@prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:alternative "Voyages to the Arctic"@en ; dcterms:isReferencedBy "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=101466 "@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "British Columbia Historical Books Collection"@en, "The Commonwealth Library"@en ; dcterms:contributor "Combe, William, 1742-1823"@en, "Waite, Robert"@en ; dcterms:creator "Mackenzie, Alexander, 1764-1820"@en ; dcterms:issued "2016-02-10"@en, "1902"@en ; dcterms:description "\"Binder's title: Voyages to the Arctic. With a four-page introduction by Robert Waite. Also published in Toronto by George N. Morang & Co. (no. 343x ).\" -- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 184-185."@en, ""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0224046/source.json"@en ; dcterms:extent "360 pages : advertisements ; 18 cm"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ VOYAGES from MONTREAL THROUGH THE CONTI- NENT of NORTH AMERICA TO THE FROZEN and PACIFIC OCEANS IN 1789 and 1793 WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND STATE OF THE FUR TRADE By ALEXANDER MACKENZIE WITH MAP IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY PUBLISHERS: NEW YORK, 190a Registered at the Library of' Congress, A ugusé iqo2 by NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY Published, August 1902. N. Table of Contents. CHAPTER I. Removed from the tent to the house. Build habita- tions for the people. The hardships they suffer. Violent hurricane. Singular circumstances at- tending it. The commencement of the new year. An Indian cured of a dangerous wound. State of the weather. Curious customs among the Indians, on the death of a relation. Account of a quarrel. An Indian's reasoning on it. Murder of one of the Indians. The cause of it. Some account of the Rocky Mountain Indians. Curious cireumstance respecting a woman in labour, etc. A dispute between two Indians, which arose from gärning. An account of one of their games. Indian superstition. Mildness of the season. The Indians prepare snow shoes. Singular customs. Further account of their manners. The slavish state of the women. Appearance of spring. Dis- patch canoes with the trade to Fort Chepewyan. Make preparations for the voyage of discovv ery} ........v CHAPTER II. Proceed on the voyage of discovery. Beautiful scenery. The canoe too heavily laden. The country in a state of combustion. Meet with a hunting party. State of the river, etc. Meet with Indians. See the tracks of bears, and one of their dens. Sentiment of an Indian. Junction of the Bear River. Appearance of the country. iii C0NTENTS. State of the river. Observe a fall of timber. Abundance of animals. See some bears. Come in sight of the rocky mountains. The canoe re- ceives an injury and is repaired. Navigation dangerous. Rapids and falls. Succession of difficulties and dangers, 31 CHAPTER III. Continuation of difficulties and dangers. Discon- tents among the people. State of the river and its banks. Volcanic chasms in the earth. Dis- patch various persons to discover ways across the mountain. Obstacles present themselves on all sides. Preparations made to attempt the mountain. Account of the ascent with the canoe and baggage. The trees that are found there. Arrive at the river. Extraordinary circumstances of it. Curious hollows in the rocks. Prepare the canoe. Renew our progress up the river. The state of it. Leave some tokens of amity for the natives. The weather very cold. Löst a book of my observations for several days. Continue to proceed up the river. Send a letter down the current in a rum-keg. Came to the forks, and proceed up the Eastern branch. Circumstances of it, | . .58 CHAPTER IV. Continue our voyage. Heavy fog. The water rises. Succession of courses. Progressive ac count of this branch. Leave the canoe to proceed, and ascend a hill to reconnoitre. Climb a tree to extend my view of the country. Return to the River. The canoe not arrived. Go in search of it. Extreme heat, musquitoes, etc. Increasing anxiety, respecting the canoe. It at length ap- iv CONTENTS. pears. Violent storm. Circumstances of our progress. Forced to haul the canoe up the stream by the branches of trees. Succession of courses. Wild parsnips along the river. Expect to meet with natives. Courses continued. Fall in with some natives. Our intercourse with them. Account of their dress, arms, utensils, and manners, etc. New discouragements and difficulties present themselves, 78 CHAPTER V. Continue the voyage. State of the river. Succession of courses. Sentiment of the guide. Coni- cal mountain. Continuation of courses. Leave the main branch. Enter another. Description of it. Saw beaver. Enter a lake. Arrive at the upper source of the Unjigab, or Peace River. Land, and cross to a second lake. Local circumstances. Proceed to a third lake. Enter a river. Encounter various difficulties. In danger of being löst. The circumstances of that situation de- scribed. Alarm and dissatisfaction among the people. They are at length composed. The canoe repaired. Roads cut through woods. Pass morasses. The guide deserts. After a succession of difficulties, dangers, and toilsome marches, we arrive at the great river, .... 102 CHAPTER VI. Rainy night. Proceed on the great river. Circumstances of it. Account of courses. Come to rapids. Observe several smokes. See a flight of white ducks. Pass över a carrying-place with the canoe, etc. The difficulties of that passage. Abundance of wild onions. Re-embark on the river. See some of the natives. They desert V CONTENTS. their camp and fly into the woods. Courses continued. Kill a red deer, etc. Circumstances of the river. Arrive at an Indian habitation. Description of it. Account of a curious machine to catch fish. Land to procure bark for the purpose of constructing a new canoe. Conceal a quantity of pemmican for provision on our return. Succession of courses. Meet with some of the natives. Our intercourse with them. Their information respecting the river, and the country. Description of those people, 127 CHAPTER VII. Renew our voyage, accompanied by two of the natives. Account of courses. State of the river. Arrive at a subterranean house. See several natives. Brief description of them. Account of our conference with them. Saw other natives. Description of them. Their conduct, etc. The account which they gave of the country. The narrative of a female prisoner. The perplexities of my situation. Specimen of the language of two tribes. Change the plan of my journey. Return up the river. Succession of dangers and difficulties. Land on an island to build another canoe, 154 CHAPTER VIII. Make preparations to build a canoe. Engage in that improtant work. It proceeds with great expedition. The guide who had deserted arrives with another Indian. He communicates agreeable intelligence. They take an opportunity to quit the island. Complete the canoe. Leave the island, which was now named the Canoe Island. Obliged to put the people on short allowance. Account of the navigation. Difficult ascent of a vi CONTENTS. rapid. Fresh perplexities. Continue our voyage up the river. Meet the guide and some of his friends. Conceal some pemmican and other artides. Make preparations for proceeding över land. Endeavour to secure the canoe till our return. Proceed on our journey. Various circumstances of it, 187 CHAPTER IX. Continue our journey. Embark on a river. Come to a weir. Dexterity of the. natives in passing it. Arrive at a village. Alarm occasioned among the natives. The subsequent favourable reception, accompanied with a banquet of ceremony. Circumstances of it. Description of a village, its houses, and places of devotion. Account of the customs, mode of living, and superstition of the inhabitants. Description of the chiefs canoe. Leave the place, and proceed on our voyage, 251 CHAPTER X. Renew our voyage. Circumstances of the river. Land at the house of a chief. Entertained by him. Carried down the river with great rapidity to another house. Received with kindness. Oc- cupations of the inhabitants on its banks. Leave the canoe at a fall. Pass över land to another village. Some account of it. Obtain a view of an arm of the sea. Lose our dog. Procure another canoe. Arrive at the arm of the sea. Circumstances of it. One of our guides returns home. Coast along a bay. Some description of it. Meet with Indians. Our communication with them. Their suspicious conduct towards us. Pass on- wards. Determine the latitude and longitude. Return to the river. Dangerous encounter with the Indians. Proceed on our journey, . . 267 vii C0NTENTS. CHAPTER XI. Return up the river. Slow progress of the canoe, from the strength of the current. The hostile party of the natives precedes us. Impetuous conduct of my people. Continue our very tedious voyage. Come to some houses; received with great kindness. Arrive at the principal, or Sal- mon Village. Our present reception very different from that we experienced on our former,visit. Continue our journey. Circumstances of it. Find our dog. Arrive at the Upper, or Friendly Village. Meet with a very kind reception. Some further account of the manners and customs of its inhabitants. Brief vocabulary of their language, 290 CHAPTER Xn. Leave the Friendly Village. Attentions of the natives at our departure. Stop to divide our provisions. Begin to ascend the mountains. Circumstances of the ascent. Journey continued. Arrive at the place from whence we set out by land. Meet with Indians there. Find the canoe, and all the other artides in a state of perfect se- curity and preservation. Means employed to compel the restoration of artides which were afterwards stolen. Proceed on our homeward- bound voyage. Some account of the natives on the river. The canoe is run on a rock, etc. Circumstances of the voyage. Enter the Peace River. Statement of courses. Continue our route. Circumstances of it. Proceed onwards in a small canoe, with an Indian, to the lower fort, leaving the rest of the people to follow me. Arrive at Fort Chepewyan. The voyage concluded, .316 viii SpS JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE, &c. CHAPTER I. DECEMBER 23, 1792. I this day removed from the tent into the house which had been erected for me, and set all the men to begin the buildings intended for their own habitation. Materials sufficient to erect a range of five houses for them, of about seventeen by twelve feet, were already collected. It would be considered by the inhabitants of a milder climate, as a great evil, to be exposed to the weather at this rigorous season of the year, but these people are in- ured to it, and it is necessary to describe in some measure the hardships which they un- dergo without a murmur, in order to convey a general notion of them. The men who were now with me, left this place in the beginning of last May, and went to the Rainy Lake in canoes, laden with packs of fur, which, from the immense length of the voyage, and other concurring circumstances, is a most severe trial of patience and perseverance: there they do not remain a sufficient time for ordinary repose, when they 9 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE take a load of goods in exchange, and proceed on their return, in a great nieasure, day and night. They had been arrived near two months, and, all that time, had been continu- ally engaged in very toilsome labour, with nothing more than a common shed to protect them from the frost and snow. Such is the life which these people lead; and is continued with unremitting exertion, till their strength is löst in premature old age. The Canadians remarked, that the weather we had on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of this month, denoted such as we might expect in the three succeeding months. On the 29th, the wind being at North-East, and the weather calm and cloudy, a rumbling noise was heard in the air like distant thunder, when the sky cleared away in the South-West; from whence there blew a perfect hurricane, which lasted till eight. Soon after it commenced, the at- mosphere became so warm that it dissolved all the snow on the ground; even the ice was covered with water, and had the same appearance as when it is breaking up in the spring. From eight to nine the weather became calm, but immediately after a wind arose from the North-East with equal violence, with clouds, rain, and hail, which continued throughout the night till the evening of the next day, when it turned to snow. One of the people who wintered at Fort Dauphin in 10 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. the year 1780, when the small pox first appeared there, informed me, that the weather there was of a similar description. January 1,1793.