Part 4 (2/2)

[Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 4th.] On the 4th of this month, when all were heartily tired of short allowance, a report was brought of the traces of a moose deer having been seen about twelve miles from the fort. Had the days been longer, and a crust formed upon the snow, the hunters would have found no great difficulty in running down the animal, but our princ.i.p.al hope lay in their getting within shot without ”raising it,”--the expression used when a deer is scared. Beaulieu being the most expert moose-hunter, went out on this occasion, accompanied by two others, Landre a Chipewyan lad, and a Dog-Rib hunter. When they arrived on the deer's track, they found that it had been raised, probably by the Indians who first discovered it; but anxious to procure meat for the fort, they commenced the pursuit. From their knowledge of the habits of the animal, and of the winding course it takes, they were enabled to shorten the distance; but after running four successive days without coming in sight, Beaulieu had the misfortune to fall over the stump of a tree, and sprain his ankle; the other two hunters being previously tired out. When this accident happened, they knew they were near the deer, and that it would soon give in, because its footsteps were stained with blood. Beaulieu, however, on account of his lameness, returned to the house, and his companions came with him. During the chase they bivouacked on the snow, and subsisted on a few ptarmigan which they killed. Landre after a night's rest, again set out, and was successful after two more day's running; not, however, without having nearly lost his life, for the moose, on receiving a shot, made a rush at him, striking furiously with his fore feet. He had just time to shelter himself behind a tree, upon which the animal spent its efforts, until his gun was again ready.

Landre's arrival with the joyful intelligence of his success, was hailed as the commencement of a season of plenty. When the moose meat was brought in, we had not an ounce of provision in store, and it was, therefore, most acceptable; although, from the manner in which it was hunted down, it proved exceedingly tough. [Sidenote: Friday, 10th.] In the evening, to increase our satisfaction, an Indian arrived with the information that the fish were plentiful at the station to which the Dog-Ribs had removed, and likewise that the hunters belonging to the fort had killed some rein-deer near their lodges. We immediately equipped four men with nets and lines, and sent them back with the Indian, giving them directions to report whether more persons could gain subsistence there. Their report, a few days afterwards, being favourable, four more men were despatched thither. They sent us some t.i.ttameg, weighing from six to eight pounds, which were the more acceptable, because none of that kind had been taken in our nets since the lake had been frozen over. By the time the moose was finished, the men came back from Fort Norman, with three bags of pemmican, which enabled us to continue the daily issue of rations, though the fare was still scanty.

[Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 25th] On the 25th, Beaulieu, accompanied by two men, went off in one direction, and the Dog-Rib hunters in another, in search of deer. Both parties were successful. From the former we received a summons, after four days' absence, to send sledges for meat, but not so from the Dog-Ribs, for they, to compensate for their long abstinence, consumed almost all the meat, and gorged themselves to such a degree, that they were unable to move, and became quite ill. From this period we had a sufficient supply of provision, because the fisheries improved, and we received deer from time to time. The men who had been indisposed gained strength, from the increased quant.i.ty, and amended quality, of their food; and we had also the gratification of seeing the dogs daily fatten, amidst the general plenty. The conduct of the men during the season of scarcity was beyond all praise; and the following anecdote is worthy of record, as displaying the excellent feeling of a British seaman, and as speaking the sentiments of the whole party.

Talking with Robert Spinks as to the difference of his present food, from that to which he had been accustomed on board s.h.i.+p, I said I was glad the necessity was over of keeping them on short allowance. ”Why, sir,” said he, ”we never minded about the short allowance, but were fearful of having to use the pemmican intended for next summer; we only care about the next voyage, and shall all be glad when the spring comes, that we may set off; besides, at the worst time, we could always spare a fish for each of our dogs.” During the period of short allowance, the three dogs under the charge of this man were kept in better condition than any of the others.

We now called the men home from the nearest fishery, and set their nets near the Bear Lake River, but the men at the distant station with the Indians were kept there, and occasionally supplied the fort with fine t.i.ttameg and trout. The otters did considerable mischief to our nets at this time; six of these animals were seen in one day.

