NORTHERN INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

is one of the territories of any importance within British
Columbia which has remained the longest free of any real
white man.

Before his departure for his important journey, which,
after information furnished by James McDougall, he fore-
saw would be long and tedious, Fraser received, on the
27th of April, Archibald McGillivray, who came from
the east to take charge of the Rocky Mountain Fort
during his absence. Prudence suggested as early a start
as possible in May, in order to’ avoid the June freshets ;
but one of his men, the truant La Malice, did not arrive
until the 17th of that month, and a woman he brought
with him, and for whom he is said to have paid £300
sterling, caused still further delay. Fraser would have
none of her in his expedition, and La Malice refused to
go without her. Finally, his employer, short of men as
he was, had to yield.

At length, after he had sent to Fort Chippewayan two
canoes loaded with furs, together with an account of his
operations up to date, Fraser left on the 2oth of May,
1806. After a portage of fifteen miles, two canoes were
loaded, when it was discovered that a third was necessary,
which was entrusted to La Malice. Fraser had with him
an able lieutenant in the person of John Stuart, a young
clerk, who was to be more or less identified in after years
with the fur-trade west of the mountains. Among his
crew was also a young half-breed, Jean Baptiste Boucher,
who, under the nickname of “Waccan,” we will likewise
have to mention more than once in the following pages.

On the 28th of May they came upon two natives, who,
though they had never seen a white man, were possessed
of guns, which they had obtained from relatives among
the Beaver Indians. At noon of the same day, they
entered the Parsnip, whose banks they were sorry to find

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