Some distance to the southward of this people are the Rocky Mountain Indians, a small tribe which musters about forty men and boys capable of pursuing the chase.  They differ but little from the next we are about to mention, the Edchawtawhootdinneh, Strong-bow, Beaver, or Thickwood Indians who frequent the Riviere aux Liards or south branch of Mackenzie’s River.  The Strong-bows resemble the Dog-Ribs somewhat in their disposition; but when they meet they assume a considerable degree of superiority over the latter who meekly submit to the haughtiness of their neighbours.  Until the year 1813 when a small party of them, from some unfortunate provocation, destroyed Fort Nelson on the Riviere aux Liards and murdered its inmates, the Strong-bows were considered to be a friendly and quiet tribe and esteemed as excellent hunters.  They take their names in the first instance from their dogs.  A young man is the father of a certain dog but when he is married and has a son he styles himself the father of the boy.  The women have a habit of reproving the dogs very tenderly when they observe them fighting:  “Are you not ashamed,” say they, “are you not ashamed to quarrel with your little brother?” The dogs appear to understand the reproof and sneak off.

The Strong-bows and Rocky Mountain Indians have a tradition in common with the Dog-Ribs that they came originally from the westward, from a level country where there was no winter, which produced trees and large fruits now unknown to them.  It was inhabited also by many strange animals, amongst which there was a small one whose visage bore a striking resemblance to the human countenance.  During their residence in this land their ancestors were visited by a man who healed the sick, raised the dead, and performed many other miracles, enjoining them at the same time to lead good lives and not to eat of the entrails of animals, nor to use the brains for dressing skins until after the third day; and never to leave the skulls of deer upon the ground within the reach of dogs and wolves but to hang them carefully upon trees.  No one knew from whence this good man came or whither he went.  They were driven from that land by the rising of the waters and, following the tracks of animals on the seashore, they directed their course to the northward.  At length they came to a strait which they crossed upon a raft but the sea has since frozen and they have never been able to return.  These traditions are unknown to the Chipewyans.

The number of men and boys of the Strong-bow nation who are capable of hunting may amount to seventy.

There are some other tribes who also speak dialects of the Chipewyan upon the upper branches of the Riviere aux Liards such as the Nohhannies and the Tsillawdawhootdinneh or Brushwood Indians.  They are but little known but the latter are supposed occasionally to visit some of the establishments on Peace River.

Having now communicated as briefly as I could the principal facts that came to our knowledge regarding the Indians in this quarter I shall resume the narrative of events at Fort Enterprise.  The month of March proved fine.  The thermometer rose once to 24 degrees above zero and fell upon another day 49 degrees below zero but the mean was minus 11 1/2 degrees.