—On the first day of Jan- uary, my people, in conformity to the usual custom, awoke me at the break of day with the discharge of fire-arms, with which they congratulated the appearance of the new year. In return, they were treated with plenty of spirits, and when there is any flour, cakes are always added to their regales, which was the case, on the present occasion. On my arrival here last fall, I found that one of the young Indians had löst the use of his right hand by the bur sting of a gun, and that his thumb had been maimed in such a manner as to häng only by a small strip of flesh. Indeed, when he was brought to me, his wound was in such an offensive state, and emitted such a putrid smell, that it required all the resolution I possessed to examine it. His friends had done every thing in their power to relieve him; but as it consisted only in singing about him, and blowing upon his hand, the wound, as may be well imagined, had got into the deplorable state in which 1 found it. I was rather alarmed at the diffi- culty of the case, but as the young man's life was in a state of hazard, I was determined to risk my surgical reputation, and accordingly took him under my care. I immediately 11 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE formed a poultice of bark, stripped from the roots of the spruce-fir, which I applied to the wound, having first washed it with the juice of the bark: this proved a very painful dress- ing: in a few days, however, the wound was clean, and the proud flesh around it destroyed. I wished very much in this state of the business to have separated the thumb from the hand, which I well knew must be eifected before the cure could be performed; but he would not consent to that operation, till, by the application of vitriol, the flesh by which the thumb was suspended, was shrivelled almost to a thread. When I had succeeded in this object, I perceived that the wound was closing rather faster than I desired. The salve I applied on the occasion was made of the Canadian balsam, wax and tällow dropped from a burning candle into water. In short, I was so successful, that about Christinas my patient engaged in a hunting party, and brought me the tongue of an elk: nor was he finally ungrateful. When he left me I received the warmest acknowledgments, both from himself and his relations with whom he departed, for my care of him. I certainly did not spare my time or attention on the occasion, as I regularly dressed his wound three times a day, during the course of a month. On the 5th in the morning the weather was calm, clear, and very cold; the wind blew 12 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. from the South-West, and in the course of the afternoon it began to thaw. I had already observed at Athabasca, that this wind never failed to bring us clear mild weather, whereas, when it blew from the opposite quarter, it produced snow. Here it is much more perceptible, for if it blows härd South- West for four hours, a thaw is the conse- quence, and if the wind is at North-East it brings sleet and snow. To this cause it may be attributed, that there is now so little snow in this part of the world. These warm winds come off the Pacific Ocean, which cannot, in a direct line, be very far from us; the distance being so short, that though they pass över mountains covered with snow, there is not time for them to cool. There being several of the natives at the house at this time, one of them, who had received an account of the death of his father, proceeded in silence to his lodge, and began to fire off his gun. As it was night, and such a noise being so uncommon at such an hour, especially when it was so often repeated, I sent my interpreter to inquire into the cause of it, when he was informed by the man himself, that this was a common custom with them on the death of a near relation, and was a warning to their friends not to approach, or intrude upon them, as they were, in conse- quence of their loss, become careless of life. 13 1 IP JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE The chief, to whom the deceased person was also related, appeared with his war-cap on his head, which is only wörn on these solemn occasions, or when preparing for battle, and confirmed to me this singular custom of firing guns, in order to express their grief for the death of relations and friends.* The women alone indulge in tears on such occasions; the men considering it as a mark of pusillanimity and a want of fortitude to betray any personal tokens of sensibility or"sorrow. The Indians informed me, that they had been to hunt at a large lake, called by the Knisteneaux, the Slave Lake, which derived its name from that of its original inhabitants, who were called Slaves. They represented it as a large body of water, and that it lies about one hundred and twenty miles due East from this place. It is well known to the Knisteneaux, who are among the inhabitants of the plains on the banks of the Saskatchiwine river; for formerly, when they used to come to make war in this country, they came in their canoes to that lake, and left them *When they are drinking together, they fre- quently present their guns to each other, when any of the parties have not other means of procuring rum. On such an occasion they always discharge their pieces, as a proof, I imagine, of their being in good order, and to determine the quantity of liquor they may propose to get in exchange for them. 14 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. there; from thence, there is a beaten path all the way to the Fork, or East branch of this river, which was their war-road. January 10.-— Among the people who were now here, there were two Rocky Mountain Indians, who declared, that the people to whom we had given that denomination, are by no means entitled to it, and that their country has ever been in the vicinity of our present situation. They said, in support of their as- sertion, that these people were entirely ignorant of those parts which are adjacent to the mountain, as well as the navigation of the river; that the Beaver Indians had greatly encroached upon them, and would soon force them to retire to the foot of these mountains. They represented themselves as the only real natives of that country then with me; and added, that the country, and that part of the river that intervenes between this place and the mountains, bear much the same appearance as that around us; that the former abounds with animals, but that the course of the latter is interrupted, near, and in the mountains, by successive rapids and consider- able falls. These men also informed me, that there is another great river towards the mid- day sun, whose current runs in that direction, and that the distance from it is not great across the mountains. The natives brought me plenty of furs. 15 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE The small quantity of snow, at this time, was particularly favourable for hunting the beaver, as from this cireumstance, those animals could, with greater facility, be traced from their lodges to their lurking-places. On the 12th our hunter arrived, having left his mother-in-law, who was lately become a widow with three small children, and in ac- tual labour of a fourth. Her daughter re- lated this cireumstance to the women here without the least appearance of concern, though she represented her as in a state of great danger, which probably might proceed from her being abandoned in this unnatural manner. At the same time without any ap- parent consciousness of her own barbarous negligence, if the poor abandoned woman should die, she would most probably lament her with great outcries, and, perhaps cut off one or two joints of her fingers as tokens of her grief. The Indians, indeed, consider the state of a woman in labour as among the most trifling occurrences of corporal pain to which human nature is subject, and they may be, in some measuré jnstified in this apparent in- sensibility from the circumstances of that situation among themselves. It is by no means uncommon in the hasty removal of their camps from one position to another, for a woman to be taken in labour, to deliver her- self in her way, without any assistance or 16 NORTH-WEST CONTINEKT OF AMERICA. notice from her associates in her journey, and to overtake them before they complete the ar- rangements of their evening station, with her new-i)orn babe on her back. I was this morning threatened with a very unpleasant event, which, however, I was for- tunately able to controul. Two young Indians being engaged in one of their games, a dispute ensued, which rose to such a height, that they drew their knives, and if I had not happened to have appeared, they would I doubt not, have employed them to very bloody purposes. So violent was their råge, that after I had turned them both out of the house, and severely reprimanded them, they stood in the fort for at least half an hour, looking at each other with a most vindictive aspect, and in sullen silence. The game which produced this state of bitter enmity, is called that of the Platter, from a principal artide of it. The Indians play at it in the following manner. The instruments of it consist of a platter, or dish, made of wood or bark, and six round or square but flat pieces of metal, wood, or stone, whose sides or surfaces are of different colours. These are put into the dish, and after being for some time shaken together, are thrown into the air, and received again into the dish with considerable dexterity; when, by the number that are turned up of the same Vol. II.—2 17 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE mark or colour, the game is regulated. If there should be equal numbers, the throw is not reckoned; if two or four, the platter changes hands. On the 13th, one of these people came to me, and presented in himself a curious example of Indian superstition. He requested me to furnish him with a remedy that might be applied to the joints of his legs and thighs, of which he had, in a great measure löst the use for five winters. This affliction he attributed to his cruelty about that time, when having found a wolf with two whelps in an old beaver lodge, he set fire to it and con- sumed them. The winter had been so mild, that the swans had but lately left us, and at this ad- vanced period there was very little snow on the ground: it was, however, at this time a foot and a half in depth, in the environs of the establishment below this, which is at the distance of about seventy leagues. On the 28th the Indians were now employed in making their snow-shoes, as the snow had not hitherto fallen in sufficient quantity to render them necessary. February 2.—The weather now became very cold, and it froze so härd in the night that my watch stopped; a cireumstance that had* never happened to this watch since my resi- dence in the country. 18 2S5 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. There was a lodge of Indians here, who were absolutely starving with cold and hunger. They had lately löst a near relation, and had according to custom, thrown away every thing belonging to them, and even ex- changed the few artides of raiment which they possessed, in order, as I presume, to get rid of every thing that may bring the deceased to# their remembrance. They also destroy every thing belonging to any deceased person, except what they consign to the grave with the late owner of them. We had some diffi- culty to make them comprehend that the debts of a man who dies should be discharged, if he left any furs behind him: but those who understand this principle of justice, and pro- fess to adhere it, never fail to prevent the appearance of any skins beyond such as may be necessary to satisfy the debts of their dead relation. On the 8th I had an observation for the longitude. In the course of this day one of my men, who had been some time with the Indians, came to inform me that one of them had threatened to stab him; and on his pre- ferring a complaint to the man with whom he now Ii ved, and to whom I had given him in charge, he replied, that he had been very im- prudent to play and quarrel with the young Indians out of his lodge, where no one would dåre to come and quarrel with him; but that 19 m JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE if he had löst his life where he had been, it would have been the consequence of his own folly. Thus, even among these children of nature, it appears that a man's house is his castle, where the protection of hospitality is rigidly maintained. The härd frost which had prevailed from the beginning of February continued to the 16th of March, when the wind blowing from the South-West, the weather became mild. On the 22d a wolf was so böld as to venture among the Indian lodges, and was very near carrying off a child. I had another observation of Jupiter and his satellites for the longitude. On the 