Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819-20-21-22 Volume I Part 5

As we did not witness any of the Cree dances ourselves, we shall merely mention, that like the other North American nations, they are accustomed to practise that amus.e.m.e.nt on meeting with strange tribes, before going to war, and on other solemn occasions.

The habitual intoxication of the c.u.mberland House Crees has induced such a disregard of personal appearance, that they are squalid and dirty in the extreme; hence a minute description of their clothing would be by no means interesting. We shall, therefore, only remark in a general manner that the dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the shoulders, a leathern s.h.i.+rt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied round the middle. The women have in addition a long petticoat; and both s.e.xes wear a kind of wide hose, which reaching from the ankle to the middle of the thigh, are suspended by strings to the girdle. These hose, or as they are termed, _Indian stockings_, are commonly ornamented with beads or ribands, and from their convenience, have been universally adopted by the white residents, as an essential part of their winter clothing.

Their shoes, or rather short boots, for they tie round the ankle, are made of soft dressed moose-skins, and during the winter they wrap several pieces of blanket round their feet.

They are fond of European articles of dress, considering it as mean to be dressed entirely in leather, and the hunters are generally furnished annually with a _capot_ or great coat, and the women with shawls, printed calicoes, and other things very unsuitable to their mode of life, but which they wear in imitation of the wives of the traders; all these articles, however showy they may be at first, are soon reduced to a very filthy condition by the Indian custom of greasing the face and hair with soft fat or marrow, instead of was.h.i.+ng them with water. This practice they say preserves the skin soft, and protects it from cold in the winter, and the moschetoes in summer, but it renders their presence disagreeable to the olfactory organs of an European, particularly when they are seated in a close tent and near a hot fire.

The only peculiarity which we observed, in their mode of rearing children consists in the use of a sort of cradle, extremely well adapted to their mode of life. The infant is placed in the bag having its lower extremities wrapt up in soft sphagnum or bog-moss, and may be hung up in the tent, or to the branch of a tree, without the least danger of tumbling out; or in a journey suspended on the mother's back, by a band which crosses the forehead, so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It is one of the neatest articles of furniture they possess, being generally ornamented with beads, and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears a very strong resemblance in its form to a mummy case.

The sphagnum in which the child is laid, forms a soft elastic bed, which absorbs moisture very readily, and affords such a protection from the cold of a rigorous winter, that its place would be ill supplied by cloth.

The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quant.i.ty in autumn for winter use; but when through accident their stock fails, they have recourse to the soft down of the typha, or reed mace, the dust of rotten wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so cleanly, or so easily changed as the sphagnum.

The above is a brief sketch of such parts of the manners, character and customs of the Crees, as we could collect from personal observation, or from the information of the most intelligent half-breeds we met with; and we shall merely add a few remarks on the manner in which the trade is conducted at the different inland posts of the Fur Companies.

The standard of Exchange in all mercantile transactions with the natives is a beaver skin, the relative value of which, as originally established by the traders, differs considerably from the present worth of the articles it represents; but the Indians are averse to change. Three marten, eight musk-rat, or a single lynx, or wolverene skin, are equivalent to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or otter, are reckoned two beavers, and a black fox, or large black bear, are equal to four; a mode of reckoning which has very little connexion with the real value of these different furs in the European market. Neither has any attention been paid to the original cost of European articles, in fixing the tariff by which they are sold to the Indians. A coa.r.s.e butcher's knife is one skin, a woollen blanket or a fathom of coa.r.s.e cloth, eight, and a fowling-piece fifteen. The Indians receive their princ.i.p.al outfit of clothing and ammunition on credit in the autumn, to be repaid by their winter hunts; the amount intrusted to each of the hunters, varying with their reputations for industry and skill, from twenty to one hundred and fifty skins. The Indians are generally anxious to pay off the debt thus incurred, but their good intentions are often frustrated by the arts of the rival traders. Each of the Companies keeps men constantly employed travelling over the country during the winter, to collect the furs from the different bands of hunters as fast as they are procured. The poor Indian endeavours to behave honestly, and when he has gathered a few skins sends notice to the post from whence he procured his supplies, but if discovered in the mean time by the opposite party, he is seldom proof against the temptation to which he is exposed.

