ARCTIC LAND EXPEDITION

THE GREAT FISH RIVER,

AND

ALONG THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN,
IN THE YEARS 1833, 1834, AND 1835;

CAPTAIN BACK, R.N.

COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION.

ILLUSTRATED BY A MAP AND PLATES.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

MDCCCXXXVI.

y O 1'u

LONDON :
Printed by A. SPOTTISWOOBE,

New-Street-Square.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF RIPON.

MY LORD,

Yoiui Lordship was Secretary of State
for the Colonies wh.u the Expedition
of which the following is the Narrative
was organised : and to your good Offices,
and liberal Subscription in its favour, the
success of the project was at that time
mainly due. I have ventured, in conse-
quence, to dedicate to you the Volume :
and am most happy in being thus enabled
to express some part of the sincere respect
with which I have the honour to be,

MY LORD,

Your Lordship's most obedient

and very humble Servant,

GEORGE BACK.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER Page 1

CHAPTER I.

Departure from England. Arrival at Montreal. Pre-
parations for the Expedition.-Fire at the Hotel, De-
parture from La Chine. The St. Lawrence. The

Ottawa. Lake Huron. The Sault de Ste. Marie----

Arrival at Fort William. Distribution of the Loadings.

The Mountain Fall. Lac de la Pluie. Arrival at
Fort Alexander. Magnetic Observations. Arrival of
Governor Simpson, and Arrangements made by him.
Arrival at Norway House. Difficulty of procuring Men
for the Service. Departure from Norway House 27

CHAP. II.

Commencement of the Expedition. Interview with Mr.
Charles. Wind-bound by a Land Gale. A Receipt for
the Cure of " Blue Devils." Description of a Voyageur's
Tent. A Land Storm. The Grand Rapid. Advance
of Cultivation. Arrival at Cumberland House. De-
parture of the Bateaux under Mr. King. Embark in a
Canoe. Working of the Boats in the Rapids- Isle à la
Crosse.Buffalo Lake. A Squall.A Skunk.Portage
la Loche. Effect of the Scenery. Interview with Mr.
Stuart and Mr. A. M^cLeod. The latter volunteers to
accompany the Expedition. Arrive at Fort Chipewyan.

Information as to the supposed Route by the Fond du
Lac. Journey resumed. Salt River. Sketch of a
Party of Indians. Description of the Salt Springs.

Indian Encampment. Information of the Natives as to
the Rivers Thlew-ee-choh and Tĉh-lon. Arrival at Fort
Resolution - - Page 57

CHAP. III.

Inquiries and Embarrassments about the Route___Prepar-
ations for Departure----Embark in search of the Thlew-
ee-choh. Indian Encampment and Indian Politeness----

| Point of Honour among Indian Hunters. Description of
the Country through which the Route lay. A small Ice-
berg seen. A Bear Hunt----Indian Inconsistency.

Description of the Coast Line. Point Keith and Chris-
tie's Bay. Eastern Extremity of Great Slave Lake----

Discovery of the River supposed to lead towards the
Thlew-ee-choh----Preparations to ascend it 83

CHAP. IV.

Difficult and toilsome Ascent of Hoar Frost River. Striking
Scenery along its Course. Illness of the Interpreter.
Encampment upon Cook's Lake. Ascent of another small
River full of Rapids. Desertion of Two Indians. Per-
plexity of the Guide as to the proper Course, and Attempt
to desert. Succession of Streams and Lakes. Indian
Account of the The-lew or Teh-Ion. Clinton-Golden,
Aylmer, and Sussex Lakes. Discovery of the Thlew-
ee-choh - 113

CHAP. V.

Digression concerning Hearne's Route 144

CHAP. VI.

Continue our Progress. Rocks on the Thlew-ee-choh.
Island of singular Appearance. Musk-Ox Lake----Con-
jectures on the Course of the Thlevv.ee-choh. Icy

CONTENTS. VU

River. Appearance of Iwo Indians. Maufelly per-
milled lo visil his Wife. Consummale Skill of De Char-
loil----Dwarf Pines. Slory of lhe Ral and lhe Beaver.

