Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea Part 14

12 } and Warren } { 6 48 P.M. 1 48 - 5 Little ice visible.

13 Atkinson Island 69 55 130 43 7 0 P.M. 0 32 S.E. 1 Rise and fall 18 inches.

14 Browell Cove 70 00 130 20 7 0 P.M. 1 12 West. 6 Very little rise and fall.

18 Point Sir 70 08 127 45 3 15 A.M. 3 47 Calm. - P. Maitland 19 Near Cape Bathurst 70 33 127 21 1 30 A.M. 1 28 E.S.E. 6 { In the mouth of Harrowby Bay, round (18 & 19) { which the tide appeared to flow.

{ Flood setting from the Eastward.

{ Rise and fall 14-1/2 inches.

20 Point Fitton 70 11 126 14 4 00 A.M. 3 18 N.W. 6 Rise and fall 13 inches.

_TABLE of Times of High Water, &c.--Concluded._

Geographic Times of High Water. Winds.

Position.

Reduced Names of Places Lat Lon. to full Direction.

Date. of Observations. N. W. Observed & change. Force.

General Remarks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1826. d. m. d. m. h. m. h. m.

July 20 W. Horton River 69 50 125 55 4 15 P.M. 3 15 W.N.W. 9

21 - - - - - 5 0 A.M. 3 49 - 7

27 Cape Lyon 69 46 122 51 {11 50 A.M. 6 33 E.N.E. 8 { Stream of flood from the { Eastward. Rise and fall 30 {Three miles from } { 14 inches.

{Buchanan River } 69 24 120 03 { 5 0 P.M. 8 20 W.N.W. 8 Ice close and heavy, Rise and fall 9 inches.

Aug.

1 Point Wise 69 03 119 00 8 30 P.M. 7 04 West. 4 Compact ice.

3 Stapylton Bay 68 52 116 03 9 0 P.M. 8 22 East. 2 In a bay filled with ice.

4 { Between C. Hope } { and C. Bexley } 68 57 115 48 3 15 P.M. 8 25 E.S.E. 4 Ice to seaward.

5 Chantry Island 68 45 114 23 8 30 P.M. 7 22 W.S.W. 3 Loose ma.s.ses of ice.

6 {Seven miles from } {C. Krusenstern } 68 32 113 53 9 00 P.M. 7 13 Variable. - Flood from the S.E. Velocity 3 miles an hour.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] Franklin's First Journey to the Polar Sea, p. 337.

[14] All the distances mentioned in the narrative of the proceedings of the eastern detachment, are geographical miles.

CAPTAIN FRANKLIN'S NARRATIVE RESUMED.

CHAPTER VI.

Brief Notices of the Second Winter at Bear Lake--Traditions of the Dog-Ribs--Leave Fort Franklin--Winter Journey to Fort Chipewyan--Remarks on the progress of improvement in the Fur Countries--Set out in Canoes on the Voyage Homeward--Join Dr. Richardson at c.u.mberland House--Mr.

Drummond's Narrative--Arrival in Canada, at New York, and London.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 21st] During our absence on the sea-coast, Mr.

Dease had employed the Canadians in making such repairs about the buildings as to fit them for another winter's residence, but he had not been able to complete his plans before the arrival of Dr. Richardson's party, through whose a.s.sistance they were finished shortly after our return. The inconvenience arising from the unfinished state of the houses was a trifle, when compared to the disappointment we felt at the poverty of our store, which contained neither meat nor dried fish, and the party was living solely on the daily produce of the nets, which, at this time, was barely sufficient for its support. Notwithstanding the repeated promises which the Fort hunters and the Dog-Ribs in general had given us, of exerting themselves to collect provisions during the summer, we found that they had not supplied more than three deer since our departure. The only reason they a.s.signed to Mr. Dease, on his remonstrating with them, was, that they had been withheld from hunting at any great distance from the Fort, by the fear of meeting the Copper Indians, who, they fancied, would be lying in wait to attack them. This excuse, however, had been so often alleged without a cause, that it was considered mere evasion, and we attributed their negligence to the indolence and apathy which mark the character of this tribe.

