Cir Nea Reve

Founding and Exploring.
1806-09.

Y this time Fraser must have had enough of La
Malice, than whom few people. seem to have been
more aptly named. So, to get rid of him and, at

the same time, further the interests of his own corporation,
he sent him, as the work on the new fort was getting
well under way, with letters, first to McDougall at Fort
McLeod, and then further east to the partners he had left
at the Rocky Mountain House whence he directed him to
take to Fort Chippewayan canoes loaded with the equip-
ments of the new posts up to McLeod Lake. |

On the other hand, August was now drawing to a close,
and as salmon was extraordinarily slow in making its
appearance, the limited supplies he had brought from the
east were soon exhausted. Berries, with a few small fish
and an occasional fowl, became the only means of subsist-
ence left the fort-builders. At the same time, McDougall,
who, from the better equipment of his own establishment,
was supposed to be in a position to help them, was beg-
ging the starving Fraser for some ammunition and a
hunter to keep him alive.

Therefore, to disperse his forces and thereby render
their lives less precarious, as well as with a view of keep-
ing his promise to establish another fort before the fall
the young commander sent John Stuart with two men
over land to the south, where, about forty miles from his

67