THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For AUGUST, 1802.

ART. I. Mr. Mackenzie's Voyages from Montreal through the Continent of North America.

[Article concluded from pp. 225-237-]

THE expedition of Mr. Mackenzie to the Western coast of North America, which is now the object of our attention, was an undertaking more arduous and enterprizing than even his voyage to the North. He begins his relation at Fort Chepewyan, from which place he departed in October 1792; and, proceeding along the Unjigah or Peace River, he arrived on the 1st of November at a place called the Forks, where the river branched in two directions, one running towards the South, the other to the West. Keeping in the Western branch, the author landed a few miles beyond the Forks, at a spot to which people had been before sent to make preparations for erecting a house; and here he fixed his residence for the winter. Fork Fort, which was the name given to the place, is in latitude 56° 09' N. and longitude 117° 35′ W. from Greenwich.

The construction of a fort, storehouses, &c., and the settlement of various matters with the Indians, furnished Mr. M. with employment. Accidents likewise obliged him to make trial of his skill in physic and surgery; and he had the satis faction of being fortunate in his practice. The following is related among other cases: One of the young Indians had lost the use of his right hand by the bursting of a gun, and his thumb had been maimed in such a manner as to hang only by a small strip of flesh. Indeed, when he was brought to me, his wound was in such an offensive state, and emitted such a putrid smell, that it required all the resolution I possessed to examine it. His friends had done every thing in their power to relieve him; but as it consisted only in singing about him, and blowing upon his hand, the wound, as may be well imagined, had got into the deplorable state in which I VOL. XXXVIII. found

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navigating, there was another which led to the sea: I called those of my people about me,' he says, who had not been present at my consultation with the natives; and after passing a warm eulogium on their fortitude, patience, and perseverance, I stated the difficulties that threatened our continuing to navigate the river, the length of time it would require, and the scanty provision we had for such a voyage: I then proceeded for the foregoing reasons to propose a shorter route, by trying the over-land road to the sea.' This proposition was zealously adopted by all. They were obliged to remount the stream, in order to regain a station more convenient for depositing such things as they could not carry with them, than the place at which they had formed the resolution; and their canoe had suffered so much damage, that it became necessary to build a new one. This, however, was a work of only three days. The canoe was placed under a covering of small trees and branches, and with it were put many other things: but the provisions and gun-powder were left in more secure hiding-places.

On July 4th, they began their journey by land. The distance to the Western river was, in a straight line, above 100 miles: but, by the circuitous route which they were obliged to take, the length of their march was much increased. They procured guides from among the natives, and travelled in frequented paths, but heavily laden, with their arms, provisions, and other baggage. Each of the Canadians had a burden of about ninety pounds, with a gun and some ammunition.'

We have before remarked the effect of travelling on the appetite; and we now find that it was not less favourable to sleep :

As we must have been (says Mr. M.) in a most unfortunate predicament, if our guides should have deserted us in the night; by way of security, I proposed to the youngest of them to sleep with me, and he readily consented. These people have no covering but their beaver garments; and that of my companion was a nest of vermin. 1, however, spread it under us, and, having laid down upon it, we covered ourselves with my camblet cloak. My companion's hair being greased with fish-oil, and his body smeared with red earth, my sense of smelling, as well as that of feeling, threatened to interrupt my rest; but these inconveniences yielded to my fatigue, and I passed a night of sound repose.'

In this part of the journey, the natives were comparatively numerous. We insert the following paragraph, which here occurs, because it communicates information which may be of essential service to distressed travellers: We proceeded on our journey accompanied by the Indian and his two sons. As I did not want the younger, and should be obliged to feed him,

I requested of his father to leave him, for the purpose of fishing for the women. He replied, that they were accustomed to fish for themselves, and that I need not be apprehensive of their encroaching upon my provisions, as they were used to sustain themselves in their journeys on herbs, and the inner tegument of the bark of trees, for the stripping of which he had a thin piece of bone, then hanging by his side. The latter is of a glutinous quality, of a clammy, sweet taste, and is generally considered by the more interior Indians as a delicacy, rather than an article of common food.'

When the travellers arrived at the Western river, the first habitations which they saw belonged to Indians of a tribe which do not eat flesh. The guide, having gone before, had prepared for the travellers a friendly reception.

These people indulge an extreme superstition respecting their fish, as it is apparently their only animal food. Flesh they never taste; and one of their dogs, having picked and swallowed part of a bone which he had left, was beaten by his master till he disgorged it. One of my people also having thrown a bone of the deer into the river; a native, who had observed the circumstance, immediately dived and brought it up, and, having consigned it to the fire, in stantly proceeded to wash his polluted hands.

'As we were still at some distance from the sea, I made application to my friend to procure us a canoe or two, with people to conduct us thither. After he had made various excuses, I at length comprehended that his only objection was to the embarking venison in a canoe on their river, as the fish would instantly smell it and abandon them, so that he, his friends, and relations, must starve. I soon eased his apprehensions on that point, and desired to know what I must do with the venison that remained; when he told me to give it to one of the strangers whom he pointed out to me, as being of a tribe that eat flesh.'

