476 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



Akaitcho and his hunters had been effaced at the time of his engage- 

 ment with us, we placed a sum, equal to the amount of provision they 

 had recently supplied, to their credit on the Company's books. These 

 things being, through the moderation of the Indians, adjusted with 

 an unexpected facility, we gave them a keg of mixed liquors, (five 

 parts water,) and distributed among them several fathoms of tobacco, 

 and they retired to their tents to spend the night in merriment. 



Adam, our interpreter, being desirous of uniting himself with 

 the Copper Indians, applied to me for his discharge, which I 

 granted, and gave him a bill on the Hudson's Bay Company for the 

 amount of his wages. These arrangements being completed, we 

 prepared to cross the lake. 



Mr. Weeks provided Dr. Eichardson and me with a cariole each, 

 and we set out at eleven A.M., on the 15th, for Moose-deer 

 Island. Our party consisted of Belanger, who had charge of a 

 sledge, laden with the bedding, and drawn by two dogs, our two 

 cariole men, Benoit, and Augustus. Previous to our departure, we 

 had another conference with Akaitcho, who, as well as the rest of 

 his party, bade us farewell, with a warmth of manner rare among 

 the Indians. 



The badness of Belanger's dogs, and the roughness of the ice, 

 impeded our progress very much, and obliged us to encamp early. 

 We had a good fire made of the drift wood, which lines the shores 

 of this lake in great quantities. The next day was very cold. 

 We began the journey at nine A.M., and encamped at the Big 

 Cape, having made another short march, in consequence of the 

 roughness of the ice. 



On the 17th, we encamped on the most southerly of the Rein- 

 deer Islands. This night was very stormy, but the wind abating in 

 the morning, we proceeded, and by sunset reached the fishing-huts 

 of the Company at Stony Point. Here we found Mr. Andrews, a 

 clerk of the Hudson's Bay Company, who regaled us with a supper 



