﻿46 MR. BELL TAKES CHARGE. Sept. 1847. 



or less apprehension a season of extreme hardship 

 in that northern region. Mr. Bell's party consisted 

 of twenty Europeans, a guide, and sixteen Com- 

 pany's voyagers, together with the wives* of three 

 of the latter, and two children; making in all, 

 with himself and two of his own children, forty- 

 five individuals, embarked in five boats. Had the 

 ships arrived early, there was a possibility of the 

 party reaching Isle a la Crosse before the naviga- 

 tion closed, which, in that district, may be expected 

 to occur about the 20th of October. But the very 

 late date at which the stores were disembarked 

 precluded such a hope ; and the extreme dryness 

 of the season, and consequent lowness of the rivers 

 between York Factory and Lake Winipeg, obliged 

 Mr. Bell to leave a quantity of the pemican and some 

 other packages at York Factory, that he might 

 reduce the draught of his boats. 



These facts were communicated to me on the 

 return of the Hudson's Bay ships to England 

 in October; and in February, 1848, I heard by 

 letters forwarded through Canada, that Mr. Bell 

 and his party had, from the causes specified, made 

 slow progress ; that the boats had been often 



* It is desirable to have two or three females at every post 

 in the interior for washing, making, and mending the people's 

 clothes and mocassins, netting snow shoes, making and repairing 

 fishing nets, and other services of a similar nature. 



