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son and Mr. Hood, who had made a very expeditious journey from Cumberland House; they had only one day's provisions left, the pemmican they had received at the posts being so mouldy that they were obliged to leave it behind. Arrangements were now made for their journey northward. Sixteen Canadian voyageurs were engaged, and a Chipewyan woman and two interpreters were to be taken on from Great Slave Lake. The whole stock of provisions they could obtain before starting was only sufficient for one day's supply, exclusive of two barrels of flour, three cases of preserved meats, some chocolate, arrow-root and portable soup, which had been brought from England, and were kept as a reserve for the journey to the coast in the following season; seventy pounds of deer's flesh and a little barley were all that the Company's officers could give them. The provisions were distributed among three canoes, and the party set off in good spirits on the 18th of July. They had to make an inroad very soon on their preserved meats, for they were very unfortunate in their fishing. On the 24th of July, however, they were successful in shooting a buffalo in the Salt River, after giving him fourteen balls. At Moose Deer Island they got supplies from the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies' officers, and on the 27th set out again on their journey, reaching Fort Providence by the 29th.

Shortly after they had an interview with a celebrated and influential Indian chief, named Akaitcho, who was to furnish them with guides. Another Canadian voyageur was there engaged, and the party now consisted of the officers already named, Mr. Fred. Wentzel, clerk of the N. W. Fur Company, who joined them here, John Hepburn, the English seaman, seventeen Canadian voyageurs, (one of whom, named Michel, was an Iroquois,) and three Indian interpreters, besides the wives of three of the voyageurs who had been brought on for the purpose of making clothes and shoes for the men at the winter establishment. The whole number were twentynine, exclusive of three children. I give the list of those whose names occur most frequently in the narrative:

J. B. Belanger, Peltier, Solomon Belanger, Samandre, Benoit, Perrault, Antonio Fontano, Beauparlant, Vaillant, Credit, Adam St. Germain, interpreter; Augustus and Junius, Esquimaux interpreters. They had provisions for ten days' consumption, besides a little chocolate and tea, viz: two casks of flour, 200 dried reindeer tongues, some dried moose meat, portable soup, and a little arrow-root. A small extra canoe was provided for the women, and the journey for the Coppermine River was commenced on the 2d of August. The party met with many hardships-were placed on short diet-and some of the Canadians broke out into open rebellion, refusing to proceed farther. However, they were at last calmed, and arrived on the 20th of August at Fort Enterprise, on Winter Lake, which, by the advice of their Indian guides, they determined on making their winter quarters. The total length of the voyage from Chipewyan was 552 miles; and after leaving Fort Providence, they had 21 miles of portage to pass over. As the men had to traverse each portage with a load of 180 lbs., and return three times light, they walked, in the whole, upward of 150 miles.

In consequence of the refusal of Akaitcho and his party of Indians to guide and accompany them to the sea, because, as they alledged, of the approach of winter, and the imminent danger, Captain Franklin was obliged to abandon proceeding that season down the river, and contented himself with dispatching, on the 29th, Mr. Back and Mr. Hood, in a light canoe, with St. Germain as interpreter, eight Canadians, and one Indian, furnished with eight days' provisions - all that could be spared.

They returned on the 10th of September, after hav ing reached and coasted Point Lake. In the mean time, Franklin and Richardson, accompanied by J. Hepburn and two Indians, also made a pedestrian excursion toward the same quarter, leaving on the 9th of September, and returning on the fourteenth. The whole party spent a long winter of ten months at Fort Enterprise, depending upon the fish they could catch, and the success of their Indian hunters, for food.

On the 6th of October, the officers quitted their tents for a good log house which had been built. The clay with which the walls and roof were plastered, had to be tempered before the fire with water, and froze as it was daubed on; but afterward cracked in such a manner, as to admit the wind from every quarter. Still the new abode, with a good fire of fagots in the capacious clay-built chimney, was considered quite comfortable when compared with the chilly tents.

The reindeer are found on the banks of the Coppermine River early in May, as they then go to the seacoast to bring forth their young. They usually retire from the coast in July and August, rut in October, and shelter themselves in the woods during winter. Before the middle of October, the carcasses of one hundred deer had been secured in their store-house, together with one thousand pounds of suet, and some dried meat; and eighty deer were stowed away at various distances from their house, en cache. This placing provisions "en cache," is merely burying and protecting it from wolves and other depredators, by heavy loads of wood

or stone.