Many parheliae were observed this month. On the 14th, at forty-five minutes after nine A.M., the arched form of the clouds, and the appearance of a collection of rays projected from the sun's disk in the shape of a fan, strongly resembled the coruscations of the aurora. The atmosphere was misty; temperature in the shade +8 degrees 5 minutes; and when the thermometer with a blackened bulb was exposed to the sun's rays, it rose to +43 degrees. The magnetic needle, at nine A.M., was perceived to have made a greater deviation to the westward than usual at that hour, and I imagine that the cause of this increase probably arose from the atmosphere being then in a state of electricity, similar to that in which it is when the aurora appears in hazy weather; on which occasions we have observed that its coruscations have the strongest effect in causing aberrations of the needle. A violent gale from the north-west commenced on the 26th, and lasted, without intermission, for thirty-six hours.

[Sidenote: March, 1st.] The early part of this month was marked by a succession of gales from the N.W., with a few intervals of moderate weather, in which the wind came from the east, and was attended by a clearer atmosphere than usually accompanies easterly winds in the colder months. We observed, with pleasure, on the 7th, that the sun had sufficient power to soften the snow in exposed places, and to form icicles from the roofs which had a southern aspect, but the return of strong winds from the W.N.W. brought back severe weather. [Sidenote: Sat.u.r.day, 11th.] On the 11th there was a violent gust of wind, which, in its pa.s.sage over the lake, gathered up the snow in a column, similar to that of a waterspout. Dr. Richardson made an excursion for the purpose of examining the rocks to the north of the establishment. He returned after two days, the snow being too deep for him to obtain specimens. The description he gave of a view from an eminence nine miles behind the fort, induced Lieutenant Back and me to visit the spot, and we were amply repaid for the walk. The view embraced the mountains on the borders of the Mackenzie to the west, a considerable portion of Bear Lake River, with the mountains near its rapids, Clark's Hill to the south, and the range of elevated land stretching to the east till they were lost in the distance. To the N.E. there appeared several small lakes, and the view was terminated by a portion of Bear Lake.

[Sidenote: Tuesday, 21st.] The Chipewyan hunters who had been absent since Christmas, returned to us with their families, and brought with them a Dog-Rib girl, about twelve years old, who had been deserted by her tribe. When they found her, she was in the last stage of weakness, from famine, sitting by the expiring embers of a fire, and but for their timely appearance, death must soon have ended her sufferings. They fed and clothed her, and waited until she gained strength to accompany them.

The wretches who had abandoned the poor creature, were on their way to a fis.h.i.+ng station, which they knew to be very productive, and not above a day's march distant. She was unable to keep the pace at which they chose to proceed, and having no near relation but an aged aunt, who could not a.s.sist her, they left her at an encampment without any food. The hunters met this party of Indians about a month afterwards, when they were living in abundance. The girl, by that time, had perfectly recovered her strength, and they desired that she should be restored to them, but the hunters firmly resisted their importunity, and one of them adopted her as his own child. It is singular that she was the only female of the tribe that could be called good-looking. Her Indian name was Aton-larree, which the interpreter translated, Burnt-weed. Lieutenant Back made a sketch of her, in the dress which the hunter's wife gave to her on their first meeting. When the Indians came to the fort, I took the first opportunity of their being a.s.sembled in the hall, to send for the hunters and their wives, and to reward them by a substantial present of clothing and ammunition. I also gave to them some neat steel instruments, consisting of gimblets, and other useful articles, which they were desired to preserve, and show to other Indians, as a testimony of our approbation of their humanity. A present was also bestowed upon the girl, and then the Dog-Ribs were addressed as to their unfeeling conduct towards her. They listened quietly, and merely stated her weakness as the cause. There is little doubt but that the transactions of this day were canva.s.sed afterwards, and it is to be hoped that the knowledge of our sentiments gaining circulation, may induce a discontinuance of their inhuman practices.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 22nd.] By the men who had conveyed our last packet to Fort Simpson, we received intelligence that some Chipewyans had brought information to the Athabasca and Slave Lakes, of their having seen many indications of a party of white people on the sea coast eastward of the Coppermine River. The report stated, that they had found, in the preceding autumn, on the borders of a river near the sea-coast, a sawpit, some saws, and axes, and a store of deer's meat.

