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 en from Great Slave Lake. The whole stock of provision 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 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 here 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 twenty-nine, 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 rein-deer 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 2nd 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 further. 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 553 miles; and after leaving Fort Providence they had 21 miles of portage to pass over. As the men had to traverse each portage four times with a load of 180 lbs., and return three times light, they walked in the whole upwards 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 alleged, of the approach of winter, and the imminent danger, Capt. Franklin was obliged to abandon proceeding that season down the river, and contented himself with despatching, 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 having reached and coasted Point Lake. In the meantime, Franklin and Richardson, accompanied by J. Hepburn and two Indians, also made a pedestrian excursion towards the same quarter, leaving on the 9th of September, and returning on the 14th. 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 afterwards 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 rein-deer are found on the banks of the Coppermine River early in May, as they then go to the sea coast 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 middl of October, the carcases of 100 deer had been secured in their store-house, together with 1000 lbs. of suet, and some dried meat; and eighty deer were stowed away at various distances from their house, en caché. This placing provisions "en caché," is merely burying and protecting it from

D

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. Despatches 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 southwards. 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 lbs., 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 23rd 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 incrusted with ice from head to foot, that they could scarcely recognise 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 90 lbs. 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 Carsdian 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 aged mother and two female attendants; and old Keskarrah, 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 rein-deer 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 rein-deer 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.

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They had been twenty-one days on their march from Slave Lake, and the labour 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 voyagers swallowed his dram without experiencing the slightest inconvenience, or complaining of tooth-ache.” It appeared that the Canadians had tapped the rumcask on their journey, and helped themselves rather freely.

On the 27th, Mr. Wentzel and St. Germain arrived, with two Esquimaux interpreters who had been engaged, possessed of euphonious names, representing the belly and the ear, but which had been Anglicised into Augustus and Junius, being the months they had respectively arrived at Fort Churchill. The former spoke English. They brought four dogs with them, which proved of great use during the season in drawing in wood for fuel.

Mr. Back, at this time, the 24th of December, had gone on to Chipewyan to procure stores. On the 12th of February, another party of six men was sent to Fort Providence to bring up the remaining supplies, and these returned on the 5th of March. Many of the cachés of meat which had been buried early in the winter were found destroyed by the wolves, and some of these animals prowled nightly about the dwellings, even venturing upon the roof of their kitchen. The rations were reduced from eight to the short allowance of five ounces of animal food per day.

On the 17th of March, Mr. Back returned from Fort Chipewyan, after an absence of nearly five months, during which he had performed a journey on foot of more than eleven hundred miles on snow shoes, with only the slight shelter at night of a blanket and deer skin, with the thermometer frequently at 40° and once at 57°, and very often passing several days without food.

Some very interesting traits of generosity on the part of the Indians are recorded by Mr. Back. Often they gave up and would not taste of fish or birds which they caught with the touching remark, "We are accustomed to starvation, and you are not."

Such passages as the following often occur in his narrative "One of our men caught a fish, which, with the assistance of some weed scraped from the rocks (tripe de roche) which forms a glutinous substance, made us a tolerable supper; it was not of the most choice kind, yet good enough for hungry men. While we were eating it, I perceived one of the women busily employed scraping an old skin, the contents of which her husband presented us with. They consisted of pounded meat, fat, and a greater proportion of Indian's and deer's hair than either, and,