278 LEAVE FORT MAC PHERSON. 



friend Mr, Hardisty, whose most obliging disposition 

 I here pay tribute to ; also to Mr. and Mrs. Peers, that 

 gentleman having been accompanied by his bride, and 

 departed on a jom^ney which we regretted had not 

 been undertaken a fortnight earlier ; for, as may well 

 be guessed, the advance of the season did not 

 increase the mildness of temperature. We were 

 obliged to leave four hundred pounds of preserved 

 meats and vegetables behind, our boat — which had 

 been snugly hauled up on the beach in expectation of 

 the winter's sojourn — ^being too deeply laden to carry 

 them. 



Two Indians accompanied us, to point out the 

 nearest cut into the Mackenzie, after which we were to 

 find our own way as we best might to Fort Good 

 Hope. We did not encamp until a late hour ; and 

 were greatly amused by the antics of our guides, 

 who were continually peeping and peering about 

 among the bushes, and into the shadows, evidently in 

 an agony of suspense lest Esquimaux should be 

 lurking in the vicinity. The Indians were certainly 

 greatly afraid of their sea-coast neighbours, who, 

 since the acquisition of firearms, also stand much in 

 awe of those possessing them. We were greatly 

 annoyed, soon after departing from Fort Mac Pherson, 

 to see nearly a dozen dogs belonging to the establish- 



