Journal of a Voyage through the 



I inquired, with some anxiety, after an old man whc* 

 had already given me an account of the country beyond 

 the limits of his tribe, and was very much disappointed 

 at being informed, that he had not been seen for upwards 

 of a moon. This man had been at war on another large 

 river beyond the Rocky Mountain, and described to me 

 a fork of it between the mountains ; the Southern branch 

 of which he directed me to take ; from thence, he said, 

 there was a carrying-place of about a days march for a 

 young man to get to the other river. To prove the truth of 

 his relation, he consented that his son, who had been with 

 him in those parts, should accompany me, and he accord- 

 ingly sent him to the fort some days before my departure ; 

 but the preceding night he deserted with another young- 

 man, whose application to attend me as a hunter, being 

 refused, he persuaded the other to leave me. I now thought 

 it right to repeat to them what I had said to the chief of 

 the first band, respecting the advantages which would be 

 derived from the voyage, that the young men might be en- 

 couraged to remain with me ; as without them I should 

 not have attempted to proceed. 



Monday 13. The first object that presented itself to me 

 this morning was the young man whom I have already 

 mentioned, as having seduced away my intended guide. 

 At any other time or place I should have chastised him 

 for his past conduct, but in my situation it was necessary 

 to pass over his offence, lest he should endeavour to exer- 

 cise the same influence over those who were so essential to 

 my service. Of the deserter he gave no satisfactory ac- 

 count, but continued to express his wish to attend me in 

 his place, for which he did not possess any necessary quali- 

 fications. 



The weather was cloudy, with an appearance of rain ; 

 and the Indians pressed me with great earnestness to pass 

 the day with them, and hoped to prolong my stay among 

 them by assuring me that the winter yet lingered in the 

 Rocky Mountains : but my object was to lose no time, and 

 having given the chief some tobacco for a small quantity 

 of meat, we embarked at four, when my young men could 

 not conceal their chagrin at parting with their friends, for 

 so long a period as the voyage threatened to occupy. When 

 I had assured them that in three moons we should return 

 to them, we proceeded on our course, West-North- West 

 half a mile, West-South- West one mile and an half, West 



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