However firm he may be in his denials at first, his resolutions are enfeebled by the sight of a little rum, and when he has tasted the intoxicating beverage, they vanish like smoke, and he brings forth his store of furs, which he has carefully concealed from the scrutinizing eyes of his visitors. This mode of carrying on the trade not only causes the amount of furs, collected by either of the two Companies, to depend more upon the activity of their agents, the knowledge they possess of the motions of the Indians, and the quant.i.ty of rum they carry, than upon the liberality of the credits they give, but is also productive of an increasing deterioration of the character of the Indians, and will probably, ultimately prove destructive to the fur trade itself. Indeed the evil has already, in part, recoiled upon the traders; for the Indians, long deceived, have become deceivers in their turn, and not unfrequently after having incurred a heavy debt at one post, move off to another, to play the same game. In some cases the rival posts have entered into a mutual agreement, to trade only with the Indians they have respectively fitted out; but such treaties, being seldom rigidly adhered to, prove a fertile subject for disputes, and the differences have been more than once decided by force of arms. To carry on the contest, the two Companies are obliged to employ a great many servants, whom they maintain often with much difficulty, and always at a considerable expense[8].

[8] As the contending parties have united, the evils mentioned in this and the two preceding pages, are now, in all probability, at an end.

There are thirty men belonging to the Hudson's Bay Fort at c.u.mberland, and nearly as many women and children.

The inhabitants of the North West Company's House are still more numerous. These large families are fed during the greatest part of the year on fish, which are princ.i.p.ally procured at Beaver Lake, about fifty miles distant. The fishery commencing with the first frosts in autumn, continues abundant, till January, and the produce is dragged over the snow on sledges, each drawn by three dogs, and carrying about two hundred and fifty pounds. The journey to and from the lake occupies five days, and every sledge requires a driver. About three thousand fish, averaging three pounds a piece, were caught by the Hudson's Bay fishermen last season; in addition to which a few sturgeon were occasionally caught in Pine Island Lake; and towards the spring a considerable quant.i.ty of moose meat was procured from the Basquiau Hill, sixty or seventy miles distant. The rest of our winter's provision consisted of geese, salted in the autumn, and of dried meats and pemmican, obtained from the provision posts on the plains of the Saskatchawan. A good many potatoes are also raised at this post, and a small supply of tea and sugar is brought from the depot at York Factory.

The provisions obtained from these various sources were amply sufficient in the winter of 1819-20; but through improvidence this post has in former seasons been reduced to great straits.

Many of the labourers, and a great majority of the agents and clerks employed by the two Companies, have Indian or half-breed wives, and the mixed offspring thus produced has become extremely numerous.

These metifs, or as the Canadians term them, _bois brules_, are upon the whole a good looking people, and where the experiment has been made, have shewn much aptness in learning, and willingness to be taught; they have, however, been sadly neglected. The example of their fathers has released them from the restraint imposed by the Indian opinions of good and bad behaviour; and generally speaking, no pains have been taken to fill the void with better principles. Hence it is not surprising that the males, trained up in a high opinion of the authority and rights of the Company to which their fathers belonged, and unacquainted with the laws of the civilized world, should be ready to engage in any measure whatever, that they are prompted to believe will forward the interests of the cause they espouse. Nor that the girls, taught a certain degree of refinement by the acquisition of an European language, should be inflamed by the unrestrained discourse of their Indian relations, and very early give up all pretensions to chast.i.ty. It is, however, but justice to remark, that there is a very decided difference in the conduct of the children of the Orkney men employed by the Hudson's Bay Company and those of the Canadian voyagers. Some trouble is occasionally bestowed in teaching the former, and it is not thrown away; but all the good that can be said of the latter is, that they are not quite so licentious as their fathers are.

