156 Mackenzie’s Voyages

from mid-June to mid-August, were particularly trying
at this low spot, which Mackenzie named Canoe Island.
some of the irritation of the men may be attributed to the
onslaught of these little tormentors, which have been known
to completely break the nerve of strong men. An added
cause of ill-feeling was the necessity, from the diminishing
food supplies, to place the men on a short allowance of two
meals a day, “a regulation peculiarly offensive to a Canadian
voyageur.” But he gave the men a dram each, “which could
not but be considered at this time as a comfortable treat.
They were, indeed, in high spirits when they perceived the
superior excellence of the new vessel, and reflected that it
was the work of their own hands.”

At ten in the morning of Wednesday, 3 July, they
arrived at the river whence the trail extended westward,
and to which Mackenzie gave the name of the West Road
River (now known as the Blackwater). But no guide was to
be found nor any inhabitants, and Mackenzie was once more

in a quandary. .
To proceed without a guide was little short of madness.
Yet he put the situation before the men, and was pleased
to find that some of them were ready to accompany him in
his dash overland. ‘The others advised proceeding upstream
a few leagues in the hope of meeting the guide or of obtaining
another, which advice Mackenzie readily accepted. When
they had gone less than an hour on their way, the guide and
six of his relations appeared coming down in canoes. Mac-
kenzie presented him with a jacket, a pair of trousers, and
a handkerchief for his honourable conduct. The following
day, after the guide and his relations and several of his own
men with Mackay had been sent on ahead, Mackenzie and
his men buried in one place a ninety-pound bag of pemmican,
two bags of wild rice, and a gallon keg of gunpowder, and