rcumstances
which prevented him from fulfilling my instructions, respecting the
provisions to have been left for us at Fort Enterprise[16].

[16] "After you sent me back from the mouth of the Copper-Mine River,
and I had overtaken the Leader, Guides, and Hunters, on the
fifth day, leaving the sea-coast, as well as our journey up the
River, they always expressed the same desire of fulfilling their
promises, although somewhat dissatisfied at being exposed to
privation while on our return, from a scarcity of animals; for,
as I have already stated in my first communication from
Moose-Deer Island, we had been eleven days with no other food but
_tripe de roche_. In the course of this time an Indian, with his
wife and child, who were travelling in company with us, were left
in the rear, and are since supposed to have perished through
want, as no intelligence had been received of them at Fort
Providence in December last. On the seventh day after I had
joined the Leader, &c. &c., and journeying on together, all the
Indians, excepting Petit Pied and Bald-Head, left me to seek
their families, and crossed Point Lake at the Crow's Nest, where
Humpy had promised to meet his brother Ekehcho[16a] with the
families, but did not fulfil, nor did any of my party of Indians
know where to find them; for we had frequently made fires to
apprize them of our approach, yet none appeared in return as
answers. This disappointment, as might be expected, served to
increase the ill-humour of the Leader and party, the brooding of
which (agreeably to Indian custom) was liberally discharged on
me, in bitter reproach for having led them from their families,
and exposed them to dangers and hardships, which but for my
influence, they said, they might have spared themselves.
Nevertheless, they still continued to profess the sincerest
desire of meeting your wishes in making _caches_ of provisions,
and remaining until a late season on the road that leads from
Fort Enterprise to Fort Providence, through which the
Expedition-men had travelled so often the year before--remarking,
however, at the same time, that they had not the least hopes of
ever seeing one person return from the Expedition. These alarming
fears I never could persuad