and at tea next morning the \$iole? wa4, by te» perfons and
a large dog, who was allowed bis fliare of the -banquet. This is no
exaggeration | nor did any inconvenience refult from what may he con-»
fidered as an inordinate indulgence.
We were on the water before day-light; and when the fun rofe a
beautiful country appeared around us, enriched and animated by lafgb
herds o f wild cattle. The weather, was now fo warm, that to us» who
had not of late been accuftomed to heat» it was overwhelming .and bp-
prelfive. In the eourfe of this day we killed a buffalo and a bear; but
we word now- in the midft.of abundance, and they were not fofficifcndy
iat tafat^fy pur faftidfoss appetites, fo we left them where :&ey felL-
We landed, for the night, and prepared ourfelves for arriving,at the
Fort on the following day.
I. Tl^e weather was the fame as yefterday, and the country increafing
in beauty;< though as wo approached the Fort, the cattle appeared proportionality
to diminifb. We now landed at two lodges § f Indians,
who were as aftonilhed to fee us, as if we had been the firff^ldte men
whpro. they had, ever, beheld. When we bad paffed thefq people not an
animal was to be fee» on the borders of the river.
A t length, as we rounded a point, and came in view o f the Fort, we
threw out our flag, and accompanied it with a general difeharge of our
fire*arms>> whdothe men 'V^er^ in fuch fpirits, and made fuch an aftive
ufe of their paddles, that we arrived before the two men whom we
1 left
left here in the fpring, could recover; their fcnles to anfwer us. Thus we
landed at-four in ,the afternoon, at the place which we left on the ninth
Of May.—— — H.ere piy voyage? of. Their’, toils
and their dangers, their, fplicitudes and fufferings, have pot. been exaggerated
in my dcfcriplion. .On the. contrary, in many inftances, lanr
gu-age has failebmein the attempt to.defcribe them. F received, how*
over, the reward of my labours, fpr they werfe. crowned with fuccefs.
As I have now refumed the cfharaóter o f 'a trader, I fhall not trouble
myy readers, witbpany fubfequent concern» but content myfelf with thé
clofeig information, that after an abfence of- eleven months, I arrived
ar.Fort Chepewyan, where I remained, for thé pua?pofes .of trade, during
the f ucceeding winter. /.
TH E "followihg* general,'biit fhOrty geographical view of the country
may not be improper to clbfb this work», as well as fome rfemarkson the
probable advantages that may be derived from advancing the trade o f it,
uncKr proper regulations, and by the fpirit o f commercial enteijrrize;
By fuppofing a line from the Atlantic, Eaft, to the1 Pacific, Weft, in
fhe parallel - o f forty-five degrees of North latitude, it will, I think,
nearly deferibe’ the Britifh territories-in North America. ’ For I am o f
opinion, that the extent of the eochftry to the South o f this line, which
fre ha-vb-a right to daim, is equal to that to the North of it, which may
be claimed by other, powers.