party and dogs on a shorter allowance than usual, and proceed
on our journey. Their conduct affords another instance of the little
dependence that ought to be placed on the Indians of this country, when
more than ordinary exertion is required.

[Sidenote: March.] We travelled fifty miles through a swampy level
country, thinly wooded, with a few ridges of hills visible in the
distance, east and west of our course. The country was uneven and better
wooded for the succeeding thirty miles. We next crossed a steep range of
hills elevated about eight hundred feet above the surrounding land, and
then passing over a succession of lower hills and vallies, descended to
the Mackenzie, and following that river for thirty miles, came to Fort
Simpson on the 8th of March; the whole distance being two hundred and
twenty miles, and for the last one hundred and seventy miles, through a
well wooded country. We crossed several rivers which flow into the
Mackenzie, and some considerable lakes which are laid down in the map.
But one solitary family of Indians were seen on the journey, and these
were stationed within a day's march of Fort Simpson. They had inclosed
large tracts of ground with hedges, in which they set snares for hares,
and, being very successful, were living in abundance, and were well
clothed, their dress consisting principally of hare skins.

As soon as Mr. Smith, the chief Factor of the District, was informed of
our approach, and that we were short of provisions, in consequence of
the Indians having made off with the pemmican, he kindly sent a supply
of fresh meat for our use; and on our arrival at the Fort, he gave us
the most friendly reception. Our Indian guide had never been nearer to
Fort Simpson by land, than the Lake of the Elevated Land, and only once
by the course of the Mackenzie, many years before the Fort was built;
and yet if he had not been led aside by falling upon the track leading
to the Indians above-mentioned, he would have come upon the Mackenzie,
directly opposite Fort Simpson. His course he told me was governed by
his recollection of a particular mountain, which he remembered to have
noticed from the Mackenzie, and which we now passed within two miles,
but on his former visit, he did not approach it nearer than eighteen
miles. Its outline must have appeared so different when seen from these
distances, that one can hardly imagine a less observant eye than that of
an Indian recognising any of its distin