378 TARE AT FORT SIMPSON, 



consisted of fisli (either roasted, or boiled and mixed 

 with potatoes, forming a kind of " twice laid,") tea, 

 and homoeopathic allowances of bread. This was called 

 breakfast. Snpper took place between 4 to 6 accord- 

 ing to the season, and was the gr^d affair of the 

 day : dried or fresh rein-deer or moose-meat, rabbits 

 sometimes, and now and then beaver, bear, or goat's 

 flesh; tea, bread, and an unfrequent pudding, or 

 pancake, these comprised nearly all the varieties of 

 the repast. A small quantity of wine and spirits had 

 been forwarded from the Red River colony for our 

 use; it was, of com'se, reserved for high days and 

 holidays, when each heart recalled its absent ones — 

 loved and loving. 



The Mackenzie " set fast " on the 1st of December ; 

 had the ice continued much longer in motion, I might 

 possibly have had a tragic tale to relate here. Four 

 Indians had arrived on the opposite bank on the 18th, 

 and an endeavour was made to get a boat through the 

 ice to fetch them, but the attempt was necessarily 

 relinquished, and they were told as well as the 

 distance would alloAv, to make for the " rapid fishery," 

 about five days' journey from the Fort, Mdiere a supply 

 of fish was stored. Two days before the ice stopped, 

 two Whitemen and two Indians arrived from Fort 

 Confidence, where Dr. John Rae was wintering previous 