13th some geese were seen, and these birds are al- ways considered as the harbingers of spring. On the first of April my hunters shot five of them. This was a much earlier period than I ever remember to have observed the visits of wild fowl in this part of the world. The weather had been mild for the last fortnight, and there was a promise of its continuance. On the 5th the snow had entirely disappeared. At half past four this morning I was awak- ened to be informed that an Indan had been killed. I accordingly hastened to the camp, where I found two women employed in roll- ing up the dead body of. a man, called the White Partridge, in a beaver robe, which I had lent him. He had received four mortal 20 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. wounds from a dagger, two within the collar bone, one in the left breast, and another in the small of the back, with two cuts across his head. The murderer, who had been my hunter throughout the winter, had fled; and it was pretended that several relations of the deceased were gone in pursuit of him. The history of this unfortunate event is as fol- lows:— These two men had been comrades for four years; the murderer had three wives; and the young man who was killed, becoming enamoured of one of them, the husband con- sented to yield her to him, with the reserved power of claiming her as his property, when it should be his pleasure. This connection was uninterrupted for near three years, when, whimsical as it may appear, the husband became jealous, and the public amour was suspended. The parties, however, made their private assignations, which caused the woman to be so ill treated by her husband, that the paramour was determined to take her away by force; and this projeet ended in his death. This is a very common practice among the Indians, and generally terminates in very serious and fatal quarrels. In consequence of this event all the Indians went away in great apparent hurry and confusion, and in the evening not one of them was to be seen about the fort. 21 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE The Beaver and Rocky Mountain Indians, who traded with us in this river, did not ex- ceed an hundred and fifty men, capable of bearing arms; two thirds of whom call themselves Beaver Indians. The latter differ only from the former, as they have, more or less, imbibed the customs and manners of the Knisteneaux. As I have already observed, they are passionately fond of liquor, and in the moments of their festivity will barter any thing they have in their possession for it. Though the Beaver Indians made their peace with the Knisteneaux, at Peace Pointr as already mentioned, yet they did not secure a state of amity from others of the same nation, who had driven away the natives of the Saskatchiwine and Missinipy Rivers, and joined at the head water of the latter, called the Beaver River: from thence they proceeded West by the Slave Lake just described, on their war excursions, which they often re- peated, even till the Beaver Indians had pro- cured arms, which was in the year 1782. If it so happened that they missed them, they proceeded Westward till they were certain of wreaking their vengeance on those of the Rocky Mountain, who being without arms, became an easy prey to their blind and savage fury. All the European artides they pos- sessed, previous to the year 1780, were obtained from the Knisteneaux and Chepewyans, 22 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. who brought them from Fort Churchill, and for which they were made to pay an extrava- gant pr ice. As late as the year 1786, when the first traders from Canada arrived on the banks of this river, the natives employed bows and snares, but at present very little use is made of the former, and the latter are no longer known. They still entertain a great dread of their natural enemies, but they are since become so well armed, that the others now call them their allies. The men are in general of a comely appearance, and fond of personal decoration. The women are of a contrary disposition, and the slaves of the men: in common with all the Indian tribes polygamy is allowed among them. They are very subject to jealousy, and fatal consequences frequently result from the indulgence of that passion. But notwithstanding the vigilance and sever- ity which is exercised by the husband, it seldom happens that a woman is without her fa- vourite, who, in the absence of the husband, exacts the same submission, and practises the same tyranny. And so premature is the tender passion, that it is sometimes known to in- vigorate so early a period of life as the age of eleven or twelve years. The women are not very prolific: a cireumstance which may be attributed in a great measure, to the hard- ships that they suffer, for except a few small 23 JmW JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE dögs, they alone perform that labour which is allotted to beasts of burthen in other coun- tries. It is not uncommon, while the men carry nothing but a gun, that their wives and daughters follow with such weighty burdens, that if they lay them down they cannot re- place them, and that is a kindness which the men will not deign to perform; so that during their journeys they are frequently obliged to lean against a tree for a small portion of tern- porary relief. When they arrive at the place which their tyrants have chosen for their encampment, they arrange the whole in a few minutes, by forming a curve of poles, meet- ing at the top, and expanding into circles of twelve or fifteen feet diameter at the bottom, covered with dressed skins of the moose sewed together. During these preparations, the men sit down quietly to the enjoyment of their pipes, if they happen to have any tobacco. But notwithstanding this abject state of slav- ery and submission, the women have a con- siderable influence on the opinion of the men in every thing except their own domestic situation. These Indians are excellent hunters, and their exercise in that capacity is so violent as to reduce them in general to a very meagre appearance. Their religion is of a very con- tracted nature, and I never witnessed any ceremony of devotion which they had nöt 24 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. borrowed from the Knisteneaux, their feasts and fästs being in imitation of that people. They are more vicious and warlike than the Chepewyans, from whence they sprang, though they do not possess their selfishness, for while they have the means of purchasing their necessaries, they are liberal and gener- bus, but when those are exhausted they become errant beggars: they are, however, remarkable for their honesty, for in the whole tribe there were only two women and a man who had been known to have swerved from that virtue, and they were considered as objects of disregard and reprobation. They are afflicted with but few diseases, and their only remedies consist in binding the temples, pro- curing perspiration, singing, and blowing on the sick person, or affected part. When death overtakes any of them, their property, as I have before observed, is sacrificed and destroyed; nor is there any failure of lamen- tation or mourning on such occasion: they who are more nearly related to the departed ^person, black their faces, and sometimes cut off their hair; they also pierce their arms with knives and arrows. The grief of the females is carried to a still greater excess; they not only cut their hair, and cry and howl, but they will sometimes, with the utmost deliberation, employ some sharp instrument to separate the nail from the finger, and 25 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE then force back the flesh beyond the first joint, which they immediately amputate. But this extraordinary mark of aifliction is only displayed on the death of a favourite son, a husband, or a father. Many of the old women have so often repeated this ceremony, that they have not a complete finger remain- ing on either hand. The women renew their lamentations at the graves of their departed relatives, for a long succession of years. They appear, in common with all the Indian tribes, to be very fond of their children, but they are as careless in their mode of swadling them in their inf ant state, as they are of their own dress: the child is laid down on a board, of about two feet long, covered with a bed of möss, to which it is fastened by bandages, the möss being changed as often as the occasion requires. The chief of the nation had no less than nine wives, and children in proportion. When traders first appeared among these people, the Canadians were treated with the utmost hospitality and attention; but they have, by their subsequent conduct, taught the natives to withdraw that respect from them, and sometimes to treat them with indignity. They differ very much from the Chepewyans and Knisteneaux, in the abhorrence they pro- fess of any carnal communication between their women and the white people. They 26 m NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. carry their love of gärning to excess; they will pursue it for a succession of days and nights, and no apprehension of ruin, nor in- fluence of domestic affection, will restrain them from the indulgence of it. They are a quick, lively, active people, with a keen, penetrating, dark eye; and though they are very susceptible of anger, are as easily ap- peased. The males eradicate their beards, and the females their hair in every part, except their heads, where it is strong and black, and without a curl. There are many old men among them, but they are in general ignorant of the space in which they have been inhabitants of the earth, though one of them told me that he recollected sixty winter s. An Indian in some measure explained his age to me, by relating that he remembered the opposite hills and plains, now interspersed with groves of poplars, when they were covered with möss, and without any animal in- habitant but the rein-deer. By degrees, he said, the f ace of the country changed to its present appearance, when the elk came from the East, and was followed by the buffalo; the rein-deer then retired to the long range of high lands that, at a considerable distance, run parallel, with this river. On the 20th of April I had an observation of Jupiter and his satellites, for the longi- 27 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE tude, and we were now visited by our sum- mer companions the gnats and musquitoes. On the other side of the river, which was yet covered with ice, the plains were delightful; the trees were budding, and many plants in blossom. Mr. Mackay brought me a bunch of flowers of a pink colour, and a yellow but- ton, encircled with six leaves of a light pur- ple. The change in the appearance of na- ture was as sudden as it was pleasing, for a few days only were passed away since the ground was covered with snow. On the 25th the river was cleared of the ice. I now found that the death of the man called the White Partridge, had deranged all the plans which I had settled with the Indians for the spring hunting. They had as- sembled at some distance from the fort, and sent an embassy to me, to demand rum to drink, that they might have an opportunity of crying for their deceased brother. It would be considered as an extreme degrada- tion in an Indian to weep when sober, but a state of intoxication sanctions all irregulari- ties. On my :refusal, they threatened to go to war, which, from motives of interest as well as humanity, we did our utmost to dis- courage; and as a second message was brought by persons of some weight among these people, and on whom I could depend, I thought it prudent to comply with the demand, on an 28 Ml NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. express condition, that they would continue peaceably at home. The month of April being now past, in the early part of which I was most busily employed in trading with the Indians, I ordered our old canoes to be repaired with bark, and added four new ones to them, when, with the furs and provisions I had purchased, six canoes were loaded and dispatched on the 8th of May, for Fort Chepewyan. I had, however, retained six of the men, who agreed to accompany me on my projected voyage of discovery. I also engaged my hunters, and closed the business of the year for the company by writing my public and private dis- patches. Having ascertained, by various observations, the latitude of this place to be 56. 9. North, and longitude 117. 35. 