246 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES
comfort of the Canadians, who use it largely, and had stipulated for
it in their engagements, but also as a means of preserving the friendship
of the Indians. Blankets, cloth, and iron-work, were scarcely
less indispensable to equip our men for the advance next season.
Mr. Wentzel accompanied Mr. Back, to assist him in obtaining
from the traders, on the score of old friendship, that which they
might be inclined to deny to our necessities. I forwarded by them
letters to the Colonial Office and Admiralty, detailing the proceedings
of the Expedition up to this period.
Ou the 22d we were surprised by a visit from a dog; the poor
animal was in low condition, and much fatigued. Our Indians
discovered, by marks on his ears, that he belonged to the Dog-ribs.
This tribe, unlike the Chipewyans and Copper Indians, had preserved
that useful associate of man, although from their frequent intercourse
with the latter people, they were not ignorant of the prediction
alluded to in a former page. One of our interpreters was immediately
despatched, with an Indian, to endeavour to trace out the
Dog-ribs, whom he supposed might be concealed in the neighbourhood
from their dread of the Copper Indians; although we had no
doubt of their coming to us, were they aware of our being here.
The interpreter, however, returned without having discovered any
traces of strange Indians; a circumstance which led us to conclude,
that the dog had strayed from his masters a considerable time before.
Towards the end of the month the men completed their house, and
took up their abode in it. It was thirty-four feet long and eighteen
feet wide; was divided into two apartments, and was placed at right
angles to the officers’ dwelling, and facing the store-house: the three
buildings forming three sides of a quadrangle.
On the 26th Akaitcho and his party arrived, the hunting in this
neighbourhood being terminated for the season, by the deer having
retired southward to the shelter of the woods.
The arrival of this large party was a serious inconvenience to us,