On the 11th, however, we arrived at the Fort, which was still under the charge of Mr. Weeks. He welcomed us in the most kind manner, immediately gave us changes of dress, and did every thing in his power to make us comfortable.
Our sensations on being once more in a comfortable dwelling, after the series of hardships and miseries we had experienced, may be imagined. Our first act was again to return our grateful praises to the Almighty for the manifold instances of his mercy towards us. Having found here some articles which Mr. Back had sent across from Moose-deer Island, I determined on awaiting the arrival of Akaitcho and his party, in order to present these to them, and to assure them of the promised reward, as soon as it could possibly be procured.
In the afternoon of the 14th, Akaitcho, with his whole band came to the Fort. He smoked his customary pipe, and made an address to Mr. Weeks in the hall previous to his coming into the room in which Dr. Richardson and I were. We discovered at the commencement of his speech to us, that he had been informed that our expected supplies had not come. He spoke of this circumstance as a disappointment, indeed, sufficiently severe to himself, to whom his band looked up for the protection of their interests, but without attaching any blame to us. "The world goes badly," he said, "all are poor; you are poor, the traders appear to be poor, I and my party, are poor likewise; and since the goods have not come in, we cannot have them. I do not regret having supplied you with provisions, for a Copper Indian can never permit white men to suffer from want of food on his lands, without flying to their aid. I trust, however, that we shall, as you say, receive what is due next autumn; and at all events," he added, in a tone of good-humour, "it is the first time that the white people have been indebted to the Copper Indians." We assured him the supplies should certainly be sent to him by the autumn, if not before. He then cheerfully received the small present we made to himself; and, although, we could give a few things only to those who had been most active in our service, the others, who, perhaps, thought themselves equally deserving, did not murmur at being left out in the distribution. Akaitcho afterwards expressed a strong desire, that we should represent the character of his nation in a favourable light to our countrymen. "I know," he said, "you write down every occurrence in your books; but probably you have only noticed the bad things we have said and done, and have omitted the good." In the course of the desultory conversation which ensued, he said, that he had been always told by us, to consider the traders in the same light as ourselves; and that, for his part, he looked upon both as equally respectable. This assurance, made in the presence of Mr. Weeks, was particularly gratifying to us, as it completely disproved the defence that had been set up, respecting the injurious reports circulated against us amongst the Indians in the spring; namely, that they were in retaliation for our endeavours to lower the traders in the eyes of the Indians. I take this opportunity of stating my opinion, that Mr. Weeks, in spreading these reports, was actuated by a mistaken idea that he was serving the interest of his employers. On the present occasion, we felt indebted to him for the sympathy he displayed for our distresses, and the kindness with which he administered to our personal wants. After this conference, such Indians as were indebted to the Company were paid for the provision they had given us, by deducting a corresponding sum from their debts; in the same way we gave a reward of sixteen skins of beaver to each of the persons who had come to our relief at Fort Enterprise. As the debts of Akaitcho and his hunters had been effaced at the time of his engagement with us, we placed a sum equal to the amount of provision they had recently supplied, to their credit on the Company's Books. These things being, through the moderation of the Indians, adjusted with an unexpected facility, we gave them a keg of mixed liquors, (five parts water,) and distributed among them several fathoms of tobacco, and they retired to their tents to spend the night in merriment.