I need not dilate upon the anxieties which we felt at the prospect of commencing the winter with such a scanty supply of food. We at once sent off five men, provided with nets and lines, to the fishery in M'Vicar's Bay, which had been so productive in the preceding year, in the hope that, besides gaining their own subsistence, they might store up some fish for us, which could be brought to the Fort when the lake was frozen. Our anxiety was, in some measure, relieved on the 28th of September, by the arrival of Beaulieu and some hunters, from the north side of Bear Lake, with a supply of dried meat. The term of Beaulieu's engagement being now expired, he was desirous of quitting our service; and though he was our best hunter, Mr. Dease advised me to comply with his request, as he had collected a number of useless followers, whom we must have fed during the short days. He accordingly took his departure, accompanied by seventeen persons, which was a very important relief to our daily issue of provision. I furnished them with ammunition from the store to enable them to hunt on their way to Marten Lake, where they intended to fish until the return of spring.

[Sidenote: October.] Calculating that the stores, which had been ordered from York Factory, must have arrived at Fort Norman, I despatched Mr.

Kendall for them; and he returned on the 8th of October, with as much of them as his canoe would carry. The men were immediately furnished with warm clothing, of which the eastern party were in great need, having left every thing on quitting the sea-coast, except one suit each. We were rejoiced at the receipt of a large packet of letters from England, dated in the preceding February. They brought out the gratifying intelligence that my friend Lieutenant Back had been promoted, in December, 1825, to the rank of Commander. I likewise received a large packet of news papers from his Excellency the Earl of Dalhousie, Governor-in-Chief of Canada, to whom I take this opportunity of returning my best thanks for the warm interest he took in the welfare of the Expedition.

I shall now briefly trace the advance of winter: the nights were frosty and the weather was unsettled and gloomy, from the time of our arrival to the close of September. Heavy rain fell on the 2nd of October, which on the following day was succeeded by hard frost and much snow. The snow which fell on the 8th remained on the ground for the rest of the season.

The small lake was frozen on the 12th, from which day we dated the commencement of winter as we had done in the preceding year. There was a succession of gales, and almost constant snow from that time to the close of the month; and on the 30th the thermometer first descended below zero. The snow then was much deeper than at the close of November in the former year. The last of the migratory birds, which were a few hardy ducks, took their departure on the 18th of October.

[Sidenote: November.] Stormy weather kept the Bear Lake open until the 16th of November, nine days later than the year before; and for some weeks we received no a.s.sistance from the nets, which again reduced our stock of meat to a small quant.i.ty. The same occupations, amus.e.m.e.nts, and exercise, were followed by the officers and men as in the former residence; and the occurrences were so similar, that particular mention of them is unnecessary. On the 25th of November we despatched some men with dogs and sledges to bring the remainder of the stores from Fort Norman. As it was my intention, as soon as the maps and drawings could be finished, to proceed on the ice to Fort Chipewyan, in order to secure provisions for the out-going of the party, and to reach England by the earliest conveyance, I requested of Mr. Brisbois to provide a cariole, sledges, and snow-shoes, for my journey, the birch of which they are made being plentiful in the neighbourhood of Fort Norman, and he having a better workman than any at our establishment. On the 28th Mackenzie arrived from M'Vicar's Bay, with an acceptable supply of fine white-fish. We learned from him that our party, as well as the Indians, were living in abundance; and that the latter had shown their wisdom this season, not only in taking up their quarters at that place, instead of remaining about the Fort, as they had done in the former year, but also in building themselves houses like those of our men, and thus having more comforts and better shelter than they had ever before enjoyed. The fishery opposite the Fort was now sufficiently productive for our wants, though the fish, from being out of season, disagreed so much with several of the men as to cause great debility, which was the more distressing to us, as we were unable to supply the invalids with meat on more than two days in the week. Contrary to what had happened last season, we did not receive meat this year from more than six or seven persons of either the Hare Indians or Dog-Rib tribes, after the ice set in; this happened, probably, from our being now unprovided with goods to exchange for their furs; though they had been expressly told in the spring, that we should have abundance of ammunition, tobacco, and other supplies, to purchase all the meat they would bring.

