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Wednessday 17^th December 1800 Cont^d[.] M^r M^cDonell writes me that M^r Chaboillez was to have left home (Portage la Prairie) to come all the way here on a visit the 10^th Ins^t & that the Iroquois that went to the Lakes of the River Qui Appelle finding no great quantity of Beaver there Intended to come to River à la Biche, (he means our Iroquois)[.] M^r M^cD. complains of the Scarcity of Goods &c. & asks me to let him have Amunition & Tobacco, the Buffaloe are far from them as yet[.] [A]fter dark, 3 Men & an Indian to Guide them arrived here from Lower Fort des Prairies they brought me letters from Mess^rs King, Montour, & one from Mess^rs D. M^cGillivray & John MacDonald dated 15^th October from Fort Augustus, in which they mention the XY. having gone by the Pimbina River to Athabasca Six Canoes 70 Pieces; they mention that five of their men left them early in the Fall & came to us. Their letter is directed to the Proprietors of the N.West Company. M^r King's letter informs me, of the destruction of Goods he is oblidged to, by his opponents, of the XY. he writes me Mess^rs Howes & Longmoore are his nieghbours for the H.Bay C^o & that they are on Good terms[.] The Bearers of these letters were Sent for Tobacco & Salt.

M^r King's letter contains a piece of information that distresses me very much[.] He Says that some weeks ago his Hunters saw the Crapaud (La France's murderer) returning from some of the Forts of Upper Fort Des Prairies with 3 Stone Indians, & that they had fifteen Horses, & all sadled with saddles made by our people[.] [A]mong the Saddles were one with Iron Stirrups, they more over had 2 fine White Shirts, a fine Cloth Coat, & 2 Womens hoods garnished with Ribbond, & a Lodge[.] M^r King adds that he is very apprehensive they have Kill'd some of our Gentlemen who might have been removing from one Fort to another, & what augments his Suspicions & mine is that whenever, those Indians arrived all the Stone Indians withdrew into the Heart of the Plains, far removed from any Fort[.] I Shall be extremely uneasy till I hear from above; God Almighty grant that my fears may be groundless, in the same degree that they are Sincere; M^r King writes me the Universall Story, – Short of Goods!!! Rained a Good deal this evening.

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