he 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' 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 concealed. He afterwards received a portion of our
dinner in the manner he had been accustomed to do, and seemed inclined to
make up matters with us in the course of the evening, provided we added
to the present offered to him. Being told however that this was
impossible since we had already offered him all the rum we had and every
article of goods