NORTHERN OCEAN 153 



North side of which we found several Copper Indians, who 1771. 

 were assembled, according to annual custom, to kill deer as 

 they cross the river in their little canoes. 



The ice being now broken up, we were, for the first time 

 this Summer, obliged to make use of our canoes to ferry 

 across the river : which would have proved very tedious, had 

 it not been for the kindness of the Copper Indians, who sent 

 all their canoes to our assistance. Though our number was 

 not much less than one hundred and fifty, we had only three 

 canoes, and those being of the common size, could only carry 

 two persons each, without baggage. It is true, when water 

 is smooth, and a raft of three or four of those canoes is well 

 secured by poles lashed across them, they will carry a much 

 greater weight in proportion, and be much safer, as there is 

 scarcely a possibility of their oversetting ; and this is the 

 general mode adopted by the people of this country in crossing 

 rivers when they have more than one canoe with them. 



Having arrived on the North side of this river, we found 

 that Matonabbee, and several others in our company, were 

 personally acquainted with most of the Copper Indians v/hom 

 we found there. The latter seemed highly pleased at the 

 interview with our party, and endeavoured, by every means in 

 their power, to convince our company of their readiness to serve 

 us to the utmost ; so that by the [120] time we had got our 

 tents pitched, the strangers had provided a large quantity of 

 dried meat and fat, by way of a feast, to which they invited 



Richardson ("Polar Regions," p. 126) makes the following statement with 

 regard to the identification of this place : 



" Travelling without incumbrance, the war-party, with Hearne in company, 

 reached a river of some size called Congecawthawhachaga, on the 21st of June, 

 and there they met a large body of the Copper Indians or Red Knives, one of 

 whom, then a boy named Cascathry, was well known in 1820-21 to Sir John 

 Franklin. This boy joined the war-party, and in his old age remembered the 

 circumstances well. Hearne says that he ascertained with his Elton's quadrant 

 the position of the ferry over the river to be 68° 46' north, and 118^ 15' west of 

 London. According to Sir John Franklin's observations it lies in 66° 14' N., 

 long. 112° W."] 



