NORTHERN OCEAN 277 



received the letter from me, it was very uncertain what route 1772. 

 we should take in our return from the Copper River, and, in ' "^ 

 all probability, he himself had not then determined on what 

 spot he would pass the present Winter ; consequently our 

 meeting each other was merely accidental. 



These Indians having obtained a few furrs in the course of 

 the Winter, joined our party, which now consisted of twenty 

 tents, containing in the whole about two [280] hundred persons; 

 and indeed our company had not been much less during the 

 whole Winter. 



From the strangers who last joined us we received some 

 ready-dressed moose-skins for tenting and shoe-leather ; also 

 some other skins for clothing, for all of which the Chief at 

 the Factory was to pay on our arrival. 



I cannot sufficiently lament the loss of my quadrant, as the 

 want of it must render the course of my journey from Point 

 Lake, where it was broken, very uncertain ; and my watch 

 stopping while I was at the Athapuscow Lake, has contributed 

 greatly to the misfortune, as I am now deprived of every 

 means of estimating the distances which we walked with any 

 degree of accuracy, particularly in thick weather, when the 

 Sun could not be seen. 



The Indians were employed at all convenient times in i6th. 

 procuring birch-rind and making wood-work ready for build- 

 ing canoes ; also in preparing small staffs of birch-wood, to 

 take with them on the barren ground, to serve as tent-poles 

 all the Summer ; and which, as hath been already observed, 

 they convert into snow-shoe frames when the Winter sets in. 

 Here it may be proper to observe, that none of those incidental 

 avocations interfere with, or retard the Indians in their journey; 

 for they always take the advantage of every [281] opportunity 

 which offers, as they pass along, and when they see a tree fit 

 for their purpose, cut it down, and either strip off the bark, 

 if that be what they want, or split the trunk in pieces ; and 

 after hewing it roughly with their hatchet, carry it to the tent, 



