OF THE POLAR SEA. : 351 
of my young men shall join the party, because it 
shall not be said that we permitted you to die 
alone after having brought you hither ; but from 
the moment they embark in the canoes, I and my 
relatives shall lament them as dead.” 
We could only reply to this forcible appeal, by 
assuring him and the Indians who were seated 
around him, that we felt the most anxious solici- 
tude for the safety of every individual, and that 
it was far from our intention to proceed without 
considering every argument for and 2 the 
proposed journey. 
We next informed frie; that it would be very 
desirable to see the river at any rate, that we 
might give some positive information about its 
situation and size, in our next letters to the great 
Chief; and that we were very anxious to get on 
its banks, for the purpose of observing an eclipse 
of the sun, which we described to him, and said 
would happen in a few days. He received this 
communication with more temper than the pre- 
ceding, though he immediately assigned as a rea- 
son for his declining to go, that “ the Indians 
~ must now procure a-sufficient quantity of deer- 
skins for winter clothing for themselves, and 
dresses for the Canadians, who would need them 
if they had to travel in the winter.” Finding» 
him so averse to proceed, and feeling at the same 