Unfitness of lhe Trees for Planks. Artillery Lake----

Force of lhe Rapids. Accidenl in our Passage. Leave
the Ah-hel-dessy. A Bear killed. Ridiculous Slory.

March resumed.Desolate Scenery. A Deer shol.

Tormenled by Sand-flies. Anecdole of Sir John
Franklin. Meeting wilh Mr. M^cLeod, by an unexpecled
Route - - Page 156

CHAP. VII.

" Le grand jeune Homme." Trade wilh lhe Indians.
Sunday. Mr. King arrives, wilh Iwo Baleaux. Per-
formed a Surgical Operalion. Discomforts of an Indian
Canoe. Conduct of lhe Parly. Erection of new Dwell-
ing. Arrival of Indians. Their Policy. Aged In-
dian Woman. Slarving Visitors. Case of Revenge for
Inhospitality. The Thlew-ee-choh described. Observ-
atory. Strange Appearance of the Aurora. Pouring
in of the Indians. Superstitious Fancies. Shortness of
Food. Domiciled in the new Building, named Fort Re-
liance. Supplies again fail. Akaitcho. Discharge of
De Charlôit and Two Iroquois ; also, of La Charité.
Gloom of the Indians. Story of a young Hunier.
Breach of Indian Law. Death of the old Woman.
Christmas-day__Short Allowance. Experimenls. Ex-
cessive Cold. Arrival of Mr. M^cLeod. Barbarous
Atrocity. Revolting Slory of an Indian - - 183

CHAP. VIIL

Exemplary Conduct of Akaitcho. Mr. M^Leod and his
Family leave us. Arrival of Maufelly. Supply of Deer-
flesh. Misunderstanding between Akaitcho and the In-
terpreter. Preparation for building Two Boats. Mr.
M^cLeod'sill Success. Strange Conducl of'Two Indians.

VIH CONTENTS.

Supply of Food. Distressing Condition of Mr. M^cLeod.

Return of Mr. King's Party. News from York Fac-
tory. Uncertain Fate of Augustus. Presence of Two
Ravens. Ravens shot by an Iroquois. News from
England. Discharge of Three Men. Alteration of
Plans. Appearance of Birds. Adventures by Mr.
King. Arrival of Mr. M^cLeod----Anxiety about Wil-
liamson. Sultry Weather. Melancholy Fate of Au-
gustus Page 231

CHAP. IX.

Renections. Halt for the Night. March resumed.
Obstacles encountered. The Boats finished. Eastern
Shore of Artillery Lake. Pursue the Track of Mr.
M^cLeod. Two Deer shot. Stunted Pines. Encamp-
ment. Difficulty in tracing our Route. News from Mr.
M^cLeod.A Snow Storm. Fires lighted on the Hills.

Accident to Peter Taylor. Deviate from our Course.

Accident to James Spence. Boisterous Weather.

Plunder of a Cache. Find the runaway Guides----The

Ice unsafe. Enter upon Lake Aylmer. A dense Fog.

Sand-hill Bay. Judicial Investigation. Animals.

Musk-ox Rapid----Join Mr. M^cLeod. Survey of the

River. Indians return with the Pemmican. Stock of
Provisions----An Indian Belle. A Reindeer Hunt 256

CHAP. X.

Instructions to Mr. M^cLeod upon our Separation. Meet
with Akaitcho. His Lodge. Imminent Danger to the
Boat. Akaitcho's friendly Caution. Embarkation.
Heavy Storms. Our Crew. Geological Features of the
Country. Obstructions from the Ice. Perils from a
Series of Rapids. Plunder of a Bag of Pemmican.
Obstacles on our Passage. Boisterous Weather. Deer
hunting. Observations. Deviation of the River.

CONTENTS. IX

Desolate Scenery. Detained by the Ice. Cascades.
· Land-marks. Contraction of' the River. Baillie's
River. Flocks of Geese. Tact requisite in Command.

