240 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



dily compared their conduct with their pre- 

 tensions. 



By the newspapers we learned the demise 

 of our revered and lamented sovereign 

 George III., and the proclamation of 

 George IV. We concealed this intelligence 

 from the Indians, lest the death of their 

 Great Father might lead them to suppose 

 that we should be unable to fulfil our pro- 

 mises to them. 



The Indians who had left Fort Providence 

 with Belanger arrived the day after him, 

 and, amongst other intelligence, informed 

 Akaitcho of some reports they had heard to 

 our disadvantage. They stated that Mr. 

 Weeks, the gentleman in charge of Fort 

 Providence, had told them, that so far from 

 our being what we represented ourselves to 

 be, the officers of a great King, we were 

 merely a set of dependant wretches, whose 

 only aim was to obtain subsistence for a 

 season in the plentiful country of the Cop- 

 per Indians; that out of charity we had 

 been supplied with a portion of goods by 

 the trading Companies, but that there was 



