On the 23rd the last of our winter’s stock of deer’s meat was expended and we were compelled to issue a little pounded meat which we had reserved for making pemmican for summer use.  Our nets which were set under the ice on the 15th produced only two or three small fish daily.  Amongst these was the round-fish, a species of Coregonus which we had not previously seen.

On the following day two Indians came with a message from the Hook, the chief next to Akaitcho in authority amongst the Copper Indians.  His band was between West Marten and Great Bear Lakes and he offered to provide a quantity of dried meat for us on the banks of the Copper-Mine River in the beginning of summer, provided we sent him goods and ammunition.  It was in his power to do this without inconvenience as he generally spends the summer months on the banks of the river near the Copper Mountain; but we had no goods to spare and I could not venture to send any part of our small stock of ammunition until I saw what the necessities of our own party required.  I told them however that I would gladly receive either provisions or leather when we met and would pay for them by notes on the North-West Company’s post; but to prevent any misunderstanding with Mr. Weeks I requested them to take their winter’s collection of furs to Fort Providence before they went to the Copper-Mine River.  They assured me that the Hook would watch anxiously for our passing as he was unwell and wished to consult the doctor.

Several circumstances having come lately to my knowledge that led me to suspect the fidelity of our interpreters they were examined upon this subject.  It appeared that in their intercourse with the Indians they had contracted very fearful ideas of the danger of our enterprise which augmented as the time of our departure drew near, and had not hesitated to express their dislike to the journey in strong terms amongst the Canadians, who are accustomed to pay much deference to the opinions of an interpreter.  But this was not all; I had reason to suspect they had endeavoured to damp the exertions of the Indians with the hope that the want of provision in the spring would put an end to our progress at once.  St. Germain in particular had behaved in a very equivocal way since his journey to Slave Lake.  He denied the principal parts of the charge in a very dogged manner but acknowledged he had told the leader that we had not paid him the attention which a chief like him ought to have received; and that we had put a great affront on him in sending him only a small quantity of rum.  An artful man like St. Germain, possessing a flow of language and capable of saying even what he confessed, had the means of poisoning the minds of the Indians without committing himself by any direct assertion; and it is to be remarked that, unless Mr. Wentzel had possessed a knowledge of the Copper Indian language, we should not have learned what we did.