11 



can into the river with word of his voyage, he turned his prow 

 up stream again. No sooner had Campbell started back than 

 the Indians, showing greater hostility, stealthily followed the 

 party, and were very nearly falling upon the small band of 

 voyageurs. Two years afterwards the Indians informed Camp- 

 bell that they had intended to murder him and his crew. They 

 depicted very vividly how on one night when it was as clear as 

 day he had himself, while on guard, kept in his hand something- 

 white. This had been a book, a religious work, of which he 

 was fond — " Hervey's Meditations,"- — some say it was the Bible. 

 This little book they had regarded as a charm, and it saved 

 his life. They told him that he had occasionally gone to the 

 river brink to drink, but that he drank from a horn cup. Had 

 he knelt down to drink they would certainly have killed him 

 and thrown him into the river. Campbell was in his religious 

 spirit in the habit of attributing his safety on this occasion to 

 the special care of his Heavenly Father. 



DOWN THE PELLY. 



The misadventure of the first voyage did not deter the 

 daring fur traders from seeking out the river again. The 

 winters were spent in trading between Fr-ances Lake and Pelly 

 Banks, but in the summer, parties descended the river on hunting 

 expeditions, and brought back many a quarry of moose, deer 

 and bear, and supplies of the bighorns or mountain sheep, noted 

 for the delicacy of their flesh. The constant visits made to Pelly 

 banks led to much speculation as to what the outlet of the Pelly 

 River w^as. Was it the Colville ? Or was it, as Campbell with 

 true prescience conjectured, the upper part of the Yukon ? It 

 was at length determined to place a fort at the junction of the 

 Pelly and Lewis, the point reached on a former journey a few 

 years before. 



Having spent the winter before in building boats at Pelly 

 Banks, they sent their returns in early spring down to Fort 

 Simpson, and in July, 1848, started off with great expectation 

 to take possession of new territory. Reaching the junction of 

 the Pelly and Lewis they erected a fort, calling it Fort Selkirk. 



