After some hesitation, however, six men engaged with us, who were represented to be active and steady; and I also got Mr.Robertson's permission for St.Germain, an interpreter belonging to this Company, to accompany us from Slave Lake if he should choose.

The bowmen and steersmen{39} were to receive one thousand six hundred livres Halifax per annum, and the middle men one thousand two hundred, exclusive of their necessary equipments; and they stipulated that their wages should be continued until their arrival in Montreal, or their rejoining the service of their present employers.
I delivered to Mr.Robertson an official request, that the stores we had left at York Factory and the Rock Depot, with some other supplies, might be forwarded to Slave Lake by the first brigade of canoes which should come in.

He also took charge of my letters addressed to the Admiralty.
Five men were afterwards engaged from the North-West Company for the same wages, and under the same stipulations as the others, besides an interpreter for the Copper Indians; but this man required three thousand livres Halifax currency, which we were obliged to give him, as his services were indispensable.
The extreme scarcity of provision at the posts rendered it necessary to despatch all our men to the Mamma-wee{40} Lake, where they might procure their own subsistence by fishing.

The women and children resident at the fort were also sent away for the same purpose; and no other families were permitted to remain at the houses after the departure of the canoes, than those belonging to the men who were required to carry on the daily duty.
The large party of officers and men, which had assembled here from the different posts in the department, was again quickly dispersed.

The first brigade of canoes, laden with furs, was despatched to the depot on May 30th, and the others followed in two or three days afterwards.