There was snow on the ground, and the footsteps of the party appeared recent. We concluded from these statements, that Captain Parry had laid up his s.h.i.+ps in the vicinity of Bathurst's Inlet, and sent hunting-parties up the river to augment his stock of provision. I therefore despatched two men with letters to Mr. M'Vicar, at Slave Lake, containing a series of questions, that the matter might be thoroughly investigated, and requested him to transmit the answers to the Admiralty. I likewise begged of him immediately to procure a party of Indians to go to the spot, and convey a letter from me to Captain Parry, in order that they might either be employed as hunters for the s.h.i.+ps, or carry their letters to the nearest establishment for conveyance to England. Had the information reached us sooner, so that a party could have gone from Bear Lake to the point at which the s.h.i.+ps were, and returned before the men were wanted, I should have sent to ascertain the fact. The idea of the s.h.i.+ps being on the northern coast, the prospect of their success, and the expectation of the eastern detatchment meeting them in the summer, afforded enlivening topics of conversation for several days, and on the day the intelligence came, we celebrated its arrival with a bowl of punch. The health of Captain Parry, and his party, as well as that of Captain Beechey, was drank with enthusiasm.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 23rd.] We obtained observations for the time, from which it appeared that the chronometer, No. 1733, generously lent to the Expedition by my friend the late Mr. Moore, had only varied its rate two hundredths of a second, since the 3rd of November. I had worn it next my skin, suspended round my neck, the whole time; and, consequently, it was not exposed to much variation of temperature.

After the middle of this month the N.W. winds gave place to a succession of easterly breezes; whenever these prevailed, we observed the terrestrial refraction was much increased; double refraction of the land was not unfrequent, and twice the mist arising from the open water, appeared like a wall of ice. When the moon shone, halos, and occasionally paraselenae, were visible; and towards the close of the month the coruscations of the aurora were often very brilliant.

During this month I noticed that on several occasions the magnetic needle oscillated when I approached it in a dress of waterproof cloth, although it remained stationary when others of the party examined it in their ordinary garments. The waterproof dress probably acted by exciting electricity in the body, although this opinion is rather contradicted by the fact of a fur cap, which had been rubbed by the hand until it affected the gold leaf electrometer, producing no change in the needle, and my approach to the electrometer not causing the gold-leaf to expand.

[Sidenote: April, 6th.] Having failed in an attempt to make charcoal for the blacksmith's use at this place, we despatched William Duncan, and the blacksmith, to make some at Fort Norman, where birch trees are plentiful; and on the 6th of April we were glad to see them return with the first load. The carpenters had already prepared the timbers and the keel for the new boat, and we were waiting for the coals to get the iron-work forward.

[Sidenote: Monday, 10th.] On the 10th Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall left the fort on snow-shoes, accompanied by an Indian guide, and a man driving a dog-sledge with provisions, for the purpose of completing the survey of Great Bear Lake, which Dr. Richardson had commenced the preceding autumn. The day was remarkably warm; the blackened thermometer, exposed to the sun, rose to +90; and we hailed with delight a complete thaw. Cheered by the prospect, a spot was cleared of snow, the keel of the boat laid down, and that there might be no delay, all the sledges we could spare were despatched to fetch the remainder of the charcoal from Fort Norman. [Sidenote: Tuesday, 11th.] On the following day water was dripping from the roofs, and the flies were active within the rooms. The continuance of mild weather for six days caused a rapid decay of the snow, but no spots of land became visible. The men returned with the charcoal, and from them we learned that the season was more backward here than in the vicinity of Fort Norman. In the evening of the 17th, a telescope was put up in the meridian for finding the rates of the chronometers by the transit of Arcturus. [Sidenote: Wednesday, 19th.] On the 19th, thirty Hare-Indians arrived with sledges, bringing their winter's collection of furs for the Hudson Bay Company, and a large supply of dried meat for us, which, with the stock already in store, put us quite at ease respecting food until the season for our departure. The party consisted mostly of young lads, who, very good-naturedly, sang and danced for our amus.e.m.e.nt all the evening. They also gave us specimens of the dances in use among the Loucheux, which were more graceful than their own. The tune they sung to the Medicine-dance of the Loucheux, struck me as being soft and pretty. The ludicrous att.i.tudes and grotesque figures of the dancers, as they wheeled in a circle, shaking the knives and feathers which they had between their fingers were happily sketched by Lieutenant Back.