Many of the half-breeds, both male and female, are brought up amongst, and intermarry with, the Indians; and there are few tents wherein the paler children of such marriages are not to be seen. It has been remarked, I do not know with what truth, that half-breeds shew more personal courage than the pure Crees[9].

[9] A singular change takes place in the physical const.i.tution of the Indian females who become inmates of a fort; namely, they bear children more frequently and longer, but, at the same time, are rendered liable to indurations of the mammae and prolapsus of the uterus; evils from which they are, in a great measure, exempt whilst they lead a wandering and laborious life.

The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Canadians, are given in marriage very young; they are very frequently wives at twelve years of age, and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than once instance came under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a voyager to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely attained the age of ten years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of the Companies deemed this criminal indulgence to the vices of their servants, necessary to stimulate them to exertion for the interest of their respective concerns. Another practice may also be noticed, as shewing the state of moral feeling on these subjects amongst the white residents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon, amongst the Canadian voyagers, for one woman to be common to, and maintained at the joint expense of, two men; nor for a voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or altogether, for a sum of money, proportioned to her beauty and good qualities, but always inferior to the price of a team of dogs.

The country around c.u.mberland House is flat and swampy, and is much intersected by small lakes. Limestone is found every where under a thin stratum of soil, and it not unfrequently shows itself above the surface.

It lies in strata generally horizontal, but in one spot near the fort, dipping to the northward at an angle of 40. Some portions of this rock contain very perfect sh.e.l.ls. With respect to the vegetable productions of the district the _populus trepida_, or aspen, which thrives in moist situations, is perhaps the most abundant tree on the banks of the Saskatchawan, and is much prized as fire-wood, burning well when cut green. The _populus balsamifera_, or taccamahac, called by the Crees _matheh meteos_, or ugly poplar, in allusion to its rough bark and naked stem, crowned in an aged state with a few distorted branches, is scarcely less plentiful. It is an inferior fire-wood, and does not burn well, unless when cut in the spring, and dried during the summer; but it affords a great quant.i.ty of potash. A decoction of its resinous buds has been sometimes used by the Indians with success in cases of _snow-blindness_, but its application to the inflamed eye produces much pain. Of pines, the white spruce is the most common here: the red and black spruce, the balsam of Gilead fir, and Banksian pine, also occur frequently. The larch is found only in swampy spots, and is stunted and unhealthy. The canoe birch attains a considerable size in this lat.i.tude, but from the great demand for its wood to make sledges, it has become rare. The alder abounds on the margin of the little gra.s.sy lakes, so common in the neighbourhood. A decoction of its inner bark is used as an emetic by the Indians, who also extract from it a yellow dye. A great variety of willows occur on the banks of the streams; and the hazel is met with sparingly in the woods. The sugar maple, elm, ash, and the _arbor vitae_[10], termed by the Canadian voyagers _cedar_, grow on various parts of the Saskatchawan; but that river seems to form their northern boundary. Two kinds of prunus also grow here, one of which[11], a handsome small tree, produces a black fruit, having a very astringent taste, whence the term _choke-cherry_ applied to it. The Crees call it _tawquoy-meena_, and esteemed it to be when dried and bruised a good addition to pemmican. The other species[12] is a less elegant shrub, but is said to bear a bright red cherry, of a pleasant sweet taste. Its Cree name is _pa.s.see-awey-meenan_, and it is known to occur as far north as Great Slave Lake.

[10] Thuya occidentalis.

[11] Prunus Virginiana.

[12] Prunus Pensylvanica.

