es consider your party as a third company, hostile to their
interests, and that neither of them will pay the notes you give to the
Indians."

Afterwards, in the course of a long conference, he enumerated many other
grounds of dissatisfaction; the principal of which were our want of
attention to him as chief, the weakness of the rum formerly sent to him,
the smallness of the present now offered, and the want of the chief's
clothing, which he had been accustomed to receive at Fort Providence
every spring. He concluded, by refusing to receive the goods now laid
before him.

In reply to these complaints it was stated that Mr. Weeks's conduct
could not be properly discussed at such a distance from his fort; that
no dependence ought to be placed on the vague reports that floated
through the Indian territory; that, for our part, although we had heard
many stories to his (Akaitcho's) disadvantage, we discredited them all;
that the rum we had sent him, being what the great men in England were
accustomed to drink, was of a milder kind, but, in fact, stronger than
what he had been accustomed to receive; and that the distance we had
come, and the speed with which we travelled, precluded us from bringing
large quantities of goods like the traders; that this had been fully
explained to him when he agreed to accompany us; and that, in
consideration of his not receiving his usual spring outfit, his debts to
the Company had been cancelled, and a present, much greater than any he
had ever received before, ordered to be got ready for his return. He
was further informed, that we were much disappointed in not receiving
any dried meat from him, an article indispensable for our summer voyage,
and which, he had led us to believe there was no difficulty in
procuring; and that, in fact, his complaints were so groundless, in
comparison with the real injury we sustained from the want of supplies,
that we were led to believe they were preferred solely for the purpose
of cloaking his own want of attention to the terms of his engagement. He
then shifted his ground, and stated, that if we endeavoured to make a
voyage along the sea-coast we should inevitably perish; and he advised
us strongly against persisting in the attempt. This part of his harangue
being an exact transcript of the sentiments formerly expressed by our
interpreters, induced us to conclude that they had prompted his present
line of conduct, by telling him, that we had goods or rum co