JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE
CHAPTER I.
JUNE, 1789.
_Wednesday, 3._–We embarked at nine in the morning, at
Fort Chepewyan, on the South side of the Lake of the Hills, in latitude
58. 40. North, and longitude 110. 30. West from Greenwich, and compass
has sixteen degrees variation East, in a canoe made of birch bark. The
crew consisted of four Canadians, two of whom were attended by their
wives, and a German; we were accompanied also by an Indian, who had
acquired the title of English Chief, and his two wives, in a small
canoe, with two young Indians; his followers in another small canoe.
These men were engaged to serve us in the twofold capacity of
interpreters and hunters. This chief has been a principal leader of his
countrymen who were in the habit of carrying furs to Churchill Factory,
Hudson’s Bay, and till of late very much attached to the interest of
that company. These circumstances procured him the appellation of the
English Chief.
We were also accompanied by a canoe that I had equipped for the purpose
of trade, and given the charge of it to M. Le Roux, one of the Company’s
clerks. In this I was obliged to ship part of our provision; which,
with the clothing necessary for us on the voyage, a proper assortment of
the articles of merchandise as presents, to ensure us a friendly
reception among the Indians, and the ammunition and arms requisite for
defence, as well as a supply for our hunters, were more than our own
canoe could carry, but by the time we should part company, there was
every reason to suppose that our expenditure would make sufficient room
for the whole.
We proceeded twenty-one miles to the West, and then took a course of
nine miles to North-North-West, when we entered the river, or one of the
branches of the lake, of which there are several. We then steered North
five miles, when our course changed for two miles to North-North-East,
and here at seven in the evening we landed and pitched our tents. One
of the hunters killed a goose, and a couple of ducks: at the same time
the canoe was taken out of the water, to be gummed, which necessary
business was effectually performed.
