144 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



and a little tea and sugar. They also 

 brought letters for us from England, and from 

 Mr. Back and Mr. Wentzel. By the former 

 we received the gratifying intelligence of 

 the successful termination of Captain Parry's 

 voyage; and were informed of the promo- 

 tion of myself and Mr. Back, and of poor 

 Hood, our grief for whose loss was renewed 

 by this intelligence. 



The letter from Mr. Back stated that the 

 rival Companies in the fur trade had 

 united ; but that owing to some cause which 

 had not been explained to him, the goods 

 intended as rewards to Akaitcho and his 

 band, which we had demanded in the spring 

 from the North- West Company, were not 

 sent. There were, however, some stores 

 lying for us at Moose-Deer Island, which 

 had been ordered for the equipment of our 

 voyagers; and Mr. Back had gone across 

 to that establishment, to make a selection 

 of the articles we could spare for a tempo- 

 rary present to the Indians. The disap- 

 pointment at the non-arrival of the goods 

 was seriously felt by us, as we had looked 