The most esteemed fruit of the country, however, is the produce of the _aronia ovalis_. Under the name of _meesa.s.scootoomeena_ it is a favourite dish at most of the Indian feasts, and mixed with pemmican, it renders that greasy food actually palatable. A great variety of currants and gooseberries are also mentioned by the natives, under the name of _sappoom-meena_, but we only found three species in the neighbourhood of c.u.mberland House. The strawberry, called by the Crees _otei-meena_, or heart-berry, is found in abundance, and rasps are common on the sandy banks of the rivers. The fruits. .h.i.therto mentioned fall in the autumn, but the following berries remained hanging on the bushes in the spring, and are considered as much mellowed by exposure to the colds in winter.

The red whortleberry (_vaccinium vitis idea_) is found every where, but is most abundant in rocky places. It is aptly termed by the Crees _weesawgum-meena_, sour berry. The common cranberry (_oxycoccos pal.u.s.tris_,) is distinguished from the preceding by its growing on moist sphagnous spots, and is hence called _maskoego-meena_ swamp-berry. The American guelder rose, whose fruit so strongly resembles the cranberry, is also common. There are two kinds of it, (_viburnum oxycoccos_{20}, and _edule_,) one termed by the natives _peepoon-meena_, winter-berry, and the other _mongsoa-meena_, moose-berry. There is also a berry of a bluish white colour, the produce of the white cornel tree, which is named _musqua-meena_, bear-berry, because these animals are said to fatten on it. The dwarf Canadian cornel, bears a corymb of red berries, which are highly ornamental to the woods throughout the country, but are not otherwise worthy of notice, for they have an insipid farinaceous taste, and are seldom gathered.

The Crees extract some beautiful colours from several of their native vegetables. They dye their porcupine quills a beautiful scarlet, with the roots of two species of bed-straw (galium tinctorium, and boreale) which they indiscriminately term _sawoyan_. The roots, after being carefully washed are boiled gently in a clean copper kettle, and a quant.i.ty of the juice of the moose-berry, strawberry, cranberry, or arctic raspberry, is added together with a few red tufts of pistils of the larch. The porcupine quills are plunged into the liquor before it becomes quite cold, and are soon tinged of a beautiful scarlet. The process sometimes fails, and produces only a dirty brown, a circ.u.mstance which ought probably to be ascribed to the use of an undue quant.i.ty of acid. They dye black with an ink made of elder bark, and a little bog-iron-ore, dried and pounded, and they have various modes of producing yellow. The deepest colour is obtained from the dried root of a plant, which from their description appears to be the cow-bane (_cicuta virosa_.) An inferior colour is obtained from the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle, and they have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens.

The quadrupeds that are hunted for food in this part of the country, are the moose and the rein-deer, the former termed by the Crees, _mongsoa_, or _moosoa_; the latter _attekh_. The buffalo or bison, (_moostoosh_,) the red-deer or American-stag, (_wawaskeeshoo_,) the _apeesee-mongsoos_, or jumping deer, the _kinwaithoos_, or long-tailed deer, and the _apistatchaekoos_, a species of antelope; animals that frequent the plains above the forks of the Saskatchawan, are not found in the neighbourhood of c.u.mberland House.

Of fur-bearing animals, various kinds of foxes (_makkeeshewuc_,) are found in the district, distinguished by the traders under the names of _black_, _silver_, _cross_, _red_, and _blue_ foxes. The two former are considered by the Indians to be the same kind, varying accidentally in the colour of the pelt. The black foxes are very rare, and fetch a high price. The cross and red foxes differ from each other only in colour, being of the same shape and size. Their shades of colour are not disposed in any determinate manner, some individuals approaching in that respect very nearly to the silver fox, others exhibiting every link of the chain down to a nearly uniform deep or orange-yellow, the distinguis.h.i.+ng colour of a pure red fox. It is reported both by Indians and traders, that all the varieties have been found in the same litter.