Precipitous Rocks. A Fox. Esquimaux Marks.
Bullen River. A Storm.Lake Pelly.Conjectures
of an Indian. Encampment. View of the Country.
Further Obstructions. Observations. Lake Garry

Page 309

CHAP. XI.

Gigantic Boulders. Danger from the Rapids. Course oí'
the River. Lake Macdougall. Hazardous Passage.
Sinclair's Falls. Northerly Bend of the River. Mount
Meadowbank. Altitude of the Rocks. The Trap Form-
ation. M^cKay's Peak. Lake Franklin. Extrica-
tion from Peril. Sluggishness of the Compass. Esqui-
maux. Portrait of a Female. Victoria Headland.
Mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh. Cockburn Bay. Point
Backhouse. Irby and Mangles' Bay. Point Beaufort.
Our Progress arrested. Montreal Island. A Musk Ox
killed. Birds on the Island. Elliot Bay. M^cKay, etc.
sent along the Coast. Esquimaux Encampment. Cape
Hay. Point Ogle. Progress obstructed by the Ice
A Piece of Drift-wood found. Ross Island. Dis-
coveries by Mr. King. Magnetic Observations. Point
Richardson. Point Hardy. Conjectures as to a N. W.
Passage and Channel to Regent's Inlet - - 353

CHAP. XII.

Exhilarating Influence of a Hunting Excursion. Removal
of the Esquimaux. Leave them a Bag of Pemmican.
Accident to the Boat. Inundation of the Country.
Discovery of Esquimaux. Wise Man of the Tribe.

Critical Position in the Rapids. A Storm. Ad-
venture of a Lemming. Encamp at Musk-ox Rapid.
Meeting with Mr. M^(lLeod. Fate of Williamson. The

X CONTENTS.

Yellow Knives. Encamp on Artillery Lake. Reach
the Ah-hel-dessy. Depart for Montreal. The Sau-
teaux Indians. Success of a Missionary at Sault Ste.
Marie. Return to England. Conclusion - Page 428

APPENDIX.

No. I. Zoological Remarks, by Dr. John Richardson 475

II. List of Plants collected by Mr. Richard King,

during the Progress of the Expedition - 523

III. Articúlala. Catalogue of Arachnida and Insects

collected by Mr. King - 532

IV. Geological Notice of the New Country passed over

in Captain Back's Expedition, by Dr. W. K.

Fitton - ... 54,3

V. Meteorological Table, arranged from the Registers

kept at Fort Reliance, by Captain Back and

Mr. King - - - - 563

VI. Table of the Temperature of Animals, Birds, Fish,

Trees, and Earth, at different Times and Placesi

arranged by Mr. King - - 590

VII. On the Aurora Borealis ... 595

VIII. Magnetical Observations - - 625

IX. Table of Latitudes, Longitudes, and Variations 634

X. Letter from W. Smith, Esq., Secretary to the

Hudson's Bay Company, to Angus Bethune, Esq.,

Chief Factor at Sault St. Mary's - - 635

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ARCTIC LAND EXPEDITION
IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN RoSS ... 638

Directions for placing the Plates.

Page

Salt Plains - - -80

North Shore of Great Slave Lake - 98

Beverley's Falls, Mouth of'Hoar Frost River - 112

Portage in Hoar Frost River - - - 116

Sussex Lake, Source of the Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth - 142

Crossing Lake Aylmer ... - 292
Interview with the Esquimaux of' the Thlew-cc-choh-

dezeth - 378

Esquimaux of' the Thlew-ee-ehoh-dezeth - - 384

Victoria Headland, Mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth 890

Montreal Island, View to seaward - - 398

Thunder Storm near Point Ogle - 4-08

Western View from near Mount Barrow - - 4-22

Anderson's Falls - 4-50

Fish - 518

Map of' the Route, &c. at the end.

