42 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



Under Secretary of State. I wrote by each 

 of these gentlemen to inform Dr. Richard- 

 son and Mr. Hood of the scarcity of stores 

 at these posts, and to request them to pro- 

 cure all they possibly could on their route. 

 Mr. Smith was left in charge of this post 

 during the summer ; this gentleman soon 

 evinced his desire to further our progress by 

 directing a new canoe to be built for our 

 use, which was commenced immediately. 



June 21. — This day an opportunity 

 offered of sending letters to the Great 

 Slave Lake ; and I profited by it, to request 

 Mr. Wentzel would accompany the expedi- 

 tion agreeably to the desire of the Copper 

 Indians, communicating to him that I had 

 received permission for him to do so from 

 the partners of the North- West Company. 

 Should he be disposed to comply with my 

 invitation, I desired that he would go over 

 to Fort Providence, and remain near the 

 Indians whom he had engaged for our ser- 

 vice. I feared lest they should become 

 impatient at our unexpected delay, and, 

 with the usual fickleness of the Indian cha- 