As the fish had withdrawn from the open water at the commencement of the fine weather, the nets were brought nearer to the house; but we did not obtain more than thirty fish daily. This diminution, however, gave us no concern, as we had plenty of meat. Shortly afterwards the trout began again to take bait, and we caught several of large size. Easterly winds prevailed this month, and they blew uninterruptedly from the 21st to the last day. A storm, on the 28th and 29th, delayed the carpenters working at the boat: the patches of ground which had for the last few days been visible, were again covered with snow, and the general aspect was bleak and wintry.

Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall returned on the 1st of May, and we were furnished with the following particulars of their journey. Their course, on leaving us, was first directed to the fishery in Mac Vicar's Bay, which they reached on the fourth day, and from whence, taking with them another sledge-load of provisions and an additional attendant, they continued their journey to the bottom of Mac Tavish Bay, the most easterly part of the Lake. The reduction in their stock of provisions now caused them to commence their return, and they reached the fort after an absence of three weeks, during which, in very unfavourable weather, they travelled about three hundred and eighty miles. Dr.

Richardson had sailed four hundred and eighty miles through the lake in the autumn, and in the two excursions, five hundred miles of its sh.o.r.es were delineated, and the positions of many points established by astronomical observations. About twenty miles of the north sh.o.r.e of Mac Tavish Bay are the only parts of the Bear Lake remaining unsurveyed.

[Sidenote: May, 1st.] The following brief description of Bear Lake is extracted from Dr. Richardson's Journal:--

”Great Bear Lake is formed by the union of five arms or bays, which were named after Messrs. Keith, Smith, Dease, Mac Tavish, and Mac Vicar, of the Hudson's Bay Company. The princ.i.p.al feeding-stream, named Dease River, rises in the Copper Mountains, and falls into the upper end of Dease Bay, which is the most northern part of the lake, and Bear Lake River, which conveys the waters of the lake to the Mackenzie, issues from Keith Bay, the most southerly arm. Mac Tavish Bay is the most easterly portion of the lake, and Smith Bay, which lies opposite to it, runs to the westward. Mac Vicar Bay has a southerly direction nearly parallel to Keith Bay. The length of the lake, from Dease River to Bear Lake River, is about one hundred and seventy-five miles; and its breadth, from the bottom of Smith Bay to the bottom of Mac Tavish Bay, is one hundred and fifty miles. A range of granite hills skirts the bottom of Mac Tavish Bay. The Great Bear Mountain, at whose base some bituminous shale cliffs are exposed, is about nine hundred feet high, and separates Mac Vicar and Keith Bays; a similar mountain lies betwixt Keith and Smith Bays. In Dease Bay, limestone and sandstone are the prevailing rocks. The waters of the lake are very clear, and of unknown depth; forty-fathoms of line were let down near the sh.o.r.e, in Mac Tavish Bay, without reaching the bottom. There is a considerable quant.i.ty of good wood, princ.i.p.ally white spruce, in the vicinity of the lake; but there is reason to believe that, before many years elapse, it will become scarce, for it is very slow of growth, and the natives every year set fire to it in various quarters, and thus destroy it for many miles.