NARRATIVE

OF A

JOURNEY

TO THE

SHORES OF THE ARCTIC SEA.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

EARLY in the year 1832 the protracted absence
of Captain (now Sir John) Ross, who had sailed
in 1829 to the Polar regions, and had not after-
wards been heard of, became the subject of
general and anxious conversation. A report
even reached Italy, where I happened to be,
that he and his adventurous companions had
perished ; but, having ascertained that there
was no other ground for this rumour than the
uncertainty of their fate, I shortly afterwards
hastened to England, with the intention of offer-
ing to Government my services to conduct an
expedition in search of them.

On my arrival, in June 1832, I was informed
B

2 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

that my friend and former companion, Doctor
Richardson, had already made an application to
the same effect ; but that his offer, for various
reasons, not having been accepted, he had,
in consequence, as I was given to under-
stand, relinquished the idea. I was further in-
formed, however, by Mr. Beverly, who had been
the companion of Sir E. Parry in his perilous
journey over the ice from Spitzbergen towards
the Pole, that Mr. Ross (brother of Sir John, and
father of Captain James Ross) was anxious to find
an officer properly qualified to undertake the
conduct of a party through America, on the
plan proposed by Doctor Richardson ; which,
not having been adopted by the Government,
had been presented for consideration to other
quarters.

I proceeded, therefore, without loss of time
to Mr. Ross, who read to me a petition which
he was about to send to the King, praying his
Majesty's gracious sanction to the immediate
despatch of an expedition for rescuing, or at least
ascertaining the fate of, his son and brother ; and
my name being forthwith inserted as the proposed
leader of the expedition, this petition was for-
warded through Lord Goderich, then Secretary
for the Colonies. The interval before an answer
could be returned was employed in collecting

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 3

information, and organising the necessary co-
operation. In this I was warmly seconded and
efficiently aided by many gentlemen whose
opinions and assistance were most valuable, and
more especially by Nicholas Garry, Esq., the
Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, Captains Beaufort and Maconochie, Doc-
tor Richardson, and George Baillie, Esq. I
addressed, moreover, on the 21st of August, a
letter to the Geographical Society, explaining my
views, and requesting that they might be recom-
mended to the favourable consideration of Mr.
Hay, Under Secretary for the Colonies, and a
member of that Society.

It is gratifying to add, that the support of
Mr. Hay was zealously afforded ; and, shortly
afterwards, the following letter was sent to Mr.
Ross :

" Downing Street,
30th August, 1832.
« SIR,

" I am directed by Viscount Goderich to ac-
quaint you, that, his Majesty having been pleased
to refer your petition to his Lordship's consi-
deration, Lord Goderich has felt himself justified
in recommending to the Lords Commissioners
of the Treasury to grant the sum of 2000/. in
aid of the expenses of the expedition, provided

4 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

that it is commanded by Captain Back ; it being
understood that the Hudson's Bay Company will
furnish the supplies and canoes free of charge,
and that the remainder of the expense, which is
estimated at 30QOL, will be contributed by Cap-
tain Ross's friends. On receiving an answer
from the Treasury, the result will be duly com-
municated to you.
"I am, Sir,

" Your most obedient servant,
" Geo. Ross, Esq." " HOWICK.

This was announced to me as follows :

« No. 267. Strand,
7th Sept. 1832.

" SIR,

" I have the pleasure to inclose you the copy
of a letter which I have received from Lord
Howick, by the directions of Lord Goderich,
in reply to my application to his Majesty, on
the subject of an expedition to the shores of the
Polar Sea, with the view to ascertain, if possible,
the fate of my brother, Captain Ross, and of my
son, Captain James Clarke Ross.

" I have only to add my earnest request, that
you will, in compliance with what appears also
to be the wish of Government, undertake the
command and direction of this humane and dif-
ficult enterprise, certainly a most arduous task,

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 5

but one, for the effectual accomplishment of
which none is more eminently qualified.
" I have the honour to be, Sir,

" Your very obedient servant,
" CapL Geo. Back." " GEO. Ross.

