46 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

tales which they heard of monster rapids,
ogres, and the like, they often wished to turn
back, and more than once they nearly got the
party into serious trouble because they ““were
ever ready to take what they could from the
natives, without making them any return.”
The inclusion of Indian women in the party
may cause some surprise; but there was no
chivalry among these northern tribes, and it
was the women’s business on a journey to do
most of the work, leaving the men to hunt and
take their ease.

On leaving Fort Chipewyan the little
flotilla steered to the west end of Lake Atha-
baska, where a short river connects the lake
with the Peace River. As Mackenzie noted,
when the Peace is high it flows down this
stream into Lake Athabaska; when it is
normal or low the current is in the opposite
direction. The Slave River begins at the
junction between the Peace and this stream,
the party reached it on the second day and
turned north towards Great Slave Lake. This
part of the journey was through waters already
well known; Hearne had been at Great Slave