which forms a glutinous substance, made us a tolerable supper; it was not of the most choice kind, but 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 Indians’ and deer hair than either; and though such a mixture may not appear very alluring to an English stomach, it was thought a great luxury after three days’ privation in these cheerless regions of America. Indeed, had it not been for the precaution and generosity of the Indians, we must have gone without sustenance until we had reached the fort. On the 1st of November our men began to make a raft, to enable us to cross a river which was not even frozen at the edges. It was soon finished, and three of us embarked, being seated up to the ancles in water. We each took a pine branch for a paddle, and made an effort to gain the opposite shore, in which, after some time, and not without strong apprehensions of drifting into the Slave Lake, we succeeded. In two hours’ time, the whole party was over, with a comfortable addition to it in the shape of some fine fish, which the Indians had caught; of course we did not forget to take these friends with us; and after passing several lakes, to one of which we saw no termination, we halted within eight miles of the fort. The Great Slave Lake was not frozen. In crossing a narrow branch of the lake, I fell through the ice, but received no injury; at noon we arrived at Fort Providence, and were received by Mr. Weeks, a clerk of the North West Company, and in charge of the establishment. I found several packets of letters for the officers, which I was desirous of sending to them immediately; but as the Indians and their wives complained of illness and inability to return before they had rested, a flagon of mixed spirits was given them, and their sorrows were soon forgotten, and in a quarter of an hour they pronounced themselves excellent hunters, and capable of going any where; however, their boasting ceased with the last drop of the bottle, when a crying scene took place, which would have continued half the night, had not the magic of an additional quantity of spirits dried their tears, and once more turned their mourning into joy. It was a satisfaction to me to behold these poor creatures enjoying themselves, for they had behaved in the most exemplary and active manner towards the party, and with a generosity and sympathy seldom found even in the more civilized parts of the world; and the attention and affection which the Indians manifested towards their wives, evinced a benevolence of disposition and goodness of nature which could not fail to secure the approbation of the most indifferent observer.
“The accounts I received of our goods were of so unsatisfactory a nature, that I determined to proceed, as soon as the lake was frozen, to Moose-Deer Island, or if necessary to the Athabasca Lake; both to inform myself of the grounds of the unceremonious and negligent man-