142 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



CHAPTEK IV. 



Transactions at Fort Chipewjan— Arrival of Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood— Preparations for 



our Journey to the Northward. 



March 26. On the day after our arrival at Fort Chipewyan we called 

 upon Mr. Mac Donald, the gentleman in charge of the Hudson's 

 Bay Establishment called Fort Wedderburne, and delivered to him 

 Governor Williams's circular letter, which desired that every assist- 

 ance should be given to further our progress, and a statement of the 

 requisitions which we should have to make on his post. 



Our first object was to obtain some certain information respect- 

 ing our future route ; and accordingly we received from one of the 

 North- West Company's interpreters, named Beaulieu, a half-breed, 

 who had been brought up amongst the Dog-ribbed and Copper- 

 Indians, some satisfactory information, which we afterwards found 

 tolerably correct, respecting the mode of reaching the Copper-mine 

 Eiver, which he had descended a considerable way, as well as of the 

 course of that river to its mouth. The Copper Indians, however, he 

 said, would be able to give us more accurate information as to the 

 latter part of its course, as they occasionally pursue it to the sea. 

 He sketched on the floor a representation of the river, and a line of 

 coast according to his idea of it. Just as he had finished, an old 

 Chipewyan Indian, named Black Meat, unexpectedly came in, and 

 instantly recognised the plan. He then took the charcoal from 