The finest timber was observed on the west side of Great Bear Lake Mountain. There are good fisheries in Dease Bay, and in various other quarters of the lake; but the fish taken in Mac Vicar Bay are remarkably fine and abundant at all seasons of the year. The princ.i.p.al advantage of the site chosen for Fort Franklin, is its vicinity to the Bear Lake River, and the great quant.i.ty of fish that can be procured at certain seasons, although they are small and of inferior quality.”

On the 5th of this month, the men being called in from the fishery in Mac Vicar Bay, the whole party was once more a.s.sembled at the house, anxiously looking forward to the arrival of spring. We hailed the appearance of swans, on the following day, as a sure sign of its approach. A goose was seen on the 7th, two ducks on the 8th, and on the 9th several gulls were observed in the open water near the Bear Lake River. The snow, at this time, was rapidly diminis.h.i.+ng from the surface of the lake, and there were many spots of ground visible. We, therefore, commenced the preparations for the summer's voyage. The seamen were employed in repairing the coverings and sails of the boats, as well as in refitting their rigging, and occupation was allotted to every person in the establishment. These operations requiring the constant superintendence of the officers, the observations of the magnetic-needle were discontinued. After the middle of the month, we were visited by occasional showers of rain, which removed the snow, and produced a perceptible decay of the ice.

On the 23d, the ice broke away from the sh.o.r.e of the small lake, and also of Bear Lake, in front of the house. Swans and geese were now daily pa.s.sing to the northward; many shots were fired at them, both by the Indians and our own party, but only a few were killed. The geese were princ.i.p.ally of the kind known to naturalists by the name of Canada geese, and denominated bustards by the voyagers. Numbers of white geese also pa.s.sed; we saw only two flocks of laughing-geese. The first swallow came on the 16th, and, on the following day, many others arrived. A variety of ducks, gulls, and many of the small aquatic birds, now frequented the marshy borders of the little lake, which afforded constant amus.e.m.e.nt to the sportsmen, and full occupation to Dr.

Richardson in preparing the skins for specimens.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 24th.] On the 24th, the musquitoes appeared, feeble at first, but, after a few days, they became vigorous and tormenting. The first flower, a tussilago, was gathered on the 27th.

Before the close of the month, several others were in bloom, of which the most abundant was the white anemone (_anemone tenella_.) The leaf-buds had not yet burst, though just ready to open.

The carpenters had now finished the new boat, which received the name of the Reliance. It was constructed of fir, with birch timbers, after the model of our largest boat, the Lion, but with a more full bow, and a finer run abaft. Its length was about twenty-six feet, and breadth five feet eight inches. It was fastened in the same manner as the other boats, but with iron instead of copper, and to procure sufficient nails we were obliged to cut up all the spare axes, trenches[2], and ice-chisels. Being without tar, we subst.i.tuted strips of waterproof canvas, soaked in some caoutchouc varnish, which we had brought out, to lay between the seams of the planks; and for paint, we made use of resin, procured from the pine-trees, boiled and mixed with grease. The other boats were afterwards put in complete repair. The Lion required the most, in consequence of the accident in Bear Lake River. The defects in the other two princ.i.p.ally arose from their having been repaired at c.u.mberland House with the elm that grows in its vicinity, and is very spongy. We now subst.i.tuted white spruce fir, which, when grown in these high lat.i.tudes, is an excellent wood for boat-building. We were surprised to find, that, notwithstanding the many heavy blows these boats had received in their pa.s.sage to this place, there was not a timber that required to be changed.

In our bustle, we would gladly have dispensed with the presence of the Dog-Ribs, who now visited us in great numbers, without bringing any supplies. They continued hanging about the fort, and their daily drumming and singing over the sick, the squalling of the children, and bawling of the men and women, proved no small annoyance. We were pleased, however, at perceiving that the ammunition we had given to them in return for meat, had enabled them to provide themselves with leathern tents. Their only shelter from the wind, snow, or rain, before this season, had been a rude barricade of pine branches. Fortunately, for our comfort, they were obliged to remove before the expiration of the month to a distant fishery to procure provision.

<script>