By the return of our men from Fort Norman, we learned that one of our Dog-Rib hunters had murdered a man of his tribe, in the autumn, near the mouth of the Bear Lake River. The culprit being at the house, we inquired into the truth of the report, which was found correct; and he was in consequence instantly discharged from our service. His victim had been a man of notoriously loose habits, and in this instance had carried off the hunter's wife and child, while he was in pursuit of deer, at a great distance from the Fort. The husband pursued the guilty pair the moment he discovered their flight, and, on overtaking them, instantly shot the seducer; but the woman escaped a similar fate, by having the presence of mind to turn aside the muzzle of the gun when in the act of being discharged. She did not, however, escape punishment: her husband struck her senseless to the ground with the stock of his gun, and would have completed her destruction, but for the cries and intreaties of their only child. This transaction adds another to the melancholy list of about thirty murders which have been perpetrated on the borders of this lake since 1799, when the first trading post was established.

The Dog-Rib Indians, being derived from the same stock with the Chipewyans, have many traditions and opinions in common with that people. I requested Mr. Dease to obtain answers from the old men of the tribe to a few queries which I drew up, and the following is the substance of the information he procured, which may be compared with the more extended statements by Hearne and Mackenzie, of the general belief of the Chipewyans.

The _first man_, they said, was, according to the tradition of their fathers, named Chapewee. He found the world well stocked with food, and he created children, to whom he gave two kinds of fruit, the black and the white, but forbade them to eat the black. Having thus issued his commands for the guidance of his family, he took leave of them for a time, and made a long excursion for the purpose of conducting the sun to the world. During this, his first absence, his children were obedient, and ate only the white fruit, but they consumed it all; the consequence was, that when he a second time absented himself to bring the moon, and they longed for fruit, they forgot the orders of their father, and ate of the black, which was the only kind remaining. He was much displeased on his return, and told them that in future the earth would produce bad fruits, and that they would be tormented by sickness and death--penalties which have attached to his descendants to the present day. Chapewee himself lived so long that his throat was worn out, and he could no longer enjoy life; but he was unable to die, until, at his own request, one of his people drove a beaver-tooth into his head.

The same, or another Chapewee (for there is some uncertainty on this head,) lived with his family on a strait between two seas. Having there constructed a weir to catch fish, such a quant.i.ty were taken, that the strait was choked up, and the water rose and overflowed the earth.

Chapewee embarked with his family in a canoe, taking with them all manner of birds and beasts. The waters covered the earth for many days, but, at length, Chapewee said, we cannot live always thus, we must find land again, and he accordingly sent a beaver to search for it. The beaver was drowned, and his carcase was seen floating on the water; on which Chapewee despatched a musk-rat on the same errand. The second messenger was long absent, and when he did return was near dying with fatigue, but he had a little earth in his paws. The sight of the earth rejoiced Chapewee, but his first care was about the safety of his diligent servant, the rat, which he rubbed gently with his hands, and cherished in his bosom, until it revived. He next took up the earth, and mouldering it with his fingers, placed it on the water, where it increased by degrees until it formed an island in the ocean. A wolf was the first animal Chapewee placed on the infant earth, but the weight proving too great, it began to sink on one side, and was in danger of turning over. To prevent this accident the wolf was directed to move round the island, which he did for a whole year, and in that time the earth increased so much in size, that all on board the canoe were able to disembark on it. Chapewee, on landing, stuck up a piece of wood, which became a fir-tree, and grew with amazing rapidity, until its top reached the skies. A squirrel ran up this tree, and was pursued by Chapewee, who endeavoured to knock it down, but could not overtake it.