15. West: on the 9th day of May, I found, that my acrom- eter was one hour forty-six minutes slow to apparent time; the mean going of it I had found to be twenty-two seconds slow in twenty-f our hours. Having settled this point, the canoe was put into the water; her dimensions were twenty-five feet long within, ex- clusive of the curves of stem and stem, twenty-six inches hold, and four feet nine inches beam. At the same time she was so light, that two men could carry her on a good road three or four miles without resting. In 29 1 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE this slender vessel, we shipped provisions, goods for presents, arms, ammunition, and baggage, to the weight of three thousand pounds, and an equipage of ten people; viz. Alexander Mackay, Joseph Landry,' Charles Ducette,*Fran^ois Beaulieux, Baptist Bisson, Francois Courtois, and Jaques Beauchamp, with two Indians, as hunters and interpreters. One of them, when a boy, used to be so idle, that he obtained the reputable name of Cancre, which he still possesses. With these persons I embarked at seven in the evening. My winter interpreter, with another person, whom I left here to take care of the fort, and sup- ply the natives with ammunition during the summer, shed tears oh the reflection of those dangers which we might encounter in our expedition, while my own people offered up their prayers that we might return in safety from it. * Joseph Landry and Charles Ducette were with me in my former voyage. 30 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. CHAPTER II. MAY, 1793. Thursday, 9.—We began our voyage with a course South by West against a strong current one mile and three quarters, South-West by South one mile, and landed before eight on an island for the night. Friday, 10.—The weather was clear and pleasant, though there was a keenness in the air; and at a quarter past three in the morning we continued our voyage, steering South- West three quarters of a mile, South-West by South one mile and a quarter, South three quarters of a mile, South-West by South one quarter of a mile, South-West by West one mile, South-West by South three miles, South by West three quarters of a mile, and South- West one mile. p The canoe being strained from its having been very heavily laden, became so leaky, that we were obliged to land, unload, and gum it. As this cireumstance took place about twelve, I had an opportunity of taking an altitude, which made our latitude 55. 58. 48. }§ § When the canoe was repaired we continued our course, steering South-West by West one mile and an half, when I had the misfortune 31 1 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE to dröp my pocket-compass into the water; West half a mile, West-South-West four miles and an half. Here, the banks are steep and hilly, and in some parts undermined by the river. Where the earth has given way, the face of the cliffs discovers numerous strata, consisting of reddish earth and small stones, bitumen, and a greyish earth, below which, near the Water-edge, is a red stone. Water issues from most of the banks, and the ground on which it spreads is covered with a thin white scurf, or particles of a saline substance : there are several of these salt springs. At half past six in the afternoon the young men landed, when they killed an elk and wounded a buffalo. In this spöt we formed our encampment for the night. From the place which we quitted this morning, the West side of the river displayed a succession of the most beautiful scenery I had ever beheld. The ground rises at intervals to a considerable height, and stretching in- wards to a considerable distance: at every in- terval or pause in the rise, there is a very gently-ascending space or lawn, which is al- ternate with abrupt precipice s to the summit of the whole, or, at least as far as the eye could distinguish. This magnificent theatre of nature has all the decorations which the trees and animals of the country can afford it: groves of poplars in every shape vary the ^9 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. scene; and their intervals are enlivened with väst herds of elks and buffaloes: the former choosing the steeps and uplands, and the latter preferring the plains. At this time the buffaloes were attended with their young ones who were frisking about them: and it appeared that the elks would soon exhibit the same enlivening cireumstance. The whole country displayed an exuberant verdure; the trees that bear a blossom were advancing fast to that delightful appearance, and the velvet rind of their branches reflecting the oblique rays of a rising or setting sun, added a splen- did gaiety to the scene, which no expressions of mine are qualified to describe. The East side of the river consists of a range of high land covered with the white spruce and the soft birch, while the banks abound with the ålder and the willow. The water continued to rise, and the current being proportionately strong, we made a greater use of setting poles than paddles. Saturday, 11.—The weather was o ver east. With a strong wind a-head, we embarked at four in the morning, and left all the fresh meat behind us, but the portion which had been assigned to the kettle; the canoe being already too heavily laden. Our course was West-South-West one mile, where a small river flowed in from the East, named Quisca- tina Sepy, or River with the High Banks; Vol. H.—3 33 m m JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE West half a mile, South half a mile, South- West by West three quarters of a mile, West one mile and a quarter, South-West a quarter of a mile, South-South-West half a mile, and West by South a mile and a half. Here I took a meridian altitude, which gave 55. 56. 3. North latitude. We then proceeded West three miles and a half, West-South-West, where the whole plain was on fire, one mile, West one mile, and the wind so strong a-head, that it occasioned the canoe to take in water, and otherwise impeded our progress. Here we landed to take time, with the mean of three altitudes, which made the watch slow 1. 42. 10. We now proceeded West-South-West one mile and a quarter, where we found a chief of the Beaver Indians on a hunting party. I remained, however, in my canoe, and though it was getting late, I did not choose to en- camp with these people, lest the friends of my hunters might discourage them from proceeding on the voyage. We, therefore, continued our course, but several Indians kept company with us, running along the bank, and conversing with my people, who were so attentive to them, that they drove the canoe on a stony flat, so that we were under the necessity of landing to repair the damages, and put up for the night, though very contrary to my wishes. My hunters obtained permission 34 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. to proceed with some of these people to their lodges, on the promise of being back by the break of day; though I was not without some apprehension respecting them. The chief, however, and another man, as well as several people from the lodges, joined us, before we had completed the repair of the canoe; and they made out a melancholy story, that they had neither ammunition or tobacco sufiicient for their necessary supply during the summer. I accordingly referred him to the Fort, where plenty of those artides were left in the care of my interpreter, by whom they would be abundantly furnished, if they were active and industrious in pursuing their occupations. I did not fail, on this occasion, to magnify the advantages of the present expedition; observ- ing, at the same time, that its success would depend on the fidelity and conduct of the young men who were retained by me to hunt. The chief also proposed to borrow my canoe, in order to transport himself and family across the river; several plausible reasons, it is true, suggested themselves for resisting his proposition; but when I stated to him, that, as the canoe was intended för a voyage of such consequence, no woman could be per- mitted to be embarked in it, he acquiesced in the refusal. It was near twelve at night when he took his leave, after I had gratified him with a present of tobacco. 35 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE K-: tfunday, 12.—Some of the Indians passed the night with us, and I was informed by them, that according to our mode of proceeding, we should, in ten days, get as far as the rocky mountains. The young men now returned, to my great satisfaction, and*with the appearance of contentment; though I was not pleased when they dressed themselves in the clothes which I had given them before we left the Fort, as it betrayed some latent design. At four in the morning we proceeded on our voyage, steering West three miles, in- cluding one of our course yesterday, North- West by North four miles, West two miles and a half, North-West by West a mile and a half, North by East two miles, North-West by West one mile, and North-North-West three miles. After a continuation of our course to the North for a mile and a half, we landed for the night on an island where several of the Indians visited us, but unattended by their women, who remained in their carnp, which was at some distance from us. The land on both sides of the river, during the two last days, is very much elevated, but particularly in the latter part of it, and, on the Western side, presents in different places, white, steep, and lofty cliffs. Our view being confined by these circumstances, we did not see so many animals as on the lOth. Between these lofty boundaries, the river becomes narr 36 NORTH-WEST CONTlNENT OF AMERICA. row, and in a great measure free from islands; for we had passed only four: the stream, indeed, was not more than from two hundred to three hundred yards broad; whereas before these cliffs pressed upon it, its breadth was twice that extent and besprinkled with islands. We killed an elk, and fired several shots at animals from the canoe. The greater part of this band being Rocky Mountain Indians, I endeavoured to obtain some intelligence of our intended route, but they all pleaded ignorance, and uniformly declared, that they knew nothing of the country beyond the first mountain: at the same time they were of opinion, that, from the strength of the current and the rapids we should not get there by water; though they did not hesitate to express their surprise at the expedition we had already made. I inquired, with some anxiety, after an old man who had already given me an account of the country beyond the limits of his tribe, and was very much disappointed at being informed, that he had not been seen for upwards of a moon. This man had been at war on another large river beyond the Rocky Mountain, and described to me a fork of it between the mountains; the Southern branch of which he directed me to take; from thence, he said, there was a carrying-place of about a day's march for a young man to get to the 37 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROITGH THE river. To prove the truth of his relation, he consented, that his son, who had been with him in those parts, should accompany me; and he accordingly sent him to the fort some days before my departure; but the preceding night he deserted with another young man, whose application to attend me as a hunter, being refused, he persuaded the other to leave me. I now thought it right to repeat to them what I had said to the chief of the first band, respecting the ad vantages which would be derived from the voyage, that the young men might be encouraged to remain with me; as without them I should not have attempted to proceed. Monday, 13.—The first object that presented itself to me this morning was the young man whom I have already mentioned, as having seduced away my intended guide. At any other time or place, I should have chas- tised him for his past conduct, but in my situation it was necessary to pass över his of- fence, le st he should endeavour to exercise the same influence över those who were so es- sential to my service. Of the deserted he gave no satisf actory account, but continued to express his wish to attend me in his place, for which he did not possess any necessary qualifications. The weather was cloudy, with an appearance of rain; and the Indians pressed me 38 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. with great earnestness to pass the day with them, and hoped to prolong my stay among them by assuring me that the winter yet lin- gered in the rocky mountains; but my object was to lose no time, and having given the chief some tobacco for a small quantity of meat, we embarked at four, when my young men could not conceal their chagrin at parting with their friends, for so long a period as the voyage threatened to occupy. When I had assured them that in three moons we should return to them, we. proceeded on our course West-North-West half a mile, West- South-West one mile and a half, West by North three miles, North-West by West two miles and a half, South-West by West half a mile, South-South-West a mile and a half, and South-West a mile and a half. Here I had a meridian altitude, which gave 56. 