8 4. Mackenzie’s Voyages

was his jealousy, which likewise prevented him from looking
after the natives as he ought, and that we had never given
him any cause for any suspicions of us. ‘These suggestions
irritated him in a very high degree, and he accused me of
speaking ill words to him, and he denied the charge of
jealousy, and declared that he did not conceal anything from
us, and that, as to the ill-success of their hunting, it arose
from the nature of the country, and the scarcity which had
hitherto appeared of animals in it. He concluded by saying
that he would not accompany me any farther. His harangue
was succeeded by a loud and bitter lamentation, and his
relatives assisted him in the vociferation of his grief. I did
not interrupt their grief for two hours, but as I could not well
do without them I was at length obliged to soothe it, and
induce the chief to change his resolutions which he did,
but with great apparent reluctance, when we embarked, as
we had hitherto done.”’ |
Arriving at the entrance of the “‘ River of the Mountains,”
as the Liard was then called, Mackenzie sent for English
Chief to sup with him, and a dram or two dispelled all his
heart-burnings and discontent. “‘He informed me that it
was a custom with the Chipewyan chiefs to go to war after
having shed tears in order to wipe away the disgrace attached
to such a feminine weakness, and that in the ensuing spring
he should not fail to execute his design. At the same time
he declared his intention to continue with us as long as I
should want him. I took care that he should carry some liquid
refreshment to his lodge, to prevent the return of his chagrin.”
The Liard was ascended for some miles on Friday, and
the voyage was then resumed. ‘The two following days were
very sultry and the tracking very difficult, because of the
constriction of the channel to half a mile, and the consequent
strength of the current, which from the Liard to Trout