The blue fox is seldom seen here, and is supposed to come from the southward. The gray wolf (_mahaygan_) is common here. In the month of March the females frequently entice the domestic dog from the forts, although at other seasons a strong antipathy seemed to subsist between them. Some black wolves are occasionally seen. The black and red varieties of the American bear (_musquah_) are also found near c.u.mberland House, though not frequently; a black bear often has red cubs, and _vice versa_. The grizzly bear, so much dreaded by the Indians for its strength and ferocity, inhabits a track of country nearer the Rocky Mountains. It is extraordinary that although I made inquiries extensively amongst the Indians, I met with but one who said that he had killed a she-bear with young in the womb.

The wolverene, in Cree _okeekoohawgees_, or _ommeethatsees_, is an animal of great strength and cunning, and is much hated by the hunters, on account of the mischief it does to their marten-traps. The Canadian lynx (_peeshew_) is a timid but well-armed animal, which preys upon the American hare. Its fur is esteemed. The marten (_wapeestan_,) is one of the most common furred animals in the country. The fisher, notwithstanding its name, is an inhabitant of the land, living like the common marten princ.i.p.ally on mice. It is the _otchoek_ of the Crees, and the _pekan_ of the Canadians. The mink, (_atjackash_,) has been often confounded by writers with the fisher. It is a much smaller animal, inhabits the banks of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish.

The otter, (_neekeek_,) is larger than the English species, and produces a much more valuable fur.

The musk rat (_watsuss_, or _musquash_,) is very abundant in all the small gra.s.sy lakes. They build small conical houses with a mixture of hay and earth; those which build early raising their houses on the mud of the marshes, and those which build later in the season founding their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself. The house covers a hole in the ice, which permits them to go into the water in search of the roots on which they feed. In severe winters when the small lakes are frozen to the bottom, and these animals cannot procure their usual food, they prey upon each other. In this way great numbers are destroyed.

The beaver (_ammisk_) furnish the staple fur of the country. Many surprising stories have been told of the sagacity with which this animal suits the form of its habitation, retreats, and dam, to local circ.u.mstances; and I compared the account of its manners, given by Cuvier, in his _Regne Animal_, with the reports of the Indians, and found them to agree exactly. They have been often seen in the act of constructing their houses in the moon-light nights, and the observers agree, that the stones, wood, or other materials, are carried in their teeth, and generally leaning against the shoulder. When they have placed it to their mind, they turn round and give it a smart blow with their flat tail. In the act of diving they give a similar stroke to the surface of the water. They keep their provision of wood under water in front of the house. Their favourite food is the bark of the aspen, birch, and willow; they also eat the alder, but seldom touch any of the pine tribe unless from necessity; they are fond of the large roots of the _nuphar lutea_, and grow fat upon it, but it gives their flesh a strong rancid taste. In the season of love their call resembles a groan, that of the male being the hoa.r.s.est, but the voice of the young is exactly like the cry of a child. They are very playful, as the following anecdote will shew:--One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pus.h.i.+ng one another off, and playing a thousand interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the bushes, and prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures, but a nearer approach discovered to him such a similitude betwixt their gestures and the infantile caresses of his own children, that he threw aside his gun. This gentleman's feelings are to be envied, but few traders in fur would have acted so feelingly. The musk-rat frequently inhabits the same lodge with the beaver, and the otter also thrusts himself in occasionally; the latter, however, is not always a civil guest, as he sometimes devours his host.

These are the animals most interesting in an economical point of view. The American hare, and several kinds of grouse and ptarmigan, also contribute towards the support of the natives; and the geese, in their periodical flights in the spring and autumn, likewise prove a valuable resource both to the Indians and white residents; but the princ.i.p.al article of food, after the moose-deer, is fish; indeed, it forms almost the sole support of the traders at some of the posts.