17. 44. North latitude. The last course continued a mile and a half, South by West, three quarters of a mile, South-West by South three miles and a half, and West-South-West two miles and a half. Here the land lowered on both sides, with an increase of wood, and displayed great num- bers of animals. The river also widened from three to five hundred yards, and was full of islands and flats. Having continued our course three miles, we made for the shore at seven, to pass the night. 39 Ii ar; JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE At the place from whence we proceeded this morning, a river falls in from the North; there are also several islands, and many riv- ulets on either side, which are too small to deserve particular notice. We perceived along the river, tracks of large bears, some of which were nine inches wide, and of a pro- portionate length. We saw one of their dens, or winter-quarters, called watee, in an island, which was ten feet deep, five feet high, and six feet wide; but we had not yet seen one of those animals. The Indians entertain great apprehension of this kind of bear, which is called the grisly bear, and they never venture to attack it but in a party of at least three or four. Our hunters, though they had been much higher than this part of our voyage, by land, knew nothing of the river. One of them mentioned, that having been engaged in a war expedition, his party on their return made their canoes at some distance below us. The wind was North throughout the day, and at times blew with considerable violence. The apprehensions which I had f elt respect- ing the young men were not altogether ground- less, for the eldest of them told me that his uncle had last night addressed him in the following manner:—" My nephew, your departure makes my heart painful. The white people may be said to rob us of you. They are about to conduct you into the midst of our 40 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. enemies, and you may never more return to us. Were you not with the Chief,* I know not what I should do, but he requires your attendance, and you must follow him." Tuesday, 14-—The weather was clear, and the air sharp, when we embarked a£-half past four. Our course was South by West one mile and a half, South-West by South half a mile, South-West. We here found it necessary to unload, and gum the canoe, in which operation we löst an hour; when we proceeded on the last course one mile and a half. I now took a meridian altitude, which gave 56.1. 19. North latitude, and continued to proceed West-South-West two miles and a half. Here the Bear River which is of a large appearance, falls in from the East; West three miles and an half, South-South-West one mile and an half, and South-West four miles and an half, when we encamped upon an island about seven in the evening. During the early part of the day, the current was not so strong as we had generally found it, but towards the evening it became very rapid, and was broken by numerous islands. We were gratified as usual, with the sight of animals. The land on the West * These people, as well as all the natives on this side of Lake Winipic, give the mercantile agent that distinguished appellation. 41 f JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE side is very irregular, but has the appearance of being a good beaver country; indeed we saw some of those animals in the river. Wood is in great plenty, and several rivulets added their streams to the main river. A goose was the only artide of provision which we pro- cured to-day. Smoke was seen, but at a great distance before us. Wednesday, 15.—The rain prevented us from continuhig our route till past six in the morning, when our course was South-West by West three quarters of a mile; at which time we passed a river on the left, West by South two miles and a half. The bank was steep, and the current strong. The last course continued one mile and a half, West-South-West two miles, where a river flowed in from the right, West by South one mile and a half, West-North-West one mile, and West by North two miles. Here the land takes the form of an high ridge, and cut our course, which was West for three miles, at right angles. We now completed the voyage of this day. In the preceding night the water rose upwards of two inches, and had risen in this proportion since our departure. The wind, which was West-South-West, blew very härd throughout the day, and with the strength of the current, greatly impeded our progress. The river, in this part of it, is full of islands; 42 en BSS NORTH-WEST CONTiNENT OF AMERICA. 1P^ and the land, on the South or left side, is thick with wood. Several rivulets also fall in from that quarter. At the entrance of the last river which we passed, there was a quantity of wood, which had been cut down by axes, and some by the beaver. This fall, however, was not made, in the opinion of my people, by any of the Indians with whom we were acquainted. The land to the right is of a very irregular elevation and appearance, composed in some places of clay, and rocky cliffs, and others exhibiting stratas of red, green, and yellow colours. Some parts, indeed, offer a beauti- ful scenery, in some degree similar to that which we passed on the second day of our voyage, and equally enlivened with the elk and the buffalo, who were feeding in great numbers, and unmolested by the hunter. In an island which we passed, there was a large quantity of white birch, whose bark might be employed in the construction of canoes. Thursday, 16.—The weather being clear, we re-embarked at four in the morning, and proceeded West by North three miles. Here the land again appeared as if it run across our course, and a considerable river discharged itself byvarious streams. According to the Rocky Mountain Indian, it is called the Sinew River. This spöt would be an excellent situation for a fort or factory, as there is plenty 43 1 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE of wood, and every reason to believe that the country abounds in beaver. As for the other animals, they are in evident abundance, as in every direction the elk and the buffalo are seen in possession of the hills and the plains. Our course continued West-North-West three miles and a half, North-West one mile and a half, South-West by West two miles; (the latitude was by observation 56. 16. 54.) North, West by North half a mile, West- North-West three quarters of a mile; a small river appearing on the right, North-West one mile and a half, West by North half a mile, West by South one mile and a half, West one mile; and at seven we formed our encampment. Mr. Mackay, and one of the young men, killed two elks, and mortally wounded a buffalo, but we only took a part of the flesh of the former. The land above the spöt where we encamped, spreads into an extensive plain8 and stretehes on to a very high ridge, which, in some parts, presents a face of rock, but is principally covered with verdure, and varied with the popiar and white birch tree. The country is so crowded with animals as to have the appearance, in some places, of a stall- yard, from the state of the ground, and the quantity of dung which is scattered över it. The soil is black and light. We this day saw two grisly and hideous bears. 44 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. Friday, 17.—It froze during the night; and the air was sharp in the morning, when we continued our course West-North-West three miles and a half, South-West by South two miles and a half, South-West by West one mile and a half, West three quarters of a mile, West-South-West one mile and a quarter, and South-West by South one mile and a half. At two in the afternoon the rocky mountains appeared in sight, with their sum- mits covered with snow, bearing South-West by South: they formed a very agreeable ob- ject to every person in the canoe, as we at- tained the view of them much sooner than we expected. A small river was seen on our right, and we continued our progress South- West by South six miles, when we landed at seven, which was our usual hour of encampment. Mr. Mackay, who was walking along the side of the river, discharged his piece at a buffalo, when it burst near the muzzle, but without any mischievous consequences. On the high grounds, which were on the opposite side of the river, we saw a buffalo tearing up and down with great fury, but could not dis- cern the cause of his impetuous motions; my hunters conjectured that he had been wounded with an arrow by some of the natives. We ascended several rapids in the course of the day, and saw one bear. 45 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE Saturday, 18.—It again froze very härd during the night, and at four in the morning we continued our voyage, but we had not proceeded two hundred yards, before an accident happened to the canoe, which did not, however, employ more than three quarters of an hour to complete the repair. We then steered South by West one mile and three quarters, South-West by South three miles, South-West by West one mile and a quarter, West by South three quarters of a mile, South-West half a mile, West by South one mile, South by West one mile and a half, South-South- West, where there is a small run of water from the right, three miles and a half, when the canoe struck on the stump of a tree, and un- fortunately where the banks were so steep that there was no place to unload, except a small spöt, on which we contrived to dispose the lading in the bow, which lightened the canoe so as to raise the broken part of it above the surf ace of the water; by which con- trivance we reached a convenient situation. It required, however, two hours to complete the repair, when the weather became dark and cloudy, with thunder, lightning, and rain; we, however, continued the last course half a mile, and at six in the evening we were com- pelled by the rain to land for the night. About noon we had landed on an island where there were eight lodges of last year. 46 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. The natives had prepared bark hére for five canoes, and there is a road along the hills where they had passed. Branches were cut and broken along it; and they had also stripped off the bark of the trees, to get the interiör rind, which forms part of their food. The current was very strong through the whole of the day, and the coming up along some of the banks was rendered very dangerous, from the continual falling of large stones, from the upper parts of them. This place appears to be a particular pass for animals across the river, as there are paths leading to it on both sides, every ten yards. In the course of the day we saw a ground hog, and two cormorants. The earth also appeared in several places to have been turned up by the bears, in search of roots. Sunday, 19.—It rained very härd in the early part of the night, but the weather became clear towards the morning, when we embarked at our usual hour. As the current threatened to be very strong, Mr. Mackay, the two hunters, and myself, went on shore, in order to lighten the canoe, and ascended the hills, which are covered with cypress, and but little encumbered with underwood. We found a beaten path, and before we had walked a mile, fell in with a herd of buffaloes, with their young ones: but I would 47 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE not suffer the Indians to fire on them, from an apprehension that the report of their fowling pieces would alarm the natives that might be in the neighbourhood; for we were at this time so near the mountains, as to justify our expectation of seeing some of them. We, however, sent our dog after the herd, and a calf was soon secured by him. While the young men were skinning the animal, we heard two reports of fire arms from the canoe, which we answered, as it was a signal for my return; we then heard another, and imine- diately hastened down the hill, with our veal, through a very close wood. There we met one of the men, who informed us that the canoe was at a small distance below, at the foot of a very strong rapid, and that as several waterfalls appeared up the river, we should be obliged to unload and carry. I ac- cordingly hastened to the canoe, and was greatly displeased that so much time had been löst, as I had given previous directions-that the river should be followed as long as it was practicable. The last Indians whom we saw had informed us that at the first mountain there was a considerable succession of rapids, cascades, and falls, which they never at- tempted to ascend; and where they always passed över land the length of a day?s march. My men imagined that the carrying place was at a small distance below us, as a path ap- 48 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. peared to ascend a hill, where there were several lodges, of the last year's construction. The account which had been given me of the rapids, was perfectly correct: though by crossing to the other side, I must acknowl- edge with some risk, in such a heavy laden canoe, the river appeared to me to be practi- cable, as far as we could see: the traverse, therefore, was attempted, and proved success- ful. We now towed the canoe along an island, and proceeded without any considerable diffi- culty, till we reached the extremity of it, when the line could be no longer employed; and in endeavouring to clear the point of the island, the canoe was driven with such violence on a stony shore, as to receive considerable injury. We now employed every exertion in our power to repair the breach that had been made, as well as to dry such artides of our loading as more immediately required it: we then transported the whole across the point, when we reloaded, and continued our course about three quarters of a mile. We could now proceed no further on this side of the water, and the traverse was rendered extremely dangerous, not only from the strength of the current, but by the caseades just below us, which, if we had got among them, would have involved us and the canoe in one common de- struction. We had no other alternative than to return by the same course we came, or to Vol. H.