ecided at the North-West council of 1812, held annually on the
shores of Lake Superior. It was just a year from the time that Thompson
had discovered the American fort in the hands of former Nor' Westers. At
this meeting Thompson's report must have been read.

The overland party was to be led by the two partners, John George
MacTavish and Alexander Henry, the sea expedition on the Isaac Todd by
Donald MacTavish, who had actually been appointed governor of the
American fort in anticipation of victory. On the Isaac Todd also went
MacDonald of Garth.[18]

The overland expedition was to thread that labyrinth of water-ways
connecting Lake Superior and the Saskatchewan, thence across the plains
to Athabasca, over the northern Rockies, past Jasper House, through
Yellow Head Pass, and down half the length of the Columbia through
Kootenay plains to Astoria. One has only to recall the roaring canons of
the northern Rockies, with their sheer cataracts and bottomless
precipices, to realize how much more hazardous this route was than that
followed by Hunt from St. Louis to Astoria. Hunt had to cross only the
plains and the width of the Rockies. The Nor' Westers not only did this,
but passed down the middle of the Rockies for nearly a thousand miles.

Before doubling the Horn the Isaac Todd was to sail from Quebec to
England for convoy of a war-ship. The Nor' Westers naive assurance of
victory was only exceeded by their utter indifference to danger,
difficulty, and distance in the attainment of an end. In view of the
terror which the Isaac Todd was alleged to have inspired in MacDougall's
mind, it is interesting to know what the Nor' Westers thought of their
ship. "_A twenty-gun letter of marque with a mongrel crew_," writes
MacDonald of Garth, "_a miserable sailor with a miserable commander and
a rascally crew_." On the way out MacDonald transferred to the British
convoy Raccoon, leaving the frisky old Governor MacTavish with his gay
barmaid Jane[19] drinking pottle deep on the Isaac Todd, where the
rightly disgusted captain was not on speaking terms with his Excellency.
"_We were nearly six weeks before we could double Cape Horn, and were
driven half-way to the Cape of Good Hope; ... at last doubled the cape
under topsails, ... the deck one sheet of ice for six weeks, ... our
sails one frozen sheet; ... lost sight of the Isaac Todd in a gale_,"
wrote MacDonald on the Raccoon.

It will be remembered that Hunt's overlanders arrive