half. We made an attempt to gather some tripe de roche but could not, owing to the severity of the weather. Our supper therefore consisted of tea and a few morsels of leather.
Augustus did not make his appearance but we felt no alarm at his absence, supposing he would go to the tent if he missed our track. Having fire we procured a little sleep. Next morning the breeze was light and the weather mild which enabled us to collect some tripe de roche, and to enjoy the only meal we had had for four days. We derived great benefit from it and walked with considerably more ease than yesterday. Without the strength it supplied we should certainly have been unable to oppose the strong breeze we met in the afternoon. After walking about five miles we came upon the borders of Marten Lake and were rejoiced to find it frozen so that we could continue our course straight for Fort Enterprise. We encamped at the first rapid in Winter River amidst willows and alders, but these were so frozen and the snow fell so thick that the men had great difficulty in making a fire. This proving insufficient to warm us or even thaw our shoes, and having no food to prepare, we crept under our blankets. The arrival in a well-known part raised the spirits of the men to a high pitch, and we kept up a cheerful conversation until sleep overpowered us. The night was very stormy and the morning scarcely less so but, being desirous to reach the house this day, we commenced our journey very early. We were gratified by the sight of a large herd of reindeer on the side of the hill near the track, but our only hunter Adam was too feeble to pursue them. Our shoes and garments were stiffened by the frost and we walked in great pain until we arrived at some stunted pines, at which we halted, made a good fire, and procured the refreshment of tea. The weather becoming fine in the afternoon we continued our journey, passed the Dog-Rib Rock, and encamped among a clump of pines of considerable growth about a mile farther on. Here we enjoyed the comfort of a large fire for the first time since our departure from the sea-coast, but this gratification was purchased at the expense of many severe falls in crossing a stony valley to get to these trees. There was no tripe de roche, and we drank tea and ate some of our shoes for supper. Next morning after taking the usual repast of tea we proceeded to the house. Musing on what we were likely to find there our minds were agitated between hope and fear and, contrary to the custom we had kept up of supporting our spirits by conversation, we went silently forward.
DESOLATE STATE OF FORT ENTERPRISE.
At length we reached Fort Enterprise and to our infinite disappointment and grief found it a perfectly desolate habitation. There was no deposit of provision, no trace of the Indians, no letter from Mr. Wentzel to point out where the Indians might be found. It would be impossible to describe our sensations after entering this miserable abode and discovering how we had been neglected; the whole party shed tears, not so much for our own fate as for that of our friends in the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our sending immediate relief from this place.
I found a note however from Mr. Back, stating that he had reached the house two days before and was going in search of the Indians at a part where St. Germain deemed it probable they might be found. If he was unsuccessful he purposed walking to Fort Providence and sending succour from thence, but he doubted whether either he or his party could perform the journey to that place in their present debilitated state. It was evident that any supply that could be sent from Fort Providence would be long in reaching us, neither could it be sufficient to enable us to afford any assistance to our companions behind, and that the only relief for them must be procured from the Indians. I resolved therefore on going also in search of them, but my companions were absolutely incapable of proceeding and I thought by halting two or three days they might gather a little strength whilst the delay would afford us the chance of learning whether Mr. Back had seen the Indians.
DISTRESS SUFFERED AT THAT PLACE.
We now looked round for the means of subsistence and were gratified to find several deer-skins which had been thrown away during our former residence. The bones were gathered from the heap of ashes; these with the skins and the addition of tripe de roche, we considered would support us tolerably well for a time. As to the house, the parchment being torn from the windows, the apartment we selected for our abode was exposed to all the rigour of the season. We endeavoured to exclude the wind as much as possible by placing loose boards against the apertures. The temperature was now between 15 and 20° below zero. We procured fuel by pulling up the flooring of the other rooms, and water for cooking by melting the snow. Whilst we were seated round the fire, singeing the deer-skin for supper, we were rejoiced by the unexpected entrance of Augustus. He had followed quite a different course from ours and the circumstance of his having found his way through a part of the country he had never been in before must be considered a remarkable proof of sagacity. The unusual earliness of this winter became manifest to us from the state of things at this spot. Last year at the same season and still later there had been very little snow on the ground and we were surrounded by vast herds of reindeer; now there were but few recent tracks of these animals and the snow was upwards of two feet deep. Winter River was then open, now it was frozen two feet thick.
