To our great regret, Mr. Stuart expressed much doubt as to our
prevailing upon any experienced Canadian voyagers to accompany us
to the sea, in consequence of their dread of the Esquimaux ; who, he
informed us, had already destroyed the crew of one canoe, which
had been sent under Mr. Livingstone, to open a trading communication
with those who reside near the mouth of the Mackenzie
River; and he also mentioned, that the same tribe had driven away
the canoes under Mr. Clark’s direction, going to them on a similar
object, to which circumstance I have alluded in my remarks at Isle it
la Crosse.
This was unpleasant information; but we were comforted by
Mr. Stuart’s assurance that himself and his partners would use every
endeavour to remove their fears, as well as to promote our views in
every other way; and he undertook, as a necessary part of our
equipment in the spring, to prepare the bark and other materials for
constructing two canoes at this post.
Mr. Stuart informed us that the residents at Fort Chipewyan,
from the recent sickness of their Indian hunters, had been reduced
to subsist entirely on the produce of their fishing-nets, which did
not then yield more than a bare sufficiency for their support; and he
kindly proposed to us to remain with him until the spring: but, as
we were most desirous to gain all the information we could as early
as possible, and Mr. Stuart assured us that the addition of three
persons would not be materially felt in their large family at Chipewyan,
we determined on proceeding thither, and fixed on the 22d
for our departure.
Pierre au Calumet receives its name from the place where the
stone is procured, of which many of the pipes used by the Canadians
and Indians are made. It is a clayey limestone, impregnated with
various shells. The house, which is built on the summit of a steep
bank, rising almost perpendicular to the height of one hundred
and eighty feet, commands an extensive prospect along this fine
river, and over the plains which stretch out several miles at the back
of it, bounded by hills of considerable height, and apparently better
furnished with wood: than the. neighbourhood of the fort, where the
trees grow very, scantily. There had been an establishment belonging
to the, Hudson’s Bay Company (on the opposite bank of the
river, but it < was abandoned in Decemher . last, , the residents not
being able to procure provision, from their hunters having been
disabled by the epidemic sickness, which carried off one third of
the Indians in these parts. They belong to the, Northern Crees, a
name given them from their residing in the Athabasca department.
There are now but few families of these men, who formerly, by their
numbers and predatory habits, spread terror among the natives of this
part of the country.
There are springs of bituminous matter on several islands near
these houses; and the stones on the river bank are much impregnated
with this useful substance. There is also another place
remarkable for the production of a sulphureous salt, which is deposited
on the surface of a round-backed hill about half a mile from
the beach, and on the marshy ground underneath it. We visited
these places at a subsequent period of the journey, and descriptions
of them will appear in Dr. Richardson’s Mineralogical Notices.
The latitude of the North-West Company’s House is 57° 24' 06" N.,
but this was the only observation we could obtain, the atmosphere
being cloudy, Mr. Stuart had an excellent thermometer, which
indicated the lowest state-of temperature to be —43° below zero. He
told me 45° was the lowest temperature he had ever witnessed at
the Athabasca or Great Slave Lake, after many years’ residence.
On the 21st it rose above zero, and at noon attained the height of
43°; the atmosphere was sultry, snow fell constantly, and there was
quite an appearance of a change in the season. On the 22d we
parted from our hospitable friend, and recommenced our journey,
T