FROM CHIPEWYAN TO FORT SMITH 



IT must not be supposed that my researches at Chipe- 

 wyan taught me all this, or that all I have said applies to 

 the country immediately about that post. But while I am 

 figuratively resting my ankle under Dr. Mackay's roof I 

 have told something of the people and the country into 

 which I am pushing. I rested only one day at Chipewyan, 

 and with the exception of a most interesting visit to the 

 Roman Catholic mission, in charge of Bishop Grouard 

 (who is pursuing the only practical course of Indian civili- 

 zation by beginning with the children), I spent my time 

 getting my feet and ankle in condition for the onward 

 journey, and in talking with the Doctor, who is one of the 

 real and prominent " old-timers." Two others are J. S. 

 Camsell, the Hudson's Bay Company officer at Fort Simp- 

 son, on the Mackenzie, one of the most popular factors 

 and hardiest voyagcurs in the country, and C. P. Gaudet, 

 in charge of Fort Good Hope, on the same river. 



Of Chipewyan itself there is little to say, other than 

 that it was from this point, then a post of the Northwest 

 Company, that Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1789 took his 

 departure for his voyage of discovery; and here, too, Sir 

 John Franklin spent some time previous to embarking 

 on the trip which resulted in the starvation of several 

 of his party, and eventually in his own death. 



I was given the same assurances here that I had re- 



