tile old Indian explained bellicosely
that the white sailors had fired {85} upon him. For this outrage he
demanded satisfaction in gifts from Mackenzie. Few gifts had Mackenzie
for the aggressive old chief. There were exactly twenty pounds of
pemmican--two pounds a man for a three months' trip back. There
remained also fifteen pounds of rice--the mainstay of the
voyageurs--and six pounds of mouldy flour. The Indians proved so
vociferously hostile that two voyageurs had to stand guard while the
others slept on the bare rocks. On one occasion savages in dug-outs
began hurling spears. But no harm resulted from these unfriendly
demonstrations, and the party of explorers presently set out on their
homeward journey.

Mackenzie had accomplished his object. In the race to the Pacific
overland he was the first of the explorers of North America to cross
the continent and reach the ocean. Late in August the voyageurs were
back at the little fort on the Peace river. Mackenzie shortly
afterwards quitted the fur country and retired to Scotland, where he
wrote the story of his explorations. His book appeared in 1801, and in
the following year he was knighted by the king for his great
achievements.

[1] See another volume of this Series, _Adventurers of the Far North_,
chap. iii.

[2] The Takulli. This tribe cremated the dead, and the widows
collected the ashes of their dead husbands and carried them during a
period of three years: hence the name 'Carriers.'

{86}

CHAPTER VI

THE DESCENT OF THE FRASER RIVER

American traders were not slow to follow up the discovery of Robert
Gray on the Pacific. Spain, the pioneer pathfinder, had ceded
Louisiana to France; and France, by way of checkmating British advance
in North America, had sold Louisiana to the United States for fifteen
million dollars. What did Louisiana include? Certainly, from New
Orleans to the Missouri. Did it also include from the Missouri to
Gray's river, the Columbia? The United States had sent Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark overland from the Missouri to the Columbia,
ostensibly on a scientific expedition, but in reality to lay claim to
the new territory for the United States. This brings the exploration
of the Pacific down to 1806.

Take a look at the map! Mackenzie had crossed overland from the Peace
river to Bella Coola. Who was to own the great belt of {87} empire--a
third larger than Germany--between Mackenzie's trail west