My answer was, of course, a ready acceptance
of the proposed trust. The interest and sym-
pathy of the public began now to manifest them-
selves more strongly. On November 1. 1832, a
meeting was accordingly held at the rooms of
the Horticultural Society (kindly lent for the
occasion), in order to bring the humane object of
the expedition formally before it ; and in Vice
Admiral the Right Hon. Sir George Cockburn,
who presided, the cause found so powerful an ad-
vocate, that a subscription of SOOl. was made on
the spot. A standing Committee was also now
formed for the management of the expedition,
consisting of the following persons :

Sir G. Cockburn, G. C. B., Chairman.
John Barrow, Esq., F. R. S.
Robt. Hay, Esq. F. R. S.
Vice Admiral Sir W. Hotham, K. C. B.
Vice Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, Bart.
Rear Admiral W. H. Gage.
Felix Booth, Esq.

The Hon. Capt. H. Duncan, R. N.
B 3

6 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

Capt. Bowles, R. N.

Capt. Beaufort, R. N. F. R. S.

J. H. PellyJ Esq. Governor H. B. Company.

Nich. Garry, Esq. Dep. Gov. do.

W. P. Craufurd, Esq.

Capt. Beechey, R. N. F. R. S.

Dr. Richardson, F. R. S.

Capt. Hoppner, R. N.

Capt. Maconochie, R. N.

C. Beverly, Esq. F. R. S.

Robert M'Culloch, Esq.

J. Spence, Esq.

George Ross, Esq., Honorary Secretary.

Of these, Mr. Booth, Captain Duncan, and
Captain Bowles were appointed Trustees. The
services and influence of Sir George Cockburn,
which had been so beneficially employed in aid
of the expedition, were soon lost to the Com-
mittee, in consequence of his appointment to
the command on the West India station.
But his place was condescendingly supplied by
ins Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex, who
was pleased to become Vice Patron and Chair-
man. Mr. George Ross also having resigned
his situation as honorary secretary, and turned
his attention to the object of getting up an
expedition by sea for the same benevolent pur-
pose, his place was taken by Robert M'Culloch,

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 7

Esq., a cousin of Captain Ross, and thus not
less interested in the success of the scheme than
Mr. Ross himself.

It was gratifying to observe, in the rapid ac-
cumulation of our funds, the liveliness of the
public sympathy in this disinterested project.
No obstacle, therefore, was to be anticipated from
want of means, and the preparations went on
with increased confidence. In furtherance of
the communications which were made by Dr.
Richardson, the Governor and Directors of the
Hudson's Bay Company had already despatched
directions to their agents in America, apprising
them that such an expedition might be expected
in the following spring, and directing the neces-
sary preparations to be made for it ; and now,
besides generously placing at our disposal 120
bags of pemmican, two boats and two canoes,
these gentlemen suggested, with equal liberality
and considerateness, the expediency of taking it
under the especial protection of the Company, by
issuing a commission under their seal to me as its
Commander. Gladly, as may be supposed, did I
avail myself of so important an offer, well know-
ing, from past experience, that the co-operation
of all parties throughout their extensive territory
would by this means be effectually secured.

The expedition was to consist of two officers
and eighteen men ; part of whom, including two

8 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

good boat carpenters, were to be engaged in this
country,and part in Canada,men who should
be inured to fatigue, and well accustomed to the
duties they would have to perform. From
Montreal it was proposed that the ordinary
route of the fur traders should be followed by
the Ottawa, French River, the Great Lakes,
Lake Winnipeg, &c. to Great Slave Lake ; from
whence Indians were to be employed as guides
and hunters to accompany the party to the
banks of the Thlew-ee-choh-desseth, or Great
Fish River, which, according to the testimony of
the Indians, lay to the eastward of the Lake, and
might be approached by an intervening chain of
smaller lakes and portages. The winter resi-
dence, for which, from a reference to Hearne's
Journey, it seemed so well adapted, was to be
there established ; and in the mean while a de-
tachment of eight men, well armed, was to pro-
ceed in advance with me, without loss of time, to
explore the river in a light canoe. As it neces-
sarily flowed through the barren lands which are
of nearly equal elevation with the country north
of Fort Enterprise, it was to be expected that its
course, like the descent of the Coppermine river,
would be interrupted by rapids or cascades ;
and these the canoe excursion would enable me
to survey, so that, on my return to the winter
establishment, we might construct boats com-
bining the qualities requisite for both the river

