MacDonell, John. Description of Lake Athabasca and the Chipweans, ca. 1805 and Journal of a Voyage from Lachine to Fort River Qu'Appelle, 1793. An electronic transcription. MFTP #0005

1793. May 10th[.] Signed my Engagement with the North-West Company for five years to winter in the Indian Country as a clerk the terms are £100 at the expiration, and found in necessaries.

May 25th Saturday[.] Embarked at Lachine on board of a Birch Bark canoe, the first that I remember to have been in – my foreman's name is Joseph La Tourelle, and my steers man Pierre Valois, both of the parish of Berthier. This brigade of Berthier men, was to be guided by Jos. Faignan, a faithful servant and favorite of Jos. Frobisher Esquire, for many years in the North west[.] But Mr Frobisher wishing to keep Faignan for the last or June, Brigade, say Canoes, gave the Brigade in charge to François Huneau of Isle Perrault, nick named by the men Le mangeur de Bled, who directed the brigade to go and camp at Isle Perrault that he might pass another day in the bosom of his family and equip himself for the voyage[.] A Brigade of Canoes in the Grand River is generally four[.] The canoes when fully loaded carry about three Tuns. May 27th Monday[.] At nine A.M. Crossed over to St Anns where we found the Priest saying mass for one Lalonde, who had been drowned, by the mens account, one hundred and ten leagues above this place; i.e. above the Roche

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