may touch at, or have communication with, either by letter or otherwise; and the gentlemen in charge of those establishments are hereby instructed to meet all demands you may make upon them.
"16. In the event of any accident occurring to prevent either of you from proceeding on this mission, the other will be pleased to follow up the object of it, and to avail himself of the assistance, as a second in command, of any clerk of the Company he may find within his reach; and such clerk will be pleased to act in that capacity accordingly. With fervent prayers for your safety and success,
- "I remain. Gentlemen,
- Your most obedient humble servant,
- (Signed) George Simpson."'
"Messrs. P. W. Dease and Thomas Simpson."
Our complement of men was completed at the same high rate of wages as on Captain Back's overland expedition. We were unfortunate only in our fishermen: one injured his leg and was unable to go; another, a powerful man, named Anderson, who had served at Fort Reliance, being seized with a sudden panic, fled into the woods, where he was found, after our departure, disordered in his mind. His place