—4 49 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE hazard the traverse, the river on this side being bounded by a range of steep, over-hang- ing rocks, beneath which the current was driven on with resistless impetuosity from the cascades. Here are several islands of solid rock, covered with a small portion of verdure, which have been worn away by the constant force of the current, and occasion- ally, as I presume, of ice, at the water's edge, so as to be reduced in that part to one fourth the extent of the upper surface; presenting, as it were, so many large tables, each of which was supported by a pedestal of a more circumscribed projection. They are very ele- vated for such a situation, and afford an asy- lum for geese, which were at this time breed- ing on them. By crossing from one to the other of these islands, we came at length to the main traverse, on which we ventured, and were successful in our passage. Mr. Mackay, and the Indians, who observed our manceuvres from the top of a rock, were in continual alarm for our safety, with which their own, indeed, may be said to have been nearly con- nected: however, the dangers that we encoun- tered were very much augmented by the heavy loadin g of the canoe. When we had effected our passage, the current on the West side was almost equally violent with that from whence we had just escaped, but the craggy bank being somewhat 50 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. lower, we were enabled, with a line of sixty fathoms, to tow the canoe, till we came to the foot of the most rapid cascade we had hitherto seen. Here we unloaded, and carried every thing över a rocky point of an hundred and twenty paces. When the canoe was re- loaded, I, with those of my people who were not immediately employed, ascended the bank, which was there, and indeed, as far as we could see, composed of clay, stone, and a yellow gravel. My present situation was so elevated, that the men, who were coming up a strong point, could not hear me, though I called to them with the utmost strength of my voice, to lighten the canoe of part of its lading. And here I could not but reflect, with infinite anxiety, on the hazard of my enterprize; one false step of those who were attached to the line, or the breaking of the line itself, would have at once consigned the canoe, and every thing it eontained, to in- stant destruction: it, however, ascended the rapid in perfect security, but new dangers immediately presented themselves, for stones, both small and great, were continually rolling from the bank, so as to render the situation of those who were dragging the canoe beneath it extremely perilous; besides, they were at every step in danger, from the steepness of the ground, of falling into the water: nor was my solicitude diminished by my being 51 « JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE necessarily removed at times from the sight of them. In our passage through the woods, we came to an inclosure, which had been formed by the natives for the purpose of setting snares for the elk, and of which we could not discover the extent. After we had travelled for some hours through the forest, which consisted of the spruce, birch, and the largest poplars I had ever seen, we sunk down upon the river where the bank is low, and near the f oot of a mountain; between which, and a high ridge, the river flows in a channel of about one hundred yards broad; though, at a small distance below, it rushes on between perpendicular rocks, where it is not much more than half that breadth. Here I remained, in great anx- iety, expecting the arrival of the canoe, and after some time I sent Mr. Mackay with one of the Indians down the river in search of it, and with the other I went up to it to examine what we might expect in that quarter. In about a mile and a half I came to a part where the river washes the feet of lofty preci- pices, and presented, in the form of rapids and cascades, a succession of difficulties to our navigation. As the canoe did not come in sight, we returned, and from the place where I had separated with Mr. Mackay, we saw the men carrying it över a small rocky point. We met them at the entrance of the ^9 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. narrow channel already mentioned; their difficulties had been great indeed, and the canoe had been broken, but they had.perse- vered with success, and having passed the carrying-place, we proceeded with the line as far as I had already been, when we crossed över and encamped on the opposite beach; but there was no wood on this side of the water, as the adjacent country had been en- tirely over-run by fire. We saw several elks feeding on the edge of the opposite precipice, which was upwards of three hundred feet high. Our course to-day was about South-South- West two miles and a half, South-West half a mile, South-West by South one mile and a half, South by West half a mile, South-West half a mile, and West one mile and a half. There was a shower of hail, and some rain from flying clouds. I now dispatched a man with an Indian to visit the rapids above, when the latter soon left him to pursue a beaver, which was seen in the shallow water on the inside of a stony island; and though Mr. Mackay, and the other Indian j oined him, the animal at length escaped from their pur- suit. Several others were seen in the course of the day, which I by no means expected, as the banks are almost every where so much elevated above the channel of the river. Just as the obscurity of the night drew on, the 53 m ssslä JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE man returned with an account that it would be impracticable to pass several points, as well as the super-impending promontories. Monday, 20.—The weather was clear with a sharp air, and we renewed our voyage at a quarter past four, on a course South-West by West three quarters of a mile. We now, with infinite dfficulty passed along the f oot of a rock, which, fortunately, was not an härd stone, so that we were enabled to cut steps in it for the distance of twenty feet; from which, at the hazard of my life, I leaped on a small rock below, where I received those who followed me on my shoulders. In this manner four of us passed and dragged up the canoe, in which attempt we broke her. Very luckily, a dry tree had fallen from the rock above us, without which we could not have made a fire, as no wood was to be procured within a mile of the place. When the canoe was repaired, we continued towing it along the rocks to the next point, when we embarked, as -we could not at present make any further use of the line, but got along the rocks of a round high island of stone, till we came to a small sandy bay. As we had already damaged the canoe, and had every reason to think that she soon would risk much greater injury, it became necessary for us to supply ourselves with bark, as our provision of that material artide was almost exhausted; two men were accord- 54 ■. NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. ingly sent to procure it, who soon returned with the necessary store. Mr. Mackay, and the Indians who had been on shore, since we broke the canoe, were pre- vented from coming to us by the rugged and impassable state of the ground. We, there- före, again resumed our course with the as- sistance of poles, with which we pushed on- wards till we came beneath a precipice, where we could not find any bottom; so that we were again obliged to have recourse to the line, the management of which was rendered not only difflcult but dangerous, as the men employed in towing were under the necessity of passing on the outside of trees that grew on the edge of the precipice. We, however, ^surmounted this difficulty, as we had done many others, and the people who had been walking över land now joined us. They also had met with their obstacles in passing the mountain. It now became necessary for us to make a traverse, where the water was so rapid, that some of the people stripped themselves to their shirts that they might be the better pre- pared for swimming, in case any accident happened to the canoe, which they seriously apprehended; but we succeeded in our at- tempt without any other inconvenience, except that of taking in water. We now came to a cascade, when it was thought necessary 55 i häg^l H JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE to take out part of the lading. At noon we stopped to take an altitude, opposite to a small river that flowed in from the left: while I was thus engaged, the men went on shore to fästen the canoe, but as the current was not very strong, they had been negligent in performing this office; it proved, however, sufficiently powerful to sheer her off, and if it had not happened that one of the men, from absolute fatigue had remained and held the end of the line, we should have been deprived of every means of prosecuting our voyage, as well as of present subsistence. But notwith- standing the state of my mind on such an alarming cireumstance, and an intervening cloud that interrupted me, the altitude which I took has been since proved to be tolerably correct, and gave 56. North latitude. Our last course was South-South-West two miles and a quarter. We now continued our toilsome and peril- ous progress with the line West by North, and as we proceeded the rapidity of the current increased, so that in the distance of two miles we were obliged to unload four times, and carry every thing but the canoe: indeed, in many places, it was with the utmost difficulty that we could prevent her from being lashed to pieces against the rocks by the violence of the eddies. At five we had proceeded to where the river was one continued rapid. 56 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. Here we again took every thing out of the canoe, in order to tow her up with the line, though the rocks were so shelving as greatly to increase the toil and hazard of that operation. At length, however, the agitation of the water was so great, that a wave striking on the bow of the canoe broke the line, and filled us with inexpressible dismay, as it appeared impossible that the vessel could escape from being dashed to pieces, and those who were in her from perishing. Another wave, however, more propitious than the former, drove her out of the tumbling water, so that the men were enabled to bring her ashore, and though she had been carried över rocks by these swells which left them naked a moment after, the canoe had received no material injury. The men were, however, in such a state from their late alarm, that it would not only have been unavailing but imprudent to have proposed any further progress at present, particularly as the river above us, as far as we could see, was one white sheet of foam- ing water. 