CHAPTER V 

 FORT RAE 



WHILE crossing the lake, I had an opportunity to discuss 

 my plans with Mr. J. S. Camsell, who was accompanying 

 the "Wrigley" on her first trip. He considered the plan of 

 wintering on the Great Bear Lake impracticable, owing to the 

 difficulty of securing the assistance of the Indians, and strongly 

 advised me to make Rae my headquarters, as a larger number 

 of musk-ox robes were traded there than at any other post 

 except Resolution. He thought that an interpreter could not 

 be easily found about the Great Bear Lake who would be will- 

 ing to enter the Barren Ground with me. Both he and Captain 

 Bell recommended a young Indian, the adopted son of the 

 French metis assistant clerk at Rae, who they thought would 

 be willing to act as interpreter and man-of-all-work, if I decided 

 to winter on the Great Slave Lake. 



Seven miles from Rae, we entered a narrow buoyed channel 

 only eight or ten feet in depth. La Grosse He, a granite island 

 a hundred feet or more in height, extended for some distance 

 on our left, on the right a large number of barren rocks and 

 wooded islets fringed the shore of the mainland. As usual on 

 the arrival of the steamer, the British flag, with the talismanic 

 white letters HB C, was flying at the post. We anchored some 

 distance from the beach, and the officer in charge of the post 

 came on board. He was accompanied by the boy, Andrew 

 Leviolette, whom I wished to engage. Andrew made no objec- 

 tion to the terms offered by Mr. Camsell, and readily agreed to 

 work for a skin a day and his board. 



At I A. M.,July 7th, the "Wrigley" weighed anchor and started 

 on the longest voyage of her season's run. Rae is not on the 



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