On the 2nd the stores were packed up in proper-sized bales for the journey.  I had intended to send the canoes by the first party but they were not yet repaired, the weather not being sufficiently warm for the men to work constantly at them without the hazard of breaking the bark.  This day one of the new trading guns which we had recently received from Fort Chipewyan burst in the hands of a young Indian, fortunately however without doing him any material injury.  This was the sixth accident of the kind which had occurred since our departure from Slave Lake.  Surely this deficiency in the quality of the guns, which hazards the lives of so many poor Indians, requires the serious consideration of the principals of the trading Companies.

On the 4th at three in the morning the party under the charge of Dr. Richardson started.  It consisted of fifteen voyagers, three of them conducting dog sledges, Baldhead and Basil, two Indian hunters with their wives, Akaiyazzeh a sick Indian and his wife, together with Angelique and Roulante, so that the party amounted to twenty-three exclusive of children.

The burdens of the men were about eighty pounds each, exclusive of their personal baggage which amounted to nearly as much more.  Most of them dragged their loads upon sledges but a few preferred carrying them on their backs.  They set off in high spirits.

After breakfast the Indians struck their tents, and the women, the boys, and the old men who had to drag sledges, took their departure.  It was three P.M. however before Akaitcho and the hunters left us.  We issued thirty balls to the leader and twenty to each of the hunters and guides with a proportionate quantity of powder, and gave them directions to make all the provision they could on their way to Point Lake.  I then desired Mr. Wentzel to inform Akaitcho in the presence of the other Indians that I wished a deposit of provision to be made at this place previous to next September as a resource should we return this way.  He and the guides not only promised to see this done but suggested that it would be more secure if placed in the cellar or in Mr. Wentzel’s room.  The Dog-Ribs, they said, would respect anything that was in the house as knowing it to belong to the white people.  At the close of this conversation Akaitcho exclaimed with a smile, “I see now that you have really no goods left (the rooms and stores being completely stripped) and therefore I shall not trouble you any more but use my best endeavours to prepare provision for you, and I think if the animals are tolerably numerous we may get plenty before you can embark on the river.”

Whilst the Indians were packing up this morning one of the women absconded.  She belongs to the Dog-Rib tribe and had been taken by force from her relations by her present husband who treated her very harshly.  The fellow was in my room when his mother announced the departure of his wife and received the intelligence with great composure as well as the seasonable reproof of Akaitcho.  “You are rightly served,” said the chief to him, “and will now have to carry all your things yourself instead of having a wife to drag them.”  One hunter remained after the departure of the other Indians.