0h 57 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE CHAPTER III. MAY, 1793. That the discouragements, difficulties, and dangers, which had hitherto attended the progress of our enterprise, should have ex- cited a wish in several of those who were en- gage d in it to discontinue the pursuit, might be naturally expected; and indeed it began to be muttered on all sides that there was no alternative but to return. Instead of paying any attention to these murmurs, I desired those who had uttered them to exert themselves in gaining an ascent of the hill, and encamp there for the night. In the mean time I set off with one of the Indians, and though I continued my examination of the river almost as long as there was any light to assist me, I could see no end of the rapids and cascades: I was, therefore, perfectly satisfied, that it would be imprac- ticable to proceed any further by water. We returned from this reconnoitring excursion very much fatigued, with our shoes worn out and wounded feet; when I found that, by fell- ing trees on the declivity of the first hill, my people had contrived to ascend it. From the place where I had taken the alti- 58 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. tude at noon, to the place where we made our landing, the river is not more than fifty yards wide, and flows between stupendous rocks, from whence huge fragments sometimes tum- ble down, and falling from such an height, dash into small stones, with sharp points, and form the beach between the rocky projec- tions. Along the face of some of these preci- pices, there appears a stratum of a bitumenous substance which resembles coal; though while some of the pieces of it appeared to be excel- lent fuel, others re siste d, for a considerable time, the action of fire, and did not emit the least flame. The whole of this day's course would have been altogether impracticable, if the water had been higher, which must be the case at certain seasons. We saw also several encampments of the Knisteneaux along the river, which must have been formed by them on their war excursions: a decided proof of the savage, blood-thirsty disposition of that people; as nothing less than such a spirit could impel them to encounter the difficulties of this almost inaccessible country, whose natives are equally unoffending and defence- less. Mr. Mackay informed me, that in passing över the mountains, he observed several chasms in the earth that emitted heat and smoke, which diffused a strong sulphureous stench. I should certainly have visited this 59 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE phenomenon, if I had been sufficiently qual- ified as a naturalist, to have offered scientific conjectures or observations thereon. Tuesday, 21.—It rained in the morning, and did not cease till about eight, and as the men had been very fatigued and disheartened, I suffered them to continue their rest till that hour. Such was the state of the river, as I have already observed, that no alternative was left us; nor did any means of proceeding present themselves to us, but the passage of the mountain över which we were to carry the canoe as well as the baggage. As this was a very alarming enterprize, I dispatched Mr. Mackay with three men and the two Indians to proceed in a strait course from the top of the mountain, and to keep the line of the river till they should find it navigable. If it should be their opinion, that there was no practicable passage in that direction, two of them were instructed to return in order to make their report; while the others were to go in search of the Indian carrying-place. While they were engaged in this excursion, the people who remained with me were employed in gumming the canoe, and making handles for the axes. At noon I got an altitude, which made our latitude 56. 0. 8. At three o^clock had time, when my watch was slow 1. 31. 32. apparent time. At sun-set, Mr. Mackay returned with one 60 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. of the men, and in about two hours was followed by the others. They had penetrated thick woods, ascended hills and sunk into vallies, till they got beyond the rapid, which, according to their calculation, was a distance of three leagues. The two parties returned by different routes, but they both agreed, that with all its difficulties, and they were of a very alarming nature, the outward course was that which must be preferred. Unpromising, however, as the account of their expedition appeared, it did not sink them into a state of discouragement; and a kettle of wild rice, sweetened with sugar, which had been pre- pared for their return, with their usual regale of rum, soon renewed that courage which dis- dained all obstacles that threatened our prog- ress: and they went to rest, with a full de- termination to surmount them on the morrow. I sat up, in the hope of getting an observation of Jupiter and his first satellite, but the cloudy weather prevented my obtaining it. Wednesday, 22.—At break of day we en- tered on the extraordinary journey which was to occupy the remaining part of it. The men began, without delay, to cut a road up the mountain, and as the trees were but of small growth, I ordered them to fell those which they found convenient, in such a manner, that they might fall parallel with the road, but, at the same time, not separate them en- 61 s^Éär JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE tirely from the stumps, so that they might form a kind of railing on either side. The baggage was now brought from the water side to our encampment. This was, likewise, from the steep shelving of the rocks, a very peril- ous undertaking, as one false step of any of the people employed in it, would have been instantly followed by falling headlong into the water. When this important object was attained, the whole of the party proceeded with no small degree of apprehension, to fetch the canoe, which, in a short time, was also brought to the encampment; and, as soon as we had recovered from our fatigue, we advancedwith it up the mountain, having the line doubled and fastened successively as we went on to the stumps; while a man at the end of it, hauled it around a tree, holding it on and shifting it as we proceeded; so that we may be said, with strict truth, to have warped the canoe up the mountain; indeed by a general and most laborious exertion, we got every thing to the summit by two in the afternoon. At noon, the latitude was 56. 0. 47. North. At five, I sent the men to cut the road onwards, which they effected for about a mile, when they returned. The weather was cloudy at intervals, with showers and thunder. At about ten, I observed an emersion of Jupiter's second satel- lite; time by the achrometer 8. 32. 20. by 62 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. which I found the longitude to be 120. 29. 30 West from Greenwich. Thursday 23.—The weather was clear at four this morning, when the men began to carry. I joined Mr. Mackay~ and the two Indians in the labour of cutting a road. The ground continued rising gently till noon, when it began to decline; but though on such an elevated situation, we could see but little, as mountains of a still higher elevation, and covered with snow, were seen far above us in every direction. In the afternoon the ground became very uneven; hills and deep defiles alternately presented themselves to us. Our progress, however, ex- ceeded my expectation, and it was not till four in the afternoon that the carriers over- took us. 1 At five, in a state of fatigue that may be more readily conceived than expressed, we encamped near a rivtilet or spring that is- sued from beneath a large mäss of ice and snow. Our toilsome journey of this day I compute at about three miles; along the first of which the land is covered with plenty of wood, con- sisting of lärge trees, encumbered with little underwood, through which it was by no means difficult to open a road, by following a well- beaten elk path: for the two succeeding miles we found the country overspread with the trunks of trees, laid low by fire some years 63 ^JmmWr JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE ago; among which large copses had sprung up of a close growth, and intermixed with briars, so as to render the passage through them painful and tedious. The soil in the woods is light and of a dusky colour; that in the burned country is a mixture of sand and clay with small stones. The trees are spruce, red-pine, cypress, poplar, white birch, will o w, ålder, arrow-wood, red-wood, liard, service-tree, bois-picant, &c. I never saw any of the last kind before.. It rises to about nine feet in height, grows in joints without branches, and is tufted at the extremity. The stem is of an equal size from the bottom to the top, and does not exceed an inch in diameter; it is covered with small prickles, which caught our trowsers, and working through them, sometimes found their way to the flesh. The shrubs are, the gooseberry, the currant, and several kinds of briars. Friday, 24-—We continued our very labori- ous journey, which led us down some steep hills, and through a wood of tall pines. After much toil and trouble in bearing the canoe through the difficult passages which we encountered, at four in the afternoon we arrived at the river, some hundred yards above the rapids of falls, with all our baggage. I compute the distance of this day's progress to be about four miles; indeed I should have measured the whole of the way, 64 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. if I had not been obliged to engage personally in the labour of making the road. But after all, the Indian carrying-way, whatever may be its length, and I think it cannot exceed ten miles, will always be found more safe and expeditious than the passage which our toil and perseverance formed and surmounted. Those of my people who visited this place on the 21st, were of opinion that the water had risen very much since that time. About two hundred yards below us, the stream rushed with an astonishing but silent veloc- ity, between perpendicular rocks, which are not more than thirty-five yards asunder: when the water is high, it runs över those rocks, in a channel three times that breadth, where it is bounded by far more elevated precipices. In the former are deep round holes, some of which are full of water, while others are empty, in whose bottom are small round stones, as smooth as marble. Some of these natural cylinders would contain two hundred gallons. At a small distance below the first of these rocks, the channel widens in a kind of zig-zag progression; and it was really awful to behold with what infinite force the water drives against the rocks on one side, and with what impetuous strength it is repelled to the other: it then falls back, as it were, into a more strait but rugged passage, över which it is tossed in high, f oaming, Vol. IL—5 65 m m JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE half-formed billows, as far as the eye could follow it. The young men informed me that this was the place where their relations had told me that I should meet with a fall equal to that of Niagara: to exculpate them, however, from their apparent misinformation, they declared that their friends were not accus- tomed to utter falsehoods, and that the fall had probably been destroyed by the force of the water. It is, however, very evident that those people had not been here, or did not adhere to the truth. By the number of trees which appeared to have been felled with axes, we discovered that the Knisteneaux, or some tribes who are known to employ that instrument, had passed this way. We passed through a snare enclosure, but saw no animals, though the country was very much in- tersected by their tracks. Saturday, 25.—It rained throughout the night, and till twelve this day; while the business of preparing great and small poles, and putting the canoe in order, &c. caused us to remain here till five in the afternoon. I now attached a knife, with a steel, flint, beads, and other trifling artides to a pole, which I erected, and left as a token of amity to the natives. When I was making this arrangement, one of my attendants, whom I have already described under the title of the 66 m ssés NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. Cancre, added to my assortment, a small round piece of green wood, chewed at one end in the form of a brush, which the Indians used to pick the marrow out of bones. This he informed me was an emblem of a country abounding in animals. The water had risen during our stay here one foot and a half perpendicular height. We now embarked, and our course was North-West one mile and three quarters. There were mountains on all sides of us, which were covered with snow; one in particular, on the South side of the river, rose to a great height. We continued to proceed West three quarters of a mile, North-West one mile, and West-South-West a quarter of a mile, when we encamped for the night. The Cancre killed a small elk. Sunday, 26.