492 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



Chipewyan, where we arrived on the 2d of June ; here we met 

 Mr. Wentzel, and the four men, who had been sent with him from 

 the mouth of the Copper-Mine River ; and I think it due to that 

 gentleman, to give his own explanation of the unfortunate circum- 

 stances which prevented him from fulfilling my last instructions, 

 respecting the provisions to have been left for us at Fort En- 

 terprise % 



* " After you sent me back from the mouth of the Copper-Mine River, and I had 

 overtaken the Leader, Guides, a n d Hunters, on the fifth day, leaving the sea-coast, as well 

 as on our journey up the River, they always expressed the same desire of fulfilling their pro- 

 mises, although somewhat dissatisfied at being exposed to privation while on our return, 

 from a scarcity of animals ; for, as I have already stated in my first communication from 

 Moose-Deer Island, we had been eleven days with no other food but tripe de roche. In 

 the course of this time an Indian, with his wife and child, who were travelling in company 

 with us, were left in the rear, and are since supposed to have perished through want, as 

 no intelligence had been received of them at Fort Providence in December last. On the 

 seventh day after I had joined the Leader, fyc. #c, and journeying on together, all the 

 Indians, excepting Petit Pied and Bald-Head, left me to seek their families, and crossed 

 Point Lake at the Crow's Nest, where Humpy had promised to meet his brother Ekehcho * 

 with the families, but did not fulfil, nor did any of my party of Indians know where to 

 find them ; for we had frequently made fires to apprize them of our approach, yet none 

 appeared in return as answers. This disappointment, as might be expected, served to 

 increase the ill-humour of the Leader and party, the brooding of which (agreeably to 

 Indian custom) was liberally discharged on me, in bitter reproach for having led them 

 from their families, and exposed them to dangers and hardships, which but for my influ- 

 ence, they said, they might have spared themselves. Nevertheless, they still continued to 

 profess the sincerest desire of meeting your wishes in making caches of provisions, and 

 remaining until a late season on the road that leads from Fort Enterprise to Fort Provi- 

 dence, through which the Expedition-men had travelled so often the year before — remark- 

 ing, however, at the same time, that they had not the least hopes of ever seeing one per- 

 son return from the Expedition. These alarming fears I never could persuade them to 

 dismiss from their minds ; they always sneered at what they called 6 my credulity.' — 

 c If, 1 said the Gros Pied -f-, ( the Great Chief (meaning Captain Franklin), or any of his 

 party, should pass at my tents, he or they shall be welcome to all my provisions, or any 

 thing else that I may have.' And I am sincerely happy to understand, by your com-. 



* Akaitcho the Leader. f Also. Akaitcho. 



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