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| a A GENERAL HISTORY

b~ Caos He then fent his brother to explore the country ftill further Weft, who

~ penetrated as far as the lake of Mle a la Croix, in latitude 55. 26. North,

and longitude 108 Weit.

He, however, never after wintered among the Indians, though he
retained a large intereft in the trade, and a principal fhare in the direc-
tion of it till the year 1798, when he retired to enjoy the fruits of his
labours; and, by his hofpitality, became known to every refpeétable

flranger who vifited Canada.

The fuccefs of this gentleman induced others to follow his example,

and in the {pring of the year 1778, fome of the traders on the Safkat-

chiwine River, finding they had a quantity of goods to fpare, agreed to
put them into a jomt flock, and gave the charge and management of
them to Mr, Peter Pond, who, in four.canoes, was dire€@ted to enter the
ik | Englifh River, fo called by Mr. Frobifher, to follow his track, and proceed
Hh fill further; if poffible, to Athabafca, a country hitherto unknown but
) | from Indian report. In this enterprife he at length fucceeded, and
i 4,0 pitched his tent on the banks of the Elk River, by him erroneoully called
| the Athabafca River, about thirty miles from the Lake of the Hulls, into
| which it empties itfelf.

| Here he paffed the winter of 1778-9; faw a vaft concourfe of the

ile | 0

Ai Knifteneaux and Chepewyan tribes, who ufed to carry their furs annually
to Churchill; the latter by the barren grounds, where they fuffered in-

i one

| | numerable hardfhips, and were fometimes even. {tarved to death, The
I | former followed the courfe of the lakes and rivers, through a country
that