skins of seven deer to make one robe. The finest are made of the
skins of young fawns.
The fishing, having failed as the weather became more severe, was
given up on the 5th. It bad produced us about one thousand two
hundred white fish, from two to three pounds each. There are two
other species of Coregoni in Winter Lake, Back’s grayling and the
round fish; and a few trout, pike, methye, and red carp, were also
occasionally obtained from the nets. It may be worthy of notice
here, that the fish froze as they were taken out of the nets, in a short
time became a solid mass of ice, and by a blow or two of the hatchet
were easily split open, when the intestines might be removed in one
lump. If in this completely frozen state they were thawed before
the fire, they recovered their animation. This was particularly the
case with the carp, and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as
Dr. Richardson occupied himself in examining the structure of the
different species of fish, and was, always in the winter, under the
necessity of thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen
a carp recover so far as to leap about with much vigour, after it had
been frozen for thirty-six hours.
From the 12th to the 16th we had fine, and for the season, warm
weather; and the deer, which had not been seen since the 26th of
October, re-appeared in the neighbourhood of the house, to the
surprise of the Indians, who attributed their return to the barren
grounds to the unusual mildnes of the season. On this occasion, by
melting some of our pewter cups, we managed to furnish five balls
to each of the hunters, but they were all expended unsuccessfully,
except by Akaitcho, who killed two deer.
By the middle of the month Winter River was firmly frozen over
except the small rapid at its commencement, which remained open
all the winter. The ice on the lake was now nearly two feet thick.
After the 16th we had a succession of cold, snowy, and windy
weather. We had become anxious to hear of the arrival of Mr. Back
and his party at Fort Providence. The Indians, who had calculated
the period at which a messenger ought to have returned from thence
to be already passed, became impatient when it had elapsed, and
with their usual love of evil augury tormented us by their melancholy
forebodings. At one time they conjectured that the whole party
had fallen through the ice; at another, that they had been way-laid
and cut off by the Dog-ribs. In vain did we urge the improbability
of the former accident, or the peaceable character of the Dog-ribs, so
little in conformity with the latter. “ The ice at this season was
deceitful,” they said, | and the Dog-ribs, though unwarlike, were
treacherous.” These assertions, so often repeated, had some effect
upon the spirits of our Canadian voyagers, who seldom weigh any
opinion they adopt; but we persisted in treating their fears as chimerical,
for had we seemed to listen to them for a moment, it is more
than probable that the whole of our Indians would have gone to
Fort Providence in search of supplies, and we should have found it
extremely difficult to have recovered them.
The matter was put to rest by the appearance of Belanger on the
morning of 23d, and the Indians, now running into the opposite
extreme, were disposed to give us more credit for our judgment than
we deserved. They had had a tedious and fatiguing journey to Fort
Providence, and for some days were destitute of provisions.
Belanger arrived alone; he had walked constantly for the last six-
and-thirty hours, leaving his Indian companions encamped at the last
woods, they being unwilling to accompany him across the barren
grounds during the storm that had prevailed for several days, and
blew with unusual violence on the morning of his arrival. His locks
were matted with snow, and he was incrusted with ice from head to
foot, so that we scarcely recognised him when he burst in upon us.
We welcomed him with the usual shake of the hand, but were unable
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