I next pointed out to him the necessity of our proceeding with as little delay as possible during the short period of the year that was fit for our operations, and that to do so it was requisite we should have a large supply of provisions at starting.

He instantly admitted the force of these observations and promised that he and his young men should do their utmost to comply with our desires, and afterwards in answer to my questions informed us that he would accompany the Expedition to the mouth of the Copper-Mine River or, if we did not meet with Esquimaux there, for some distance along the coast; he was anxious he said to have an amicable interview with that people, and he further requested that, in the event of our meeting with Dog-Ribs on the Copper-Mine River, we should use our influence to persuade them to live on friendly terms with his tribe.

We were highly pleased to find his sentiments so favourable to our views and, after making some minor arrangements, we parted mutually content.

He left us on the morning of the 31st, accompanied by Augustus who, at his request, went to reside for a few days at his lodge.
On the 4th of April our men arrived with the last supply of goods from Fort Providence, the fruits of Mr.Back's arduous journey to the Athabasca Lake, and on the 17th Belanger le gros and Belanger le rouge, for so our men discriminated them, set out for Slave Lake with a box containing the journals of the officers, charts, drawings, observations, and letters addressed to the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs.
They also conveyed a letter for Governor Williams in which I requested that he would if possible send a schooner to Wager Bay with provisions and clothing to meet the exigencies of the party should they succeed in reaching that part of the coast.
Connoyer, who was much tormented with biliary calculi and had done little or no duty all the winter, was discharged at the same time and sent down in company with an Indian named the Belly.
The commencement of April was fine and for several days a considerable thaw took place in the heat of the sun which, laying bare some of the lichens on the sides of the hills, produced a consequent movement of the reindeer to the northward and induced the Indians to believe that the spring was already commencing.

Many of them therefore quitted the woods and set their snares on the barren grounds near Fort Enterprise.