ein-deer had already left the
river.

He was now reminded that these statements were very different from the
account he had given, both at Fort Providence and on the route hither;
and that, up to this moment, we had been encouraged by his conversation
to expect that the party might descend the Copper-Mine River,
accompanied by the Indians. He replied, that at the former place he had
been unacquainted with our slow mode of travelling, and that the
alteration in his opinion arose from the advance of winter.

We now informed him that we were provided with instruments by which we
could ascertain the state of the air and water, and that we did not
imagine the winter to be so near as he supposed; however, we promised to
return on discovering the first change in the season. He was also told
that all the baggage being left behind, our canoes, would now, of
course, travel infinitely more expeditiously than any thing he had
hitherto witnessed. Akaitcho appeared to feel hurt, that we should
continue to press the matter further, and answered with some warmth:
"Well, I have said every thing I can urge, to dissuade you from going on
this service, on which, it seems, you wish to sacrifice your own lives,
as well as the Indians who might attend you: however, if after all I
have said, you are determined to go, some of my young men shall join
the party, because it shall not be said that we permitted you to die
alone after having brought you hither; but from the moment they embark
in the canoes, I and my relatives shall lament them as dead."

We could only reply to this forcible appeal, by assuring him and the
Indians who were seated around him, that we felt the most anxious
solicitude for the safety of every individual, and that it was far from
our intention to proceed without considering every argument for and
against the proposed journey.

We next informed him, that it would be very desirable to see the river
at any rate, that we might give some positive information about its
situation and size, in our next letters to the Great Chief; and that we
were very anxious to get on its banks, for the purpose of observing an
eclipse of the sun, which we described to him, and said would happen in
a few days. He received this communication with more temper than the
preceding, though he immediately assigned as a reason for his declining
to go, that "the Indians must now procure a sufficient quantity of
deer-skins for winter clothing for themse