On the 18th of October, Mr. Back and Mr. Wentzel, accompanied by two Canadian voyageurs, two Indians and their wives, set out for Fort Providence to make the necessary arrangements for transporting the stores they expected from Cumberland House, and to see if some further supplies might not be obtained from the establishments on Slave Lake. Dispatches for England were also forwarded by them, detailing the progress of the expedition up to this date. By the end of the month the men had also completed a house for themselves, 34 feet by 18. On the 26th of October, Akaitcho, and his Indian party of hunters, amounting with women and children to forty souls, came in, owing to the deer having migrated southward. This added to the daily number to be provided for, and by this time their ammunition was nearly expended.

The fishing failed as the weather became more severe, and was given up on the 5th of November. About

1200 white fish, of from two to three pounds, had been procured during the season. The fish froze as they were taken from the nets, becoming in a short time a solid mass of ice, so that a blow or two of the hatchet would easily split them open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. If thawed before the fire, even after being frozen for nearly two days, the fish would recover their animation.

On the 23d of November, they were gratified by the appearance of one of the Canadian voyageurs who had set out with Mr. Back. His locks were matted with snow, and he was so encrusted with ice from head to foot, that they could scarcely recognize him. He reported that they had had a tedious and fatiguing journey to Fort Providence, and for some days were destitute of provisions. Letters were brought from England to the preceding April, and quickly was the packet thawed to get at the contents. The newspapers conveyed the intelligence of the death of George III. The advices as to the expected stores were disheartening; of ten bales of ninety pounds each, five had been left, by some mismanagement at the Grand Rapid on the Sattkatchawan. On the 28th of November, St. Germain the interpreter, with eight Canadian voyageurs, and four Indian hunters, were sent off to bring up the stores from Fort Providence.

On the 10th of December, Franklin managed to get rid of Akaitcho and his Indian party, by representing to them the impossibility of maintaining them. The leader, however, left them his mother and two female attendants; and old Kaskarrah, the guide, with his wife and daughter, remained behind. This daughter, who was designated "Green Stockings," from her dress, was considered a great beauty by her tribe, and although but sixteen, had belonged successively to two husbands, and would probably have been the wife of many more, if her mother had not required her services as a nurse. Mr. Hood took a good likeness of the young lady, but her mother was somewhat averse to her sitting for it, fearing that "her daughter's likeness would induce

the Great Chief who resided in England to send for the original!"

The diet of the party in their winter abode consisted almost entirely of reindeer meat, varied twice a week by fish, and occasionally by a little flour, but they had no vegetables of any kind. On Sunday morning they had a cup of chocolate; but their greatest luxury was tea, which they regularly had twice a day, although without sugar. Candles were formed of reindeer fat and strips of cotton shirts; and Hepburn acquired considerable skill in the manufacture of soap from the wood ashes, fat and salt. The stores were anxiously looked for, and it was hoped they would have arrived by New Year's Day, (1821,) so as to have kept the festival. As it was, they could only receive a little flour and fat, both of which were considered great luxuries.

On the 15th, seven of the men arrived with two kegs of rum, one barrel of powder, sixty pounds of ball, two rolls of tobacco, and some clothing.

"They had been twenty-one days on their march from Slave Lake, and the labor they underwent was sufficiently evinced by their sledge collars having worn out the shoulders of their coats. Their loads weighed from sixty to ninety pounds each, exclusive of their bedding and provisions, which at starting must have been at least as much more. We were much rejoiced at their arrival, and proceeded forthwith to pierce the spirit cask, and issue to each of the household the portion of rum which had been promised on the first day of the year. The spirits, which were proof, were frozen; but after standing at the fire for some time they flowed out, of the consistence of honey. The temperature of the liquid, even in this state, was so low as instantly to convert into ice the moisture which condensed on the surface of the dram-glass. The fingers also adhered to the glass, and would doubtless have been speedily frozen had they been kept in contact with it; yet each of the voyageurs swallowed his dram without experiencing the slightest inconvenience, or complaining of toothache."

It appeared that the Canadians had tapped the rum

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