panied by Mr. M‘Vicar and Mr. M‘Auley, and nearly all the
voyagers at the establishment, having resided there about five
months, not a day of which had passed without our having cause
of gratitude, for the unvaried kindness of Mr. M‘Vicar and Mr.
M‘Auley. These gentlemen accompanied us as far as Fort
Chipewyan, where we arrived on the 2d of June; here we met
Mr. Wentzel, and the four men, who had been sent with him from
the mouth of the Copper-Mine River; and I think it due to that
gentleman, to give his own explanation of the unfortunate circumstances
which prevented him from fulfilling my instructions, respecting
the provisions to have been left for us at Fort Enterprise*.
* 4‘After you sent me back from the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, and I had
overtaken the Leader, Guides, and Hunters, on the fifth day, leaving the sea-coast, as well
as on our journey up the River, they always expressed the same desire öf fulfilling their promises,
although somewhat dissatisfied at being exposed to privation while oh our return,
from a scarcity of animals; for, as I have already stated in my first communication, from
Moose-Deer Island, we had been eleven days with no other food but trvpe. de roche. In
the course of this time an Indian, with his wife and child, who were travelling in company
with us, were left in the rear, and are since supposed to have perished through want, as
no intelligence had been received of them at Fort Providence in December last. On the
seventh day after I had joined the Leader, fyc. fyc., and journeying on together, all the
Indians, excepting Petit Pied and Bald-Head, left me to seek their families, and crossed
Point Lake at the Crow’s Nest, where Humpy had promised to meet his brother Ekehcho*
with the families, but did not fulfil, nor did any of my party of Indians know where to
find them; for we had frequently made fires to apprize them of our approach, yet none
appeared in return as answers. This disappointment, as might be expected, served to
increase the ill-humour of the Leader and party, the brooding of which (agreeably to
Indian custom) was liberally discharged on me, in bitter reproach for having led them
from their families, and exposed them to dangers and hardships, which, but for my influr
ence, they said, they might have spared themselves. Nevertheless, they still continued
to profess the sincèrest desire of meeting your wishes in making caches of provisions, and
remaining until a late season on the road that leads from Fort Enterprise to Fort Providence,
through which the Expedition-men had travelled so often thé year before—-remark-
ing, however, at the same time, that they had not the least hopes of ever seeing one person
return from the Expedition. These alarming fears I never could persuade them to
a Akaitcho the Leader.
In a subsequent conversation he stated to me, that the two
Indians, who were actually with him at Fort Enterprise, whilst he
remained there altering his canoe, were prevented from hunting;
one by an accidental lameness,: the other by the fear of meeting
alone some of the Dog-Kib Indians.
dismiss from their minds; they always sneered at what they called ‘ my credulity. —
‘If,’ said the Gros P ied\ ‘ the Great Chief (meaning Captain Franklin), or any of his
.party, should pass at my tents, he or they shall be welcome to all my provisions, or any
thing else that I may have.’ And I am sincerely happy to understand, by your communication,
that in this he had kept his word—in sending you with such promptitude
and liberality the assistance your truly dreadful situation required. But the party of
Indians, on whom I had placed the utmost confidence and dependance, was Humpy
and the White Capot Guide, with their sons, and several of the discharged hunters from
the Expedition. This party was well-disposed, and readily promised to collect provisions
for the possible return of the Expedition, provided they could get a.supply of ammunition
from Fort Providence; for when I came up with them they were actually starving, and
converting old axes idto ball, having no other substitute—this was unlucky. Yet they
were well inclined, and I expected to find means at Fort Providence to send them a supply,
in which I was, however, disappointed, for I found that establishment quite destitute
of necessaries ; and then, shortly after I had left them, they had the misfortune of losing
three of their hunters, who were drowned in Marten Lake: this accident was, of all
others, the most fatal that could have happened—a truth which no one, who has the
least knowledge of the Indiaii character, will deny; and as they were nearly connected
by relationship to the Leader, Humpy, and White Capot Guide, the three leading men
of this part of the Copper Indian Tribe, it had the effect of unhinging (if I may use the
expression) the minds of all these families, and finally destroying all the fond hopes I had
so sanguinely conceived of their assisting the Expedition, should it come back by the
Annadessd River, of which they were not certain.
-,>r As to my not,leaving a letter at Fort Enterprise, it was because, by some mischance,
you had forgot to give me paper when we parted6.
“ I, however, wrote this news on a plank in pencil, and placed it in the top of your
former bedstead, where I left it. Since it has not been found there, some Indians must
have gone to the house after my departure, and destroyed it. These details, Sir, I have
been induced to enter into (rather unexpectedly) in justification of myself, and hope it
will be satisfactory.”
bc IA clseort aAinklayi tochffoe.red Mr. Wentzel some papei; when he quitted us, but he declined it, having then a notebook
; and Mr. Back gave him a pencil.