When I arose the following morning my body and limbs were so swollen that I was unable to walk more than a few yards. Adam was in a still worse condition, being absolutely incapable of rising without assistance. My other companions happily experienced this inconvenience in a less degree and went to collect bones and some tripe de roche which supplied us with two meals. The bones were quite acrid and the soup extracted from them excoriated the mouth if taken alone, but it was somewhat milder when boiled with tripe de roche, and we even thought the mixture palatable with the addition of salt, of which a cask had been fortunately left here in the spring. Augustus today set two fishing-lines below the rapid. On his way thither he saw two deer but had not strength to follow them.
On the 13th the wind blew violently from south-east and the snow drifted so much that the party were confined to the house. In the afternoon of the following day Belanger arrived with a note from Mr. Back stating that he had seen no trace of the Indians, and desiring further instructions as to the course he should pursue. Belanger’s situation however required our first care as he came in almost speechless and covered with ice, having fallen into a rapid and, for the third time since we left the coast, narrowly escaped drowning. He did not recover sufficiently to answer our questions until we had rubbed him for some time, changed his dress, and given him some warm soup. My companions nursed him with the greatest kindness and the desire of restoring him to health seemed to absorb all regard for their own situation. I witnessed with peculiar pleasure this conduct, so different from that which they had recently pursued when every tender feeling was suspended by the desire of self-preservation. They now no longer betrayed impatience or despondency but were composed and cheerful and had entirely given up the practice of swearing, to which the Canadian voyagers are so lamentably addicted. Our conversation naturally turned upon the prospect of getting relief and upon the means which were best adapted for obtaining it. The absence of all traces of Indians on Winter River convinced me that they were at this time on the way to Fort Providence and that, by proceeding towards that post, we should overtake them as they move slowly when they have their families with them. This route also offered us the prospect of killing deer in the vicinity of Reindeer Lake, in which neighbourhood our men in their journey to and fro last winter had always found them abundant. Upon these grounds I determined on taking the route to Fort Providence as soon as possible, and wrote to Mr. Back, desiring him to join me at Reindeer Lake and detailing the occurrences since we parted, that our friends might receive relief in case of any accident happening to me.
Belanger did not recover sufficient strength to leave us before the 18th. His answers as to the exact part of Round-Rock Lake in which he had left Mr. Back were very unsatisfactory, and we could only collect that it was at a considerable distance, and that he was still going on with the intention of halting at the place where Akaitcho was encamped last summer, about thirty miles off. This distance appeared so great that I told Belanger it was very unsafe for him to attempt it alone and that he would be several days in accomplishing it. He stated however that, as the track was beaten, he should experience little fatigue, and seemed so confident that I suffered him to depart with a supply of singed hide. Next day I received information which explained why he was so unwilling to acquaint us with the situation of Mr. Back’s party. He dreaded that I should resolve upon joining it when our numbers would be so great as to consume at once everything St. Germain might kill, if by accident he should be successful in hunting. He even endeavoured to entice away our other hunter, Adam, and proposed to him to carry off the only kettle we had and without which we could not have subsisted two days. Adam’s inability to move however precluded him from agreeing to the proposal but he could assign no reason for not acquainting me with it previous to Belanger’s departure. I was at first inclined to consider the whole matter as a fiction of Adam’s, but he persisted in his story without wavering, and Belanger when we met again confessed that every part of it was true. It is painful to have to record a fact so derogatory to human nature but I have deemed it proper to mention it to show the difficulties we had to contend with, and the effect which distress had in warping the feelings and understanding of the most diligent and obedient of our party, for such Belanger had been always esteemed up to this time.