The most esteemed fish is the Coregonus albus, the _attihhawmeg_ of the Crees, and the _white-fish_ of the Americans. Its usual weight is between three and four pounds, but it has been known to reach sixteen or eighteen pounds. Three fish of the ordinary size is the daily allowance to each man at the fort, and is considered as equivalent to two geese, or eight pounds of solid moose-meat. The fishery for the attihhawmeg lasts the whole year, but is most productive in the sp.a.w.ning season, from the middle of September to the middle of October. The _ottonneebees_, (Coregonus Artedi,) closely resembles the last. Three species of carp, (Catastomus Hudsonius, C. Forsteria.n.u.s, and C. Lesueurii,) are also found abundantly in all the lakes, their Cree names are _namaypeeth_, _meethquawmaypeeth_, and _wapawhawkeeshew_. The _occow_, or river perch, termed also horn-fish, piccarel, or dore, is common, but is not so much esteemed as the attihhawmeg. It attains the length of twenty inches in these lakes. The methy is another common fish; it is the _gadus lota_, or burbot, of Europe. Its length is about two feet, its gullet is capacious, and it preys upon fish large enough to distend its body to nearly twice its proper size. It is never eaten, not even by the dogs unless through necessity, but its liver and roe are considered as delicacies.

The pike is also plentiful, and being readily caught in the winter-time with the hook, is so much prized on that account by the natives, as to receive from them the name of _eithinyoo-cannooshoeoo_, or Indian fish. The common trout, or _nammoecous_, grows here to an enormous size, being caught in particular lakes, weighing upwards of sixty pounds; thirty pounds is no uncommon size at Beaver Lake, from whence c.u.mberland House is supplied. The Hioden clodalis, _oweepeetcheesees_, or gold-eye is a beautiful small fish, which resembles the trout, in its habits.

One of the largest fish is the _mathemegh_, catfish, or _barbue_. It belongs to the genus _silurus_. It is rare but is highly prized as food.

The sturgeon (Accipenser ruthenus) is also taken in the Saskatchawan, and lakes communicating with it, and furnishes an excellent, but rather rich, article of food.

CHAPTER IV.

Leave c.u.mberland House--Mode of Travelling in Winter--Arrival at Carlton House--Stone Indians--Visit to a Buffalo Pound--Goitres--Departure from Carlton House--Isle a la Crosse--Arrival at Fort Chipewyan.

1820. January 18.

This day we set out from c.u.mberland House for Carlton House; but previously to detailing the events of the journey, it may be proper to describe the necessary equipments of a winter traveller in this region, which I cannot do better than by extracting the following brief, but accurate, account of it from Mr. Hood's journal:--

"A snow-shoe is made of two light bars of wood, fastened together at their extremities, and projected into curves by transverse bars. The side bars have been so shaped by a frame, and dried before a fire, that the front part of the shoe turns up, like the prow of a boat, and the part behind terminates in an acute angle; the s.p.a.ces between the bars are filled up with a fine netting of leathern thongs, except that part behind the main bar, which is occupied by the feet; the netting is there close and strong, and the foot is attached to the main bar by straps pa.s.sing round the heel but only fixing the toes, so that the heel rises after each step, and the tail of the shoe is dragged on the snow.

Between the main bar and another in front of it, a small s.p.a.ce is left, permitting the toes to descend a little in the act of raising the heel to make the step forward, which prevents their extremities from chafing.

The length of a snow-shoe is from four to six feet and the breadth one foot and a half, or one foot and three quarters, being adapted to the size of the wearer. The motion of walking in them is perfectly natural, for one shoe is level with the snow, when the edge of the other is pa.s.sing over it. It is not easy to use them among bushes, without frequent overthrows, nor to rise afterwards without help. Each shoe weighs about two pounds when unclogged with snow. The northern Indian snow-shoes differ a little from those of the southern Indians, having a greater curvature on the outside of each shoe; one advantage of which is, that when the foot rises the over-balanced side descends and throws off the snow. All the superiority of European art has been unable to improve the native contrivance of this useful machine.

