To conclude, I cannot sufficiently regret the loss of a considerable Vocabulary of the Northern Indian Language, containing sixteen folio pages, which was lent to the late Mr. Hutchins, then Corresponding Secretary to the Company, to copy for Captain Duncan, when he went on discoveries to Hudson's Bay in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety. But Mr. Hutchins dying soon after, the Vocabulary was taken away with the rest of his effects, and cannot now be recovered; and memory, at this time, will by no means serve to replace it.
Transactions from my leaving Prince of Wales's Fort on my first Expedition, till our Arrival there again.
Set off from the Fort; arrive at Po-co-ree-kis-co River--One of the Northern Indians deserts--Cross Seal River, and walk on the barren grounds--Receive wrong information concerning the distance of the woods--Weather begins to be very cold, provisions all expended, and nothing to be got--Strike to the Westward, arrive at the woods, and kill three deer--Set forward in the North West quarter, see the tracks of musk-oxen and deer, but killed none--Very short of provisions--Chawchinahaw wants us to return--Neither he nor his crew contribute to our maintenance--He influences several of the Indians to desert--Chawchinahaw and all his crew leave us--Begin our return to the Factory; kill a few partridges, the first meal we had had for several days--Villany of one of the home Indians and his wife, who was a Northern Indian woman--Arrive at the Seal River, kill two deer; partridges plenty--Meet a strange Northern Indian, accompany him to his tent, usage received there; my Indians assist in killing some beaver--Proceed toward home, and arrive at the Fort 61
Transactions from our Arrival at the Factory, to my leaving it again, and during the First Part of my Second Journey, till I had the misfortune to break the Quadrant.
Transactions at the Factory--Proceed on my second journey--Arrive at Seal River--Deer plentiful for some time--Method of angling fish under the ice--Set our fishing-nets--Method of setting nets under the ice--My guide [xii] proposes to stay till the geese should begin to fly; his reasons accepted--Pitch our tent in the best manner--Method of pitching a tent in Winter--Fish plentiful for some time; grow very scarce; in great want of provisions--Manner of employing my time--My guide killed two deer--Move to the place they were lying at; there kill several more deer, and three beavers--Soon in want of provisions again--Many Indians join us from the Westward--We begin to move towards the barren ground--Arrive at She-than-nee, there suffer great distress for want of provisions--Indians kill two swans and three geese--Geese and other birds of passage plentiful--Leave She-than-nee, and arrive at Beralzone--One of my companions guns bursts, and shatters his left hand--Leave Beralzone, and get on the barren ground, clear of all woods--Throw away our sledges and snow shoes--Each person takes a load on his back; my part of the luggage--Exposed to many hardships--Several days without victuals--Indians kill three musk-oxen, but for want of fire are obliged to eat the meat raw--Fine weather returns; make a fire; effects of long fasting; stay a day or two to dry some meat in the Sun--Proceed to the Northward, and arrive at Cathawhachaga; there find some tents of Indians--A Northern Leader called Keelshies meets us; send a letter by him to the Governor--Transactions at Cathawhachaga; leave it and proceed to the Northward--Meet several Indians--My guide not willing to proceed; his reasons for it--Many more Indians join us--Arrive at Doobaunt Whoie River--Manner of ferrying over rivers in the Northern Indian canoes--No rivers in those parts in a useful direction for the natives--Had nearly lost the quadrant and all the powder--Some reflections on our situation, and conduct of the Indians--Find the quadrant and part of the powder--Observe for the latitude--Quadrant broke--Resolve to return again to the Factory 69