108 'Jour nal of a Voyage through the. 



was covered with snow. On the 25th the river was cleared 

 of the ice. 



I now found that the death of the man called the White 

 Partridge, had deranged all the plans which I had settled 

 with the Indians for the spring hunting. They had assem- 

 bled at some distance from the fort, and sent an embassy 

 to me, to demand rum to drink, that they might have an 

 opportunity of crying for their deceased brother. It wotild 

 be considered as an extreme degradation in an Indian to 

 weep when sober, but a state of intoxication sanctions all 

 irregularities. On my refusal, they threatened to go to 

 war, which, from .motives of interest as well as humanity, 

 we did our utmost to discourage ; and as a second message 

 was brought by persons of some weight among these peo- 

 ple, and on whom I could depend, I thought it prudent to 

 comply with the demand, on an express condition, that 

 they would continue peaceably at home. 



The month of April being now past, in the early part of 

 which I was most busily employed in trading with the In*, 

 dians, I ordered all our canoes to be repaired with bark, 

 and added four new ones to them, when with the 

 furs and provisions I had purchased, six canoes were load- 

 ed and dispatched on the 8th of May for Fort Chepewyan. 

 I had, however, retained six of the men who agreed to 

 accompany me on my projected voyage of discovery. I 

 also engaged my hunters, and closed the business of the 

 year for the company by writing my public and private dis- 

 patches. 



Having ascertained, by various observations, the lati- 

 tude of this place to be 56. 9. North, and longitude 117. 

 35. 15. West : — on the 9th day of May, I found, that my 

 aerometer, was one hour forty-six minutes slow to apparent? 

 time ; the mean going of it I had found to be twenty-two 

 seconds slow in twenty-four hours. Having settled this 

 point, the canoe was put into the water ; her dimensions 

 were twenty-five feet long within, exclusive of the curves 

 of stem and stern, twenty-six inches hold, and four feet 

 nine inches beam. At the same time she was so light, 

 that two men could carry her on a good road three or four 

 miles without resting. In this slender vessel, we shipped 

 provisions, goods for presents, arms, ammunition, and 

 baggage, to the weight of three thousand pounds, and an 

 equipage of ten people, viz. Alexander Mackay, Joseph 



