ARRIVE AT FORT CHIPPEWYAN. J5 



After some detentions of an ordinary kind, 

 we got to Fort Chippewyan on the 29th of July. 

 We arrived so early, that we were not in the least 

 expected; and the canoe was not seen until within 

 a short distance of the land, — a circumstance 

 by no means pleasing to the guide, who, besides 

 his own decorations of many coloured feathers, 

 &c, had taken more than ordinary pains to dis- 

 play to the best advantage the crimson beauties 

 of a large silk flag. The sleeping inmates were, 

 however, at length roused ; and we were 

 welcomed by Mr. Ross, who had been left by 

 Mr. Charles in charge of the establishment. 



It was to be regretted that the whole of the 

 Indians usually resorting to this station were, at 

 the time of our visit, too much dispersed to allow 

 of any one in particular being sent for ; so that 

 we were obliged to rest satisfied with the meagre 

 narrative of an infirm old Indian, who, in his 

 youthful days, had passed by the Fond du Lac 

 to the rivers I was in search of; and his account 

 was too vague and uncertain to warrant any hopes 

 of success in that direction. Mr. M'Leod, 

 indeed, who had been at the Fond du Lac, 

 confirmed the statement I had first heard, that 

 there was a river there which was known to 

 take its rise far to the north : but yet, when the 

 old man concluded his description of the coun- 

 try by remarking, that " he was old and of 



