Part 34 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BUSHRANGER AND THE INDIANS.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: A PORTAGE.]
On the 16th of July they set out on their long journey to the fort. On the 21st, the sun, which for some time had never set, descended below the horizon, and on that day they were joined by eleven of the natives. These represented their tribe as numerous, and perpetually at war with the Esquimaux, who had broken a treaty into which they had seduced the Indians and had ma.s.sacred many of them. On one occasion an Indian of a strange tribe beyond the mountains to the west endeavoured to draw for Mackenzie a map of that distant country with a stick upon the sand. It was a rude production, but gave the explorer an idea. The savage traced out a long point of land between two rivers. This isthmus he represented as running into the great lake, at the extremity of which, as he had been told by Indians of other nations, there was built a Benahulla Couin, or White Man's Fort.
”This,” says Mackenzie, ”I took to be Oonalaska Fort, and consequently the river to the west to be Cook's River, and that the body of water or sea into which the river discharges itself at Whale Island communicated with Norton Sound.”
Mackenzie in vain endeavoured to procure a guide across the mountains; the natives refused to accompany him. On the 12th of September the party arrived in safety at Fort Chippewyan, having been absent one hundred and two days.
Taken in connection with Hearne's journey, this expedition was of great importance as establis.h.i.+ng the fact of an Arctic sea of wide extent to the north of the continent. It seemed probable, also, that this sea formed its continuous boundary.
But the greater expedition of this intrepid fur-trader was yet to be undertaken. His object this time was to ascend the Peace River, which rises in the Rocky Mountains, and crossing these to penetrate to that unknown stream which he had sought in vain during his former journey.
This river, he conjectured, must communicate with the ocean; and finding it, he must be borne along to the Pacific.
[Sidenote: Mackenzie sets out for the Pacific.]
The explorer set out, accordingly, from Fort Chippewyan on the 10th of October, 1792, pus.h.i.+ng on to the remotest trading post, where he spent the winter in a traffic for furs with the Beaver and Rocky Indians.
When he had despatched six canoes to Chippewyan with the cargo he had collected, he engaged hunters and interpreters, built a huge canoe and set out for the Pacific. This canoe, it may be mentioned, was twenty-five feet long within, exclusive of the curves of stem and stern, twenty-six inches hold and four feet nine inches beam. At the same time it was so light that two men could carry it three or four miles, if necessity arose, without stopping to rest. In such a slender craft they not only stowed away their provisions, presents, arms, ammunition and baggage to the weight of three thousand pounds, but found room for Mackenzie, seven white companions and two Indians. Up to the 21st of May the party encountered a series of such difficulties and hards.h.i.+ps that all save the leader himself were disheartened at the prospect. The river being broken by frequent cascades and dangerous rapids, it was very often necessary to carry the canoe and baggage until the voyage could be resumed in safety; and on their nearer approach to the Rocky Mountains the stream, hemmed in between stupendous rocks, presented a continuance of fearful torrents and huge cataracts. The party began to murmur audibly; and, at last, progress came to a standstill. In truth, there was some reason for this irresolution; further progress by water was impossible and they could only advance over a mountain whose sides were broken by sharp, jagged rocks and thickly covered with wood. Mackenzie despatched a reconnoitring party, with orders to ascend the mountain and proceed in a straight course from its summit, keeping the line of the river until they could ascertain if it was practicable to resume navigation.
While this party was gone on its quest, the canoe was repaired, and Mackenzie busied himself in taking an alt.i.tude which showed the lat.i.tude to be 56 8'. By sunset the scouts had severally returned, each having taken different routes. They had penetrated through thick woods, ascended hills and dived into valleys, pa.s.sed the rapids, and agreed, that though the difficulties by land were appalling, this was the only practicable course. Unattractive as was the prospect, the spirits of the party rose as night closed in. Their troubles were forgotten in a repast of wild rice sweetened with sugar; the usual evening regale of rum renewed their courage, and followed by a night's rest, they entered upon the journey next day with cheerfulness and vigour.
It is not to the purpose here to relate all that befell Mackenzie on this memorable voyage, but, after many vicissitudes, towards the close of June he reached the spot where the party were to strike off across the country.
[Sidenote: Journey in the mountain.]
