312 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES
with my purpose of sending away a party of men, he came to inform
me that he would appoint two hunters to accompany them, and at
the same time requested that Dr. Richardson, or as he called him, the
Medicine Chief, might be sent with his own band. These Indians
set a great value upon medicine, and made many demands upon Dr.
Richardson on the prospect of his departure. He had to make up little
packets, of the different articles in his chest, not only for the leader,
but for each of the minor chiefs, who carefully placed them in their
medicine bags, noting in their memories the directions he gave for
their use. The readiness with which their requests for medical
assistance were complied with, was considered by them a strong mark
of our good intentions towards them ; and the leader often remarked,
that they owed much to our kindness in that respect ; that formerly
numbers had died every year, but that not a life had been
lost since our arrival amongst them. In the present instance, however,
the leader’s request could not be complied with. Dr. Richardson
had volunteered to conduct the first party to the Copper-Mine
River, whilst the rest of the officers remained with me to the last
moment, to complete our astronomical observations at the house.
He therefore, informed the leader that he would remain stationary
at Point Lake until the arrival of the whole party, where he might
be easily consulted if any of his people fell sick, as it was in the
neighbourhood of their hunting grounds.
On the 2nd the stores were packed up in proper-sized bales for the
journey. I had intended to send the canoes by the first party, but
they were not yet repaired, the weather not being sufficiently
warm for the men to work constantly at them, without the hazard
of breaking the bark. This day one of the new trading guns, which
we had recently received from Fort Chipewyan, burst in the hands
of a young Indian ; fortunately, however, without doing him any
material injury. This was the sixth accident of the kind which had
occurred since our departure from Slave Lake. Surely this defi