OF THE POLAR SEA. 



275 



evinced a benevolence of disposition and goodness of nature which 

 could not fail to secure the approbation of the most indifferent 

 observer. 



The accounts I here received of our goods were of so unsatis- 

 factory a nature, that I determined to proceed, as soon as the lake 

 was frozen, to Moose-Deer Island, or if necessary to the Athabasca 

 Lake ; both to inform myself of the grounds of the unceremonious 

 and negligent manner in which the Expedition had been treated, 

 and to obtain a sufficient supply of ammunition and other stores, to 

 enable it to leave its present situation, and proceed for the attain- 

 ment of its ultimate object. 



November 9. — I despatched to Fort Enterprise one of the men, 



with the letters and a hundred musquet-balls, which Mr. Weeks 



lent me on the condition that they should be returned the first 



opportunity. An Indian and his wife accompanied the messenger. 



Lieutenant Franklin was made acquainted with the exact state of 



things ; and I awaited with much impatience the freezing of the 

 lake. 



November 16. — A band of Slave Indians came to the fort with a 

 few furs and some bears' grease. Though we had not seen any of 

 them, it appeared that they had received information of our being 

 in the country ; and knew the precise situation of our house, which 

 they would have visited long ago, but from the fear they had of 

 being pillaged by the Copper Indians. I questioned the chief about 

 the Great Bear and Martin Lakes, their distance from Fort En- 

 terprise, &c. ; but his answers were so vague and unsatisfactory that 

 they were not worth attention ; his description of Bouleau's Route, 

 (which he said was the shortest and best, and abundant in animals,) 

 was very defective, though the relative points were sufficiently cha- 



racteristic, had we not possessed a better route. He had never 



been at the sea ; and knew nothing about the mouth of the Cop- 

 per-Mine River. In the evening he made his young men dance, and 



2 N 2 



