Having passed several islands, and, not long afterwards having seen, on the northern shore, the smoke of several fires, the voyagers made every exertion to approach the spot; and, as they drew near, they observed a party of Indians, running about in great apparent confusion. Some of them were endeavouring to escape into the woods, and others were hurrying to their canoes. The hunters landed, and, in the Chepewyan language, addressed the few who had not escaped; but, so great was their terror, that they did not appear to understand it. When, however, they found it was impossible to conceal themselves, they made signs to the strangers to keep at a distance. With these the latter complied, and not only unloaded their canoe, but pitched their tents, before the Indians made any attempt to approach them. After considerable difficulty they became reconciled; and, as soon as their fears were dissipated, they called their fugitive companions from the woods.
The inhabitants of this place were five families of Slave and Dog-rib Indians. They were unacquainted with the use of tobacco and ardent spirits; but were delighted to receive, as presents, knives, beads, awls, rings, fire-steels, flints, and hatchets; and, after a little while, they became so familiar, that it was difficult to keep them out of the tents.
These Indians seemed totally ignorant respecting the distant parts of the river, for they believed its course to be so long that it would occupy the voyagers several years to reach the sea. They also described the intervening regions to be inhabited by monsters of the most horrid shapes and destructive powers. One of them, however, by the bribe of a small kettle, an axe, a knife; and some other articles, was induced to accompany the voyagers as a guide.
They amused the strangers by dancing and singing; but neither the dance nor the song had much variety. The men and women arranged themselves promiscuously in a ring. The former had each a bone-dagger, or a piece of stick, between the fingers of his right hand, which he kept extended above his head, in continual motion; while he held his left in an horizontal direction. They leaped about, and threw themselves into various antic postures, to the measure of their music, bringing their heels close together at every pause. Sometimes the men howled, like wild beasts; and he who continued to howl the longest, appeared to be considered the best performer. The women suffered their arms to hang down, as if they were without the power of motion.
These people are of middle stature, thin, ugly, and ill made, particularly about the legs. Many of them appeared to be in a very unhealthy state, owing, probably, to their filthiness. As far as could be discerned, through the grease and dirt that covered them, they were of fairer complexion than the generality of Indians. The women have two double lines of black or blue colour upon each cheek, from the ear to the nose; and the gristle of the nose is perforated, so as to admit a goose-quill, or a small piece of wood to be passed through it. The clothing of these Indians is made of the dressed skins of the rein or moose-deer. Some of them, says Mr. Mackenzie, were decorated with a neat embroidery of porcupine-quills and hair, coloured red, black, yellow, and white; and they had bracelets for their wrists and arms, made of wood, horn, or bone. Round their head they had a kind of band, embroidered with porcupine quills, and ornamented with the claws of bears and wild-fowl.
Their huts or lodges are very simple. A few poles, supported by forks, and forming a semicircle, with some branches or pieces of bark as a covering, constitute the whole of the architecture. Two of these huts are constructed facing each other, and a fire is made between them. Among the furniture are dishes of wood, bark, or horn; and vessels in which they cook their food, narrow at the top, and wide at the bottom. The latter are formed of roots of the spruce fir-tree, so closely interwoven as to hold water. This people have also small leather bags, to hold their embroidered work, their lines, and fishing-nets. They twist the fibres of willow-bark, and the sinews of rein-deer, into fishing-lines; and they make fishing-hooks of horn, wood, or bone. Their weapons for hunting are bows and arrows, spears, daggers, and clubs. They kindle fire, by striking together a piece of white or yellow pyrites and a flint-stone, over a piece of touchwood.
Their canoes are small, pointed at both ends, flat-bottomed, and covered in the fore part. They are made of the bark of the birch-tree, and of fir-wood; but are so light, that the man whom one of these vessels bears on the water, is able to carry it overland, without any difficulty.
On the 9th of July the voyagers had an interview with a party of Indians, who were more pleasing, both in appearance and manners, than any they had hitherto seen. They were stout, healthy, and clean in their persons; and their utensils and weapons resembled those of the Slave and Dog-rib Indians. They obtained iron, in small pieces, from the Esquimaux. Their garments were bordered with a kind of fringe; and their shirts tapered to a point, from the belt downward. One of the men whom Mr. Mackenzie saw, was clad in a shirt made of the skins of musk-rats. These Indians tie their hair in a very singular manner. That which grows on the temples, or on the fore part of the head, is formed into two queues, which hang down before the ears: and that on the crown of the head, is fashioned, in the same manner, towards the back of the neck, and is tied, with the rest of the hair, at some distance from the head. The women, and indeed some of the men, suffer their hair to hang loose on their shoulders.
Mr. Mackenzie prevailed with one of these Indians to accompany him on his voyage; and this man, who was one of the most intelligent Indians he had seen, stated that it would be requisite to sleep ten nights before they could reach the sea; and that, after three nights, the voyagers would reach a settlement of Esquimaux, with whom his nation had formerly made war.
He accompanied Mr. Mackenzie in a canoe; and two of his companions followed in two other canoes. The latter sung their native songs; and this new guide was so much enlivened by these, that the antics he performed, in keeping time to the singing, excited continual alarm lest he should overset his boat. He afterwards went on board Mr. Mackenzie's canoe, where he began to perform an Esquimaux dance, to the no small alarm of the voyagers.