In the Arctic Regions. 335 
A 
on going to the Fort, we began to patch and prepare 
our clothes for the journey. We singed the hair off 
a part of the buffalo robe that belonged to Mr. Hood, 
and boiled and ate it. Michel tried to persuade me 
to go to the woods on the Copper-Mine River, and 
hunt for deer, instead of going to the Fort. In the 
afternoon a flock of .partridges coming near the tent, 
he killed several, which he shared with us. 
Thick snowy weather and a head wind prevented 
us from starting the following day, but on the morning 
of the 23d we set out, carrying with us the remainder 
of the singed robe. Hepburn and Michel had each a 
gun, and I carried a small pistol, which Hepburn had 
loaded for me. In the course of the march Michel 
alarmed us much by his gestures and conduct, was 
constantly muttering to himself, expressed an unwill- 
ingness to go to the Fort, and tried to persuade me 
to go to the southward to the woods, where he said he 
could ‘maintain himself all the winter by killing deer. 
In consequence of this behavior, and the expression of 
his countenance, I requested him to leave us and to go 
to the southward by himself. This proposal increased 
his ill-nature, he threw out some obscure hints of 
freeing himself from all restraint on the morrow ; and 
I overheard him muttering threats against Hepburn, 
whom he openly accused of having told stories against 
him. He also for the first time, assumed such a tone 
