River, and
thence paddled westwards in his canoe for a distance of 71 miles. Here
he abandoned the canoe, and, for what he estimated as 316 miles, he
tramped through a wooded country, first covered with fir and pine
trees, and farther on with poplar and birch. Apparently he then
reached a river flowing into Reindeer Lake. In a general way his steps
must have taken him in the direction of Lake Athapaska.

[Footnote 1: Spelt in the documents of the Hudson's Bay Company,
Naywatame-poet.]

On the way he had much trouble with the Assiniboin Indians and Kris,
with whom he had caught up, and with whom he was to travel in the
direction of these mysterious Newatamipoets. The last-named tribe, who
were probably of the Athapaskan group, had killed, a few months
previously, three of the Kri women, and the Kri Indians who belonged
to Kellsey's party were bent, above all things, on attacking the
Newatamipoets and punishing them for this outrage. Kellsey only wished
to open up peaceful relations with them and create a great trade in
furs with the Hudson's Bay Company, so he kept pleading with the
Indians not to go to war with the Newatamipoets. On this journey,
however, one of the Kri Indians fell ill and died. The next day the
body was burnt with much ceremony--first the flesh, and then the
bones--and after this funeral the companions of the dead man began to
reason as to the cause of his death, and suddenly blamed Kellsey.
Kellsey had obstructed them from their purpose of avenging their slain
women, therefore the gods of the tribe were angry and claimed this
victim in the man who had died. Kellsey was very near being sent to
the other world to complete the sacrifice; but he arranged for "a
feast of tobacco"--in other words, a calm deliberation and the smoking
of the pipe of peace. He explained to the angry Indians that his
Company had not supplied him with guns and ammunition with which to go
to war, but to induce them to embark on the fur trade and to kill wild
animals for their skins. If, instead of this, they went to war, or
injured him, they need never again go down to Fort Nelson for any
further trade or supplies. Four days afterwards, however, the
attention of the whole party was concentrated on bison.

Bison could now be seen in abundance. Kellsey was already acquainted
with the musk ox, which he had seen in the colder regions near to
Hudson Bay; but the bison seemed to him quite different, with horns
growing like those o