He continued the chase, however, until he reached the stars, where he found a fine plain, and a beaten road. In this road he set a snare made of his sister's hair, and then returned to the earth. The sun appeared as usual in the heavens in the morning, but at noon it was caught by the snare which Chapewee had set for the squirrel, and the sky was instantly darkened. Chapewee's family on this said to him, you must have done something wrong when you were aloft, for we no longer enjoy the light of day; "I have," replied he, "but it was unintentionally." Chapewee then endeavoured to repair the fault he had committed, and sent a number of animals up the tree to release the sun, by cutting the snare, but the intense heat of that luminary reduced them all to ashes. The efforts of the more active animals being thus frustrated, a ground mole, though such a grovelling and awkward beast, succeeded by burrowing under the road in the sky, until it reached and cut asunder the snare which bound the sun. It lost its eyes, however, the instant it thrust its head into the light, and its nose and teeth have ever since been brown, as if burnt. Chapewee's island, during these transactions, increased to the present size of the American Continent; and he traced the course of the rivers, and sc.r.a.ped out the lakes by drawing his fingers through the earth. He next allotted to the quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, their different stations, and endowing them with certain capacities, he told them that they were in future to provide for their own safety, because man would destroy them whenever he found their tracks; but to console them, he said, that when they died they should be like a seed of gra.s.s, which, when thrown into the water, springs again into life. The animals objected to this arrangement, and said, let us when we die be as a stone which, when thrown into a lake, disappears forever from the sight of man. Chapewee's family complained of the penalty of death entailed upon them for eating the black fruit, on which he granted that such of them as dreamed certain dreams should be men of medicine, capable of curing diseases and of prolonging life. In order to preserve this virtue, they were not to tell their dreams until a certain period had elapsed. To acquire the power of foretelling events, they were to take an ant alive, and insert it under the skin of the palm of the hand, without letting any one know what they had done.

For a long time Chapewee's descendants were united as one family, but at length some young men being accidentally killed in a game, a quarrel ensued, and a general dispersion of mankind took place. One Indian fixed his residence on the borders of the lake, taking with him a dog big with young. The pups in due time were littered, and the Indian, when he went out to fish, carefully tied them up to prevent their straying. Several times as he approached his tent, he heard a noise of children talking and playing; but on entering it he only perceived the pups tied up as usual. His curiosity being excited by the noises he had heard, he determined to watch, and one day pretending to go out and fish, according to custom, he concealed himself in a convenient place. In a short time he again heard voices, and rus.h.i.+ng suddenly into the tent, beheld some beautiful children sporting and laughing, with the dog-skins lying by their side. He threw the skins into the fire, and the children, retaining their proper forms, grew up, and were the ancestors of the Dog-Rib nation.

On Mr. Dease questioning some of the elderly men as to their knowledge of a supreme Being, they replied--"We believe that there is a Great Spirit, who created every thing, both us and the world for our use. We suppose that he dwells in the lands from whence the white people come, that he is kind to the inhabitants of those lands, and that there are people there who never die: the winds that blow from that quarter (south) are always warm. He does not know the wretched state of our island, nor the pitiful condition in which we are."

To the question, whom do your medicine men address when they conjure?

They answered,--"We do not think that they speak to the master of life, for if they did, we should fare better than we do, and should not die.

He does not inhabit our lands."

[Sidenote: December.] On the evening of the 1st of December a brilliant comet appeared in the western quarter, which had been indistinctly seen the two preceding nights. A line drawn through alpha and eta Ursae Majoris led to its position; it also formed a trapezium with alpha Aquilae and alpha Lyrae and alpha Coronae Borealis. This was the last night of its being visible. The temperature had been unusually high for several days, about this time +18 above zero; and, with the exception of the night of the 1st, the atmosphere gloomy; and we amused ourselves with conjecturing, whether this extraordinary warmth, and the density of the clouds, could in any way be ascribed to the comet.

