Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v4p2.djvu/425

  in which the expedition had been treated, and to obtain a sufficient supply of ammunition and other stores to enable it to leave its present situation, and proceed for the attainment of its ultimate object.

“November 9. – I despatched to Fort Enterprise one of the men with the letters and a hundred musket balls, which Mr. Weeks lent me on the condition that they should be returned the first opportunity. An Indian and his wife accompanied the messenger. Lieutenant Franklin was made acquainted with the exact state of things, and I waited with much impatience the freezing of the lake.

“November 16. – A band of Slave Indians came to the fort wth a few furs and some bears’ grease. Though we had not seen any of them, it appeared that they had received information of our being in the country, and knew the precise situation of our house, which they would have visited long ago, but from the fear they had of being pillaged by the Copper Indians. I questioned the chief about the Great Bear and Martin Lakes, their distance from Fort Enterprise, &c.; but his answers were so vague and unsatisfactory, that they were not worth attention; his description of Bouleau’s route (which he said was the shortest and best, and abounded in animals) was very defective, though the relative points were sufficiently characteristic, had we not possessed a better route. He had never been at the sea, and knew nothing about the mouth of the Coppermine River. In the evening he made his young men dance, and sometimes accompanied them himself. They had four feathers in each hand. When one commenced moving in a circular form, lifting both feet at the same time, similar to jumping sideways; after a short time a second and a third joined, and afterwards the whole band was dancing, some in a state of nudity, others half-dressed, singing an unmusical wild air with (I suppose) appropriate words; the particular sounds of which were. Ha! ha! ha! uttered vociferously, and with great distortion of countenance, and particular attitude of body, the feathers being always kept in a tremulous motion. The ensuing day I made the chief acquainted with the object of our mission, and recommended him to keep at peace with his neighbouring tribes, and to conduct himself with attention and friendship towards the whites. I then gave him a medal, telling him it was the picture of the King, whom they emphatically term ‘their great father.’

“November 18. – We observed two mock moons at equal distances from the central one; and the whole were encircled by a halo; the colour of the inner edge of the large circle was a light red, inclining to a faint purple.

“November 20. – Two parhelia were observed, with a halo; the colours of the inner edge of the circle were a bright carmine and red lake, intermingled with a rich yellow, forming a purplish orange; the outer edge was pale gamboge.

“December 5. – A man was sent some distance on the lake, to see if