302 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES
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, cfc.,
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 yisit.
H e 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 chiefs 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