OF THE POLAR SEA. 



297 



of provisions at starting. He instantly admitted the force of these 

 observations, and promised that he and his young men should do 

 their utmost to comply with our desires ; and afterwards, in answer 

 to my questions, informed us that he would accompany the Expedi- 

 tion to the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, or, if we did not meet 

 with Esquimaux there for some distance along the coast, he was 

 anxious, he said, to have an amicable interview with that people ; 

 and he further requested, that, in the event of our meeting with 

 Dog-ribs on the Copper-Mine River, we should use our influence to 

 persuade them to live on friendly terms with his tribe. We were 

 highly pleased to find his sentiments so favourable to our views, and, 

 after making some minor arrangements, we parted, mutually content 

 with each other. 



Akaitcho left us on the morning of the 31st, accompanied by 

 Augustus, who, at his request, went to reside for a few days at his 

 lodge. 



On the 4th of April our men arrived with the last supply of goods 

 from Fort Providence, the fruits of Mr. Back's arduous journey to 

 the Athabasca Lake ; and on the 17th Belanger le gros and Belanger 

 le rouge, for so our men discriminated them, set out for Slave Lake, 

 with a box containing the journals of the officers, charts, drawings, 

 observations, and letters addressed to the Secretary of State for Colo- 

 nial Affairs. They also conveyed a letter for Governor Williams, in 

 which I requested that he would, if possible, send a schooner to 

 Wager Bay with provisions and clothing, to meet the exigencies of 

 the party, should they succeed in reaching that part of the coast. 



Connoyer, who was much tormented with biliary calculi, and had 

 done little or no duty all the winter, was discharged at the same 

 time, and sent down in company with an Indian named the Belly. 



The commencement of April was fine, and for several days a 

 considerable thaw took place in the heat of the sun, which laying 

 bare some of the lichens on the sides of the hills, produced a con- 



2 Q 