"Sledges are made of two or three flat boards, curving upwards in front, and fastened together by transverse pieces of wood above. They are so thin that, if heavily laden, they bend with the inequalities of the surface over which they pa.s.s. The ordinary dog-sledges are eight or ten feet long and very narrow, but the lading is secured to a lacing round the edges. The cariole used by the traders is merely a covering of leather for the lower part of the body, affixed to the common sledge, which is painted and ornamented according to the taste of the proprietor. Besides snow-shoes, each individual carries his blanket, hatchet, steel, flint, and tinder, and generally fire arms."

The general dress of the winter traveller, is a _capot_, having a hood to put up under the fur cap in windy weather, or in the woods, to keep the snow from his neck; leathern trowsers and Indian stockings which are closed at the ankles, round the upper part of his _moca.s.sins_, or Indian shoes, to prevent the snow from getting into them. Over these he wears a blanket, or leathern coat, which is secured by a belt round his waist, to which his fire-bag, knife, and hatchet are suspended.

Mr. Back and I were accompanied by the seaman, John Hepburn; we were provided with two carioles and two sledges; their drivers and dogs being furnished in equal proportions by the two Companies. Fifteen days'

provision so completely filled the sledges, that it was with difficulty we found room for a small s.e.xtant, one suit of clothes, and three changes of linen, together with our bedding. Notwithstanding we thus restricted ourselves, and even loaded the carioles with part of the luggage, instead of embarking in them ourselves, we did not set out without considerable grumbling from the voyagers of both Companies, respecting the overlading of their dogs. However, we left the matter to be settled by our friends at the fort, who were more conversant with winter travelling than ourselves. Indeed the loads appeared to us so great that we should have been inclined to listen to the complaints of the drivers. The weight usually placed upon a sledge, drawn by three dogs, cannot, at the commencement of a journey, be estimated at less than three hundred pounds, which, however, suffers a daily diminution from the consumption of provisions. The sledge itself weighs about thirty pounds. When the snow is hard frozen, or the track well trodden, the rate of travelling is about two miles and a half an hour, including rests, or about fifteen miles a day. If the snow be loose the speed is necessarily much less and the fatigue greater.

At eight in the morning of the 18th, we quitted the fort, and took leave of our hospitable friend, Governor Williams, whose kindness and attention I shall ever remember with grat.i.tude. Dr. Richardson, Mr.

Hood, and Mr. Connolly, accompanied us along the Saskatchawan until the snow became too deep for their walking without snow-shoes. We then parted from our a.s.sociates, with sincere regret at the prospect of a long separation. Being accompanied by Mr. Mackenzie, of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was going to Isle a la Crosse, with four sledges under his charge, we formed quite a procession, keeping in an Indian file, on the track of the man who preceded the foremost dogs; but, as the snow was deep, we proceeded slowly on the surface of the river, which is about three hundred and fifty yards wide, for the distance of six miles, which we went this day. Its alluvial banks and islands are clothed with willows. At the place of our encampment we could scarcely{21} find sufficient{22} pine branches to floor "the hut," as the Orkney men term the place where travellers rest. Its preparation, however, consists only in clearing away the snow to the ground, and covering that s.p.a.ce with pine branches, over which the party spread their blankets and coats, and sleep in warmth and comfort, by keeping a good fire at their feet, without any other canopy than the heaven, even though the thermometer should be far below zero.

The arrival at the place of encampment gives immediate occupation to every one of the party; and it is not until the sleeping-place has been arranged, and a sufficiency of wood collected as fuel for the night, that the fire is allowed to be kindled. The dogs alone remain inactive during this busy scene, being kept harnessed to their burdens until the men have leisure to unstow the sledges, and hang upon the trees every species of provision out of their reach. We had ample experience, before morning, of the necessity of this precaution, as they contrived to steal a considerable part of our stores, almost from underneath Hepburn's head, notwithstanding{23} their having been well fed at supper.

This evening we found the mercury of our thermometer had sunk into the bulb, and was frozen. It rose again into the tube on being held to the fire, but quickly re-descended into the bulb on being removed into the air; we could not, therefore, ascertain by it the temperature of the atmosphere, either then or during our journey. The weather was perfectly clear.