a corruption or altered form of
_Wishakagami[-u]_, a liquid or broth (Kri language). The drink made
from this shrub or herb (_Ledum palustre_) is now known as Labrador
tea. It is a bitter aromatic infusion.]

The Indian who had volunteered to carry the canoe proved unequal to
his task. But Hearne found another of his carriers who was willing to
take the burden. In order, therefore, to be readier with his gun to
shoot deer, he transferred a portion of his own load to the ex-canoe
carrier. This portion consisted of the invaluable quadrant and its
stand, and a bag of gunpowder. The gunpowder was of such importance to
Hearne and his party that one wonders he made this exchange; for if he
lost this powder he had no means of killing game, and was entirely
dependent for food on the troop of Indians with whom he was
travelling, and whom he knew to be most niggardly and inhospitable.
Judge, therefore, of his horror when, at the end of a day's march,
this weakly Indian porter was missing with his load. All night Hearne
was unable to sleep with anxiety, and the whole of the next day he
spent searching the rocky ground for miles to discover some sign of
the missing man. At that season of the year it was like looking for a
needle in a pottle of hay, for there was no snow, and equally no
herbage, on which a man's foot could leave traces. However, at last,
by some miracle, they discovered the load by the banks of a little
river where a party of Indians had crossed.

Shortly afterwards, leaving his quadrant on its stand for a few
minutes, whilst he went to eat his dinner, a violent wind arose and
blew the whole thing on to the rocks, so that the quadrant was
smashed and rendered useless. On this account he determined once more
to return to Fort Prince of Wales. The Northern Indians[3] with whom
Hearne travelled backwards towards the fort were most inhospitable,
not to say dangerous. They robbed him of most of his goods, and
refused to allow their women to assist his people to dress the
reindeer skins out of which it would be necessary shortly to make
coverings to protect them from the severe cold of the autumn. In fact
Hearne was in rather a desperate condition by September, 1770, when he
was joined by a party of Indians under a famous leader, whom he calls
Matonabi.

[Footnote 3: The Indians of the Athapaskan or Dene group were usually
called the _Northern Indians_ by the Hudson Bay people, in comparison
to all the other tribes of