At Christmas we were favoured by a visit from Mr. Brisbois, to whom we felt much obliged for the care he had taken of our sea-stores, beside many personal civilities. The visit of a stranger is always heartily welcomed in such a desolate region, and to provide for the entertainment of the party during Mr. Brisbois's stay, Captain Back and Mr. Kendall displayed their ingenuity in cutting out several pasteboard figures, to represent behind an illuminated screen the characters of a comic piece, which Captain Back had written for the occasion. The exhibition was entirely new to most of the party, and its execution afforded such general amus.e.m.e.nt, that it was repeated on three nights at the request of the men. [Sidenote: January.] The New Year was celebrated by a dance, which closed our festivities; and on Mr. Brisbois quitting us the following day, we resumed our ordinary occupations. Two Hare Indians arrived at the fort, whom Mr. Kendall recognised as the persons who had brought provisions to Dr. Richardson's party, as soon as they had heard of his having reached the Bear Lake Portage; and we had much pleasure in rewarding their prompt.i.tude on that occasion, by a substantial present and a silver medal. They were particularly pleased at the medals, and a.s.sured us that they should be proud to show them to the rest of their tribe as tokens of our approbation.

On the evening of the 4th of January, the temperature being -52.2 degrees, Mr. Kendall froze some mercury in the mould of a pistol bullet, and fired it against a door at the distance of six paces. A small portion of the mercury penetrated to the depth of one eighth of an inch, but the remainder only just lodged in the wood. Much snow fell in the second week of January; and on the 12th, we ascertained that its average depth was two feet in the sheltered parts of the woods. The weather became mild after the 20th; and on the 22nd, the sun's rays were so powerful as to raise a spirit thermometer with a blackened bulb, to +30.5 degrees, when the temperature of the air was -3.5 degrees. A very brilliant and clearly defined parhelion was visible at the time, and there were only a few light clouds. The wind was east, and as usual, with the wind from that quarter when the sky is clear, the distant land appeared much distorted by refraction.

The doc.u.ments which had been preparing being now nearly finished, we sent for the cariole, &c. from Fort Norman. [Sidenote: 18th.] When the men came back, they brought the information, that, according to the report of the Indians, the ice was so rough on the Mackenzie above Fort Norman, that travelling would be extremely difficult. I therefore abandoned the intention of proceeding by that way, and resolved on pa.s.sing through the woods to Fort Simpson, as soon as guides could be procured. The delay afforded me the opportunity of registering the lowest temperature we had witnessed in this country. [Sidenote: February.] At a quarter after eight in the morning of the 7th of February, the thermometer descended to -58 degrees; it had been -57.5 degrees, and 57.3 degrees thrice in the course of this and the preceding day--between the 5th and 8th, its general state was from -48 degrees to -52 degrees, though it occasionally rose to -43 degrees.

At Fort Enterprise, during a similar degree of cold, the atmosphere had been calm: but here we had a light wind, which sometimes approached to a fresh breeze. The sky was cloudless the whole time. Some of our men, as well as the Indians, were travelling on the lake during this cold without experiencing any greater inconvenience than having their faces frost bitten. The dogs, however, suffered severely, three being completely lamed by the frost, and all of them becoming much thinner.[15] These cold days were followed by windy though mild weather, which brought the rein-deer nearer to the Establishment; and our hunters killed seven within a day's march. Their reappearance in our neighbourhood was very gratifying to the whole party, as we were heartily tired of a fish-diet, and I felt an especial pleasure at being able to quit the place without the least apprehension of the party being in want of provision.

The following is a list of the amount of provision we obtained at Fort Franklin, from the time of Mr. Dease's arrival to the close of January 1827; independent of the supplies of pemmican, &c. for the sea voyage, which were procured from the Hudson's Bay Company.

Small Fish, Bear Lake Herring, 79,440.--Trout, 3,475.--Pounds of fresh meat, 24,053.--Dried ribs of Rein Deer, 2,370.--Pounds of pounded deer's meat, 1,744.--Pounds of fat or tallow, 2,929.--Rein-deer tongues, 1,849.--Beaver, 12.--Partridges, 386.--Hares, 52.