”We carried on our back,” says Mackenzie, ”four bags and a half of pemmican, weighing from eighty-five to ninety-five pounds each, a case with the instruments, a parcel of goods for presents weighing ninety pounds, and a parcel containing ammunition of the same weight; each of the Canadians had a burden of about ninety pounds, with a gun and ammunition, whilst the Indians had about forty-five pounds weight of pemmican, besides their gun--an obligation with which, owing to their having been treated with too much indulgence, they expressed themselves much dissatisfied. My own load, and that of Mr. Mackay, consisted of twenty-two pounds of pemmican, some rice, sugar, and other small articles, amounting to about seventy pounds, besides our arms and ammunition. The tube of my telescope was also slung across my shoulder, and owing to the low state of our provisions, it was determined that we should content ourselves with two meals a day.”
About the middle of July Mackenzie encountered a chief who had, ten years before, in a voyage by sea, met with two large vessels full of white men, the first he had ever seen and by whom he was kindly received. The explorer very plausibly conjectured that these were the s.h.i.+ps of Captain Cook. Thus the names of two of the world's great explorers were, by that episode, conjoined.
The navigation of the river, although interrupted by rapids and cascades, was continued until the 23rd, when the party reached its mouth. Here the river was found to discharge itself by various smaller channels into the Pacific.
The memorable journey was now finished, and its purpose completed. In large characters, upon the surface of a rock under whose shelter the party had slept, their leader painted this simple memorial:
”Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by land the 22nd of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.”
Such was the inscription written with vermilion, at which doubtless the simple aboriginal tribes came to marvel before it was washed away by the elements. But its purport was conveyed to England in another and more abiding character, which yet will not outlast the memory of the achievement. Mackenzie and his followers had paved the way; almost despite itself the Company must take possession, before long, of its own; although much had arisen which rendered the task less easy than if it had been undertaken immediately on the conquest, thirty years before.
[Sidenote: Turner's exploration.]
The news of Mackenzie's journeys reaching London considerably perturbed the Honourable Adventurers and undeniably diminished their prestige. It was not that the Company did not wish to pursue discovery and bring about a knowledge of the vast unknown regions which appertained to it under the charter; it was for a long time impracticable. In 1785 it had sent out orders to continue the exploration of the west, begun by Hearne. A man had been despatched in accordance with these instructions, but his courage, or his endurance, had failed him, and he returned to c.u.mberland House without having accomplished anything of note. For the five or six years ensuing, the reports of the meetings of the Company are sufficient testimony to the desire of the members to take an active part in seeking trade with unknown tribes. But to effect this, men were necessary; and men of the required character were not immediately forthcoming. It was not till 1791 that, after an animated correspondence with the Colonial Office, a person was suggested for the enterprise who seemed to possess the equipment adequate to the task. This was Turner, who sought a career as an astronomer, and with him went Ross, one of the Company's clerks.
Both were badly furnished for an expedition of this kind, and taking counsel among themselves, came to the conclusion that as they had to make their way through parts unknown to the Hudson's Bay servants, it would be as well to seek the a.s.sistance of the Northmen as well. From Alexander Mackenzie, Turner obtained a letter to the factor in charge of Fort Chippewyan, instructing him to offer the explorers every facility and courtesy; and indeed so well were Turner and his companion treated at this post that they pa.s.sed the winter there. The result of this expedition went to show that Lake Athabasca, instead of being situated in proximity to the Pacific, was really distant nearly a thousand miles.
There were men enough for the work in hand if the Company had only availed themselves of them. At the very moment when Mackenzie was making his voyages, a youth was finis.h.i.+ng his education at the Charter House who had all the cleverness, force and intrepidity for the task that all desired to see accomplished. His name was David Thompson. The time having arrived when this youth should choose a career, his inclination turned to travel in the unknown quarters of the globe, and hoping that adventure of some sort would transpire for him in the north-west of the New World, he signed as one of the clerks of the Company, and set sail in 1794 for Fort Churchill. Arriving here, he found himself ”cribbed, cabined and confined.” Governor Colen and himself were little to their mutual liking, and still less of the same mind, as Thompson had an ardent, energetic temperament, and was with difficulty controlled. Yet during the summer of 1795, by reason of continuous pleadings, he obtained permission to set out on a tour to the west, and with an escort of one white clerk, an Irishman, and two Indians, he travelled to Athabasca, surveying the country as he went along.
[Sidenote: David Thompson.]
On his return from Athabasca, Thompson's term of service had expired, and he was encouraged to apply for employment with the Northmen. They desired to learn the position of their trading houses, chiefly with respect to the 49th parallel of lat.i.tude, which had become, since the treaty of 1792 with America, the boundary line between the possessions of the two countries. For several years Thompson continued in the service of the Company's rivals, surveying a considerable territory and drawing up charts and maps, which were sent to the partners at Fort William.[83]
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