184 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



ters for a wife. These Esquimaux strike 

 fire with two stones, catching the sparks in 

 the down of the catkins of a willow. 



The despatches being finished were de- 

 livered this evening to Mr. Wentzel, who 

 parted from us at eight P.M. with Parent, 

 Gagnier, Dumas, and Forcier, Canadians, 

 whom I had discharged for the purpose of 

 reducing our expenditure of provision as 

 much as possible. The remainder of the 

 party, including officers, amounted to twenty 

 persons. I made Mr. Wentzel acquainted 

 with the probable course of our future pro- 

 ceedings, and mentioned to him that if we 

 were far distant from this river, when the 

 season or other circumstances rendered it 

 necessary to put a stop to our advance, we 

 should, in all probability, be unable to re- 

 turn to it, and should have to travel across 

 the barren grounds towards some established 

 post: in which case I told him that we 

 should certainly go first to Fort Enterprise, 

 expecting that he would cause the Indians 

 to place a supply of dried provision there, 

 as soon as possible after their arrival in its 



