that therefore it was all plain sailing. On the
contrary, the travellers were delayed by thunderstorms, and heavy rains,
and gales, and impeded by ice, which, even in the middle of June lay
thick on the waters in some parts. They were also tormented by hosts of
mosquitoes, and at times they found difficulty in procuring food--
despite the ability of our friends Reuben, Swiftarrow, and Lawrence, who
were constituted hunters to the expedition. At other times, however,
the supply of food was abundant and varied. On one occasion the hunters
brought in seven geese, a beaver, and four ducks, besides which a large
supply of excellent trout and other fish was obtained from the nets; and
on another occasion they procured two swans, ten beavers, and a goose.
But sometimes they returned empty-handed, or with a single bird or so,
while the nets produced nothing at all. Deer were also shot
occasionally, and they found immense numbers of wild cranberries,
strawberries, rasps, and other berries, besides small spring onions; so
that, upon the whole, they fared well, and days of abstinence were more
than compensated by days of superabundance.

One evening while they were coasting along this great lake, some Indians
were discovered on the shore, and the travellers landed to make
inquiries of them as to the nature of the country beyond. There were
three lodges belonging to the Red-knife Indians, who were so named
because their knifes were made of the copper found in that region. To
the leading man of these, English Chief, being interpreter, addressed
himself.

English Chief, we may remark in passing, was one of the followers of the
chief who conducted Hearne on his expedition to the Coppermine River;
since which event he had been a principal leader of his countrymen who
were in the habit of carrying furs to the English fur-traders at
Churchill, on Hudson's Bay, and was much attached to the interest of the
Hudson Bay Company, which, at that time, was in opposition to the
Canadian or Nor'-West Company. These circumstances procured him the
title of the English Chief. An able, active, but self-sufficient and
somewhat obstinate chief he was, and caused Mackenzie a good deal of
anxiety and much trouble to keep him with the party.

In answer to his queries, the principal man of the Red-knife Indians
said that there were many more of his tribe a short distance off, and
that he would send a man to fetch them. He also said that the exp