The language of these Indians was totally different from any which the author had before heard.-After having made presents to their host, who had provided for them two canoes, the travellers embarked, accompanied by seven of the natives. 'I had imagined,' says Mr. M., that the Canadians were the most expert canoe-men in the world, but they acknowledged. themselves inferior to these people in conducting those vessels.' During the remainder of the passage towards the sea, the voyagers were kept in a state of constant apprehension, and were frequently in situations from which it required the utmost exertions of their vigilance and resolution to extricate themselves. At a place which Mr. M. has distinguished by the appellation of the Friendly Village, the circumstances of their entertainment were not at first of the most encouraging kind. Z3

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• We were informed that we must land, as the village was only at a short distance.-Some of the Indians ran before us, to announce our approach; when we took our bundles and followed. We had walked along a well beaten path, through a kind of coppice, whea we were informed of the arrival of our couriers at the houses, by the loud and confused talking of the inhabitants. As we approached the edge of the wood, and were almost in sight of the houses, the Indians who were before me made signs for me to take the lead, and that they would follow. The noise and confusion of the natives now seemed to increase; and when we came in sight of the village, we saw them running from house to house, some armed with bows and arrows, others with spears, and many with axes, as if in a state of great alarm. This very unpleasant and unexpected circumstance, I attributed to our sudden arrival, and the very short notice of it which had been given them. At all events, I had but one line of conduct to pursue, which was to walk resolutely up to them, without manifesting any signs of apprehension at their hostile appearance. This resolu tion produced the desired effect; for, as we approached the houses, the greater part of the people laid down their weapons, and came for ward to meet us. I was, however, soon obliged to stop, from the number of them that surrounded me. I shook hands, as usual, with such as were nearest to me; when an elderly man broke through the crowd, and took me in his arms; another then came, who turned him away without the least ceremony, and paid me the same compliment. The latter was followed by a young man, whom I understood to be his son. These embraces, which at first rather surprised me, I soon found to be marks of regard and friendship. The crowd pressed with so much violence and contention to get a view of us, that we could not move in any direction. An opening was at length made to allow a person to approach me, who the old man made me understand was another of his sons. I instantly stepped forward to meet him, and presented my hand; whereupon he broke the string of a very handsome robe of sea-otter skin, which he had on, and covered me with it. This was as flattering a reception as I could possibly receive, especially as I considered him to be the cklest son of the chief. Indeed it appeared to me that we had been detained here for the purpose of giving him time to bring the robe with which he had presented me.

The chief now made signs for us to follow him, and he con ducted us through a narrow coppice, for several hundred yards, till we came to an house built on the ground, which was of larger di mensions, and formed of better materials than any I had hitherto seen; it was his residence. We were no sooner arrived there, than he directed mats to be spread before it, on which we were told to take our seats, when the men of the village, who came to indulge their curiosity, were ordered to keep behind us. In our front other mats were placed, where the chief and his counsellors took their seats. In the intervening space, mats, which were very clean, and of a much neater workmanship than those on which we sat were also spred, and a small roasted salmon placed before each of us.'—

In this situation we remained upwards of three hours, and not one of the curious natives left us during all that time, except a parfy of ten or twelve of them whom the chief ordered to go and catch fish, which they did in great abundance, with dipping nets, at the foot of the Weir.'

The travellers remained all night at this village; and soon after they had retired to rest, the chief came to Mr. M. and requested him to accept his bed-companion: but, notwithstanding repeated intreaties on the part of the chief, this offering of hospitality was not accepted.

The village consisted of four elevated houses, and seven built on the ground, besides a considerable number of other buildings or sheds, which are used only as kitchens, and places for curing their fish. The former are constructed by fixing a certain number of posts in the earth, on some of which are laid, and to others are fastened, the supporters of the floor, at about twelve feet above the surface of the ground: their length is from an hundred to an hundred and twenty feet, and they are about forty feet in breadth. Along the centre are built three, four, or five hearths, for the two-fold purpose, of giving warmth, and dressing their fish.

The whole

length of the building on either side is divided by cedar planks into partitions or apartments, of seven feet square, in the front of which there are boards, about three feet wide, over which, though they are not immovably fixed, the inmates of these recesses generally pass, when they go to rest.'

In the morning, the chief complained of a pain in the breast, and the author gave him a few drops of Turlington's balsam on a piece of sugar: which immediately procured him the offer of another patient.

The chief requested me to follow him, and conducted me to a shed, where several people were assembled round a sick man, who was another of his sons. They immediately uncovered him, and shewed me a violent ulcer in the small of his back, in the foulest state that can be imagined. One of his knees was also afflicted in the same manner. This unhappy man was reduced to a skeleton, and, from his appearance, was drawing near to an end of his pains. They requested that I would touch him, and his father was very urgent with me to administer medicine; but he was in such a dangerous state, that I thought it prudent to yield no farther to the importu nities than to give the sick person a few drops of Turlington's bal sam in some water. I therefore left them, but was soon called hack by the loud lamentations of the women, and was rather apprehensive that some inconvenience might result from my compliance with the chief's request. On my return I found the native physicians busy in practising their skill and art on the patient. They blew on him, and then whistled; at times they pressed their extended fingers with all their strength on his stomach; they also put their forefingers doubled into his mouth, and spouted water from their own with great violence into his face. To support these operations the

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wretched