—The weather was clear and sharp, and between three and four in the morning we renewed our voyage, our first course being West by South three miles and a half, when the men complained of the cold in their fingers, as they were obliged to push on the canoe with the poles. Here a small river flowed in from the North. We now continued to steer West-South-West a quarter of a mile, West-North-West a mile and a half, and West two miles, when we found ourselves on a parallel with a chain of mountains on both sides the river, running South 67 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE and North. The river, both yesterday and the early part of to-day, was from four to eight hundred yards wide, and full of islands, but was at this time diminished to about two hundred yards broad, and free from islands, with a smooth but strong current. Our next course was South-West two miles, when we encount- ered a rapid, and saw an encampment of the Knisteneaux. We now proceeded North- West by West one mile, among islands, South-West by West three quarters of a mile, South-South-East one mile, veered to South- West through islands three miles and a half, and South by East half a mile. Here a river poured in on the left, which was the most considerable that we had seen since we had passed the mountain. At seven in the evening we landed and encamped. Though the sun had shone upon us throughout the day, the air was so cold that the men, though actively employed, could not resist it without the aid of their blänket coats. This cireumstance might, in some degree, be expected from the surrounding mountains, which were covered with ice and snow; but as they are not so high as to produce the extreme cold which we suffered, it must be more particularly attributed to the high situation of the country itself, rather than to the local elevation of the mountains, the greatest height of which does not exceed fifteen hun- 68 W%i NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. dred feet; though in general they do not rise to half that altitude. But as I had not been able to take an exaöt measurement, I do not presume upon the ac- - Sä curacy of my conjecture. Towards the bot-" tom of these heights, which were clear of snow, the trees were putting forth their leaves, while those in their middle region still retained all the characteristics of winter, and on the upper parts there was little or no wood. Monday, .27.*—The weather was clear, and we continued our voyage at the usual hour, when we successively found several rapids and points to impede our progress. At noon our latitude was 56. 5. 54. North. The Indians killed a stag; and one of the men who went to fetch it was very much en- dangered by the rolling down of a large stone from the heights above him. Tuesday, 28.—The day was very cloudy. The mountains on both sides of the river seemed to have sunk, in their elevation, during the voyage of yesterday. To-day they *From this day to the 4th of June the courses of my voyage are omitted, as I löst the book that con- tained them. I was in the habit of sometimes in- dulging myself with a short doze in the canoe, and I imagine that the branches of the trees brushed my book from me, when I was in such a situation, which renders the account of these few days less distinct than usual. 69 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE resumed their former altitude, and run so close on either side of the channel, that all view was excluded of every thing but themselves. This part of the current was not broken by islands; but in the afternoon we approached some cascades, which obliged us to carry our canoe and its lading for several hundred yards. Here we observed an encampment of the natives, though some time had elapsed since it had been inhabited. The greater part of the day was divided between heavy showers and small ram; and we took our station on the shore about six in the evening, about three miles above the last rapid. Wednesday, 29.—The rain was so violent throughout the whole of this day, that we did not venture to proceed. As we had almost expended the contents of a rum-keg, and this being a day which allowed of no active em- ployment, I amused myself with the experi- meut of enclosing a letter in it, and dispatch- ing it down the stream to take its fäte. I accordingly introduced a written account of all our hardships, &c. carefulry enclosed in bark, into the small barfel by the bung-hole, which being carefully secured, I consigned this epistolatory cargo to the mercy of the current. Thursday, 30.—We were alarmed this morning at break of day, by the continual 70 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. barking of our dog, who never ceased from running backwards and forwards in the rear of our situation: when, however, the day ad- vanced, we discovered the cause of our alarm * to proceed from a wolf, who was parading' a ridge a few yards behind us, and had been most probably allured by the scent of our small portion of fresh meat. The weather was cloudy, but it did not prevent us from renewing our progress at a very early hour. A considerable river appeared from the left, and we continued our course till seven in the evening, when we landed at night where there was an Indian encampment. Friday, 31.—The morning was clear and cold, and the current very powerful. On er oss - ing the mouth of a river that flowed in from the right of us, we were very much endangered; indeed all the rivers which I have lately seen, appear to overflow their natural limits, as it may be supposed, from the melting of the mountain snow. The water is almost white, the bed of the river being of lime stone. The mountains are one solid mäss of the same material, but without the least shade of trees, or decoration of foliage. At nine the men were so cold that we landed, in order to kindle a fire, which was considered as a very uneommon cireumstance at this season; a small quantity of rum, however, served as an adequate substitute; and the current being so 71 »a JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE smooth as to admit of the use of paddles, I encouraged them to proceed without any further delay. In a short time an extensive view opened upon us, displaying a beautiful sheet of water, that was heightened by the ealmness of the weather, and a splendid sun. Here the mountains which were covered with wood, opened on either side, so thatrwe en- tertained the hope of soon leaving them behind us. When we had got to the termination of this prospect, the river was barred with rocks, forming cascades and small islands. To proceed onwards, we were under the necessity of clearing a narrow passage of the drift wood, on the left shore. Here the view convinced us that our late hopes were without foundation, as there appeared a ridge or chain of mountains, running South and North as far as the eye could reach. On advancing two or three miles, we arrived at the fork, one branch running about West-North-West, and the other South- South-East. If I had been governed bymy own judgment, I should have taken the former, as it appeared to me to be the most likely to bring us nearest to the part where I wished to fall on the Pacific Ocean, but the old man, whom I have already mentioned as having been frequently on war expeditions in this country, had warned me not, on any account, 72 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. to follow it, as it was soon löst in various branches among the mountains, and that there was no great river that ran in any direction near it; but by following the latter, he said, we should arrive at a carrying-place to another large river, that did not exceed a day's march, where the inhabitants build houses, and live upon islands. There was so much apparent truth in the old man's narrative, that I de- termined to be governed by it; for I did not entertain the least doubt, if I could get into the other river, that I should reach the ocean. I accordingly ordered my steersman to proceed at once to the East branch, which appeared to be more rapid than the other, though it did not possess an equal breadth. These circumstances disposed my men and Indians, the latter in particular being very tired of the voyage, to express their wishes that I should take the Western branch, especially when they perceived the difficulty of stemming the current, in the direction on which I had deter- mined. Indeed the rush of water was so powerful, that we were the greatest part of the afternoon in getting two or three miles— a very tardy and mortifying progress, and which, with the voyage, was openly execrated by many of those who were engaged in it: and the inexpressible toil these people had endured, as well as the dangers they had en- 73 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE countered, required some degree of consideration ; I therefore employed those arguments which were the best caleulated to calm their iinmediate discontents, as well as to encour- age their future hopes, though, at the same time, I delivered my sentiments in such a manner as to convince them that I was deter- mined to proceed. On the 1st of June we embarked at sun- rise, and towards noon the current began to slacken; we then pnt to shore, in order to gum the canoe, when a meridian altitude gave me 55. 42. 16. North latitude. We then continued our course, and towards the evening the current began to recover its former strength. Mr. Mackay and the Indians had already disembarked, to walk and lighten the boat. At sun-set we encamped on a point, being the first dry land which had been found on this side the river, that was fit for our purpose, since our people went on shore. In the morning we passed a large rapid river, that flowed in from the right. In no part Of the North-West did I see so much beaver-work, within an equal distance, as in the course of this day. In some places they had cut down several acres of large pop- lars; and we saw also a great number of these active and sagacious animals. The time which these wonderful creatures allot for their labours, whether in erecting their curious hab- 74 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. I itations, or providing food, is the whole of the interval between the setting and the rising sun. Towards the dusky part of the evening we heard several discharges from the fowling pieces of our people, which we answered, to inform them of our situation; and some time after it was dark, they arrived in an equal state of fatigue and alarm; they were also obliged to swim across a channel in order to get to us, as we were situated on an island, though we were ignorant of the cireumstance, till they came to inform us. One of the Indians was positive that he heard the discharge of fire-arms above our encampment; and on comparing the number of our discharges with theirs, there appeared to be some foundation for his alarm, as we imagined that we had heard two reports more than they acknowl- edged; and in their tum, they declared that they had heard twice the number of those which we knewhad proceeded from us. The Indians were theref ore certain, that the Knisteneaux must be in our vicinity, on a war expedition, and consequently, if they were numerous, we should have had no reason to expect the least mercy from them in this distant country. Though I did not believe that cireumstance, or that any of the natives could be in possession of fire-arms, I thought it right, at all events, we should ■ 75 Ve III JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE be prepared. Our fusees were, therefore, primed and loaded, and having extinguished our fire, each of us took his station at the foot of a tree, where we passed an uneasy and restless night. The succeeding morning being clear and pleasant, we proceeded at an early hour against a rapid current, intersected by islands. About eight we passed two large trees, whose roots having been undermined by the current, had recently fallen into the river; and, in my opinion, the crash of their fall had occasioned the noise which caused our late alarm. In this manner the water ravages the islands in these rivers, and by driving down great quan- tities of wood, forms the foundations of others. The men were so oppressed with fatigue, that it was necessary they should en- camp at six in the afternoon. We, therefore, landed on a sandy island, which is a very un - common object, as the greater part of the islands consist of a bottom of round stones and gravel, covered from three to ten feet with mud and old drift-wood. Beaver-work was as frequently seen as on the preceding day. On the 3d of June we renewed our voyage with the rising sun. At noon I obtained a meridian altitude, which gave 55. 22. 3. North latitude. I also took time, and the watch was slow 1. 30. 14. apparent time. Accord- 76 NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. ing to my calculation, this plaCe is about twenty-five miles South-East of the fork.* * I shall now proceed with my usual regularity, which, as I have already mentioned, has been, for some days, suspended, from the loss of my book of observation. 77 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE THROUGH THE CHAPTER IV. JUNE 4, 1793. Jill" . |,