North-West Continent of America, 



179 



•others to them, with such articles as they appeared to 

 want : particularly arms and ammunition, with which \hey 

 would be able to prevent their enemies from invading 

 them. I obtained, however, no addition to what I already 

 knew, but that the country below us, as far as he was ac- 

 quainted with it, abounded in animals, and that the river 

 produced plenty of fish* 



Our canoe was now become so weak, leaky, and un- 

 manageable, that it became a matter of absolute necessity 

 to construct a new one ; and I had been informed, that if 

 we delayed that important work till we got further down 

 the river, we should not be able to procure bark. I there- 

 fore dispatched two of my people, with an Indian, in search 

 of that necessary material. The weather was so cloudy 

 that I could not get an observation.* 



I passed the rest of the day in conversing with these 

 people : they consisted of 'seven families, containing 

 eighteen men ; they were clad in leather, and had some 

 beaver and rabbit-skin blankets. They had not been long 

 arrived in this part of the country, where they proposed 

 to pass the summer, to catch fish for their winter provi- 

 sion : for this purpose they were preparing machines 

 similar to that which we found in the first Indian house 

 we saw and described. The fish which they take in them 

 are large, and only visit this part of the river at certain 

 seasons. These people differ very little, if at all, either in 

 their appearance, language, or manners, from the Rocky- 

 Mountain Indians. The men whom I sent in search of 

 bark, returned with a certain quantity of it, but of a very 

 indifferent kind. We were not gratified with the arrival 

 of any of the natives whom we expected from a lower 

 part of the river. 



* The observation, already mentioned, I got on my return. 



