302 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



at Fort Enterprise, in latitude 64° 28', on the 12th or 14th of the 

 same month. 



On the 16th a minor chief amongst the Copper Indians, attended 

 by his son, arrived from Fort Providence to consult Dr. Kichardson. 

 He was affected with snow-blindness, which soon yielded to the 

 dropping of a little laudanum into his eyes twice a day. Most of 

 our own men have been affected with the same complaint of late, 

 but it has always yielded in twenty or thirty hours to the same 

 remedy. 



On the 21st all our men returned from the Indians, and Akaitcho 

 was on his way to the fort. In the afternoon two of his young men 

 arrived to announce his visit, and to request that he might be re- 

 ceived with a salute and other marks of respect that he had been 

 accustomed to on visiting Fort Providence in the spring. I complied 

 with his desire although I regretted the expenditure of ammunition, 

 and sent the young men away with the customary present of powder 

 to enable him to return the salute, some tobacco, vermilion to paint 

 their faces, a comb, and a looking-glass. 



At eleven Akaitcho arrived ; upon the first notice of his appear- 

 ance the flag was hoisted at the fort, and upon his nearer approach, 

 a number of musquets were fired by a party of our people, and 

 returned by his young men. Akaitcho, preceded by his standard- 

 bearer, led the party, and advanced with a slow and solemn step to the 

 door where Mr. Wentzel and I received him. The faces of the party 

 were daubed with vermilion, the old men having a spot on the right 

 cheek, the young ones on the left. Akaitcho himself was not painted. 

 On entering he sat down on a chest, the rest placed themselves 

 in a circle on the floor. The pipe was passed once or twice round, 

 and in the mean time a bowl of spirits and water, and a present 

 considerable for our circumstances of cloth, blankets, capots, shirts, 

 &c, was placed on the floor for the chief's acceptance, and distri- 



