THe ReTuRN AND A Fresu Starr 81

must have been good, for two canoes had con-
tained the party and its supplies on the way
in. The Company’s business was settled, his
companions were chosen, and his canoe was
constructed: “Her dimensions were twenty-
five feet long within, exclusive of the curves
of stem and stern, twenty-six inches hold, and
four feet nine inches beam. At the same time
she was so light that two men could carry her
on a good road three or four miles without
resting. In this slender vessel we shipped
provisions, goods for presents, arms, ammu-
nition, and baggage to the weight of three
thousand pounds, and an equipage of ten
people.” The ten were as follows: Mackenzie
in command; Alexander Mackay, another
Highlander and a clerk in the Company’s
service, second in command; six French voya-
geurs, two of whom had been with Mackenzie
to the Arctic; and two Indians as interpreters
and hunters. Mackenzie’s dog should also be
included in the list. Mackay, a vigorous and
able man, later became a partner in the Com-
pany, and then left it to join John Jacob
Astor in the Pacific Fur Company; he lost his

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