_Sunday, 2._–We set off at three this morning with the towing-line.
I walked with my Indians, as they went faster than the canoe, and
particularly as I suspected that they wanted to arrive at the huts of
the natives before me. In our way, I observed several small springs of
mineral water running from the foot of the mountain, and along the beach
I saw several lumps of iron ore. When we came to the river of the Bear
Lake, I ordered one of the young Indians to wait for my canoe, and I
took my place in their small canoe. This river is about two hundred and
fifty yards broad at this place, the water clear and of a greenish
colour. When I landed on the opposite shore, I discovered that the
natives had been there very lately from the print of their feet in the
sand. We continued walking till five in the afternoon, when we saw
several smokes along the shore. As we naturally concluded, that these
were certain indications where we should meet the natives who were the
objects of our search we quickened our pace; but, in our progress,
experienced a very sulphurous smell, and at length discovered that the
whole bank was on fire for a very considerable distance. It proved to
be a coal mine, to which the fire had communicated from an old Indian
encampment. The beach was covered with coals, and the English chief
gathered some of the softest he could find, as a black dye; it being the
mineral, as he informed me, with which the natives render their quills
black.
Here we waited for the large canoe, which arrived an hour after us. At
half past ten we saw several Indian marks, which consisted of pieces of
bark fixed on poles, and pointing to the woods, opposite to which is an
old beaten road, that bore the marks of being lately frequented; the
beach also was covered with tracks. At a small distance were the poles
of five lodges standing; where we landed and unloaded our canoe. I then
despatched one of my men and two young Indians to see if they could find
any natives within a day’s march of us. I wanted the English chief to
go, but he pleaded fatigue, and that it would be of no use. This was
the first time he had refused to comply with my desire, and jealousy, I
believe, was the cause of it in the present instance; though I had taken
every precaution that he should not have cause to be jealous of the
Canadians. There was not, at this time, the least appearance of snow on
the opposite mountains, though they were almost covered with it, when we
passed before. Set two nets, and at eleven o’clock at night the men and
Indians returned. They had been to their first encampment, where there
were four fires, and which had been quitted a short time before; so that
they were obliged to make the circuit of several small lakes, which the
natives cross with their canoes. This encampment was on the borders of
a lake which was too large for them to venture round it, so that they
did not proceed any further. They saw several beavers and beaver lodges
in those small lakes. They killed one of these animals whose fur began
to get long, a sure indication that the fall of the year approaches.
They also saw many old tracks of the moose and reindeer. This is the
time when the rein-deer leave the plains to come to the woods, as the
mosquitoes begin to disappear; I, therefore, apprehended that we should
not find a single Indian on the river side, as they would be in or about
the mountains setting snares to take them.