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 9

and sea navigation. As far, also, as the season
would permit, my visit to the sea might give
me an opportunity of communicating with the
Esquimaux, and obtaining, if not intelligence
of Captain Ross, at least much information for
the direction of my course the following sum-
mer. Having passed the first winter, it was pro-
posed that we should start for the sea the moment
the ice broke up ; and, if an opinion should
prove correct, which I had been led to entertain
from an inspection of the maps traced by the
Indians, that the mouth of the river lay between
the 68th and 69th parallels of latitude, and the
90th and 100th meridians of longitude, we should
then be less than three hundred miles from the
wreck of the Fury in Regent Inlet. It had formed
part of Captain Ross's plan to visit the wreck
of the Fury in the first instance, that he might
supply himself with coals and such provisions
and stores as were available ; and to return and
winter beside it, if in the course of the summer
he should be unable to penetrate to the westward.
It was therefore in Regent Inlet that the search
for him was most likely to be successful. If,
contrary to our hope, no traces of Captain Ross
should be discovered on arriving at the wreck
of the Fury, and the season should be far ad-
vanced, it would be necessary for us to retrace
our way to winter quarters ; and, in so doing,
we should embrace every opportunity of erecting

10 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER,

land-marks and signal posts, to arrest the atten-
tion of the wanderers to the notes deposited
beneath, detailing the position of our abode, and
the means adopted for their relief.

On the disruption of the ice in the following
spring, the expedition would again be on the
shores of the Polar Sea, and its researches
would be resumed in a different direction
from that previously taken. Every Esquimaux
hut would then be minutely inspected, in the
hope of finding some token of the fate of our
countrymen ; and the gratification which the
promoters of the expedition would experience,
should even a single British seaman be rescued
from his melancholy fate by their means, every
one felt would amply repay our utmost exertions.
While, even if no such happy fortune should
attend our researches, the geographical know-
ledge that must be obtained, and the scientific
information resulting from a course leading nearly
over one of the Magnetic Poles, would, it was
hoped, tend to console them.

Such was the outline of the plan to be fol-
lowed, as regarded the humane and principal
object of our search ; and in the event of that
being rendered nugatory by the almost un-
locked for return of Captain Ross and his
gallant companions, or by any obstacle pre-
venting the progress of the expedition in the

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 11

exact direction of its course to the wreck of
the Fury, it was still thought, in our uncertainty
of the precise place where the Thlew-ee-choh-
desseth might fall into the sea, that the coast line
between Point Turnagain and the known land
to the eastward might be satisfactorily ascer-
tained, and thus another step made towards the
determination of that interesting problem the
northern limits of America.

For all these purposes, I was provided
with a variety of astronomical instruments,
including a dipping needle by Dollond, and a
diurnal variation instrument by Jones ; which
latter was also to be used to obtain the
effect produced on the needle by the aurora
borealis. I had also one of Professor Han-
steen's instruments, besides three chronometers
lent by the Admiralty. Guns and other neces-
sary materials were furnished by the Committee ;
who, that nothing might be omitted which
could at all contribute to our comfort, ordered
also a plentiful provision of cocoa and macaroni,
than which few things are better suited to such
undertakings, and of which such was our eco-
nomical expenditure, that some portion even
returned with us to Montreal.

His most gracious Majesty, the patron of the
expedition, having commanded my attendance
at Brighton, I had the honour to explain the

12 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

plans and prospects of the service, with the
means adopted to guard against privation, and
to secure the party from those disasters to
which they might otherwise be subject; and I
had the high gratification of receiving the royal
approbation of these plans, and a gracious ex-
pression of sincere desire for the safety of my
party.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent
and Princess Victoria also received a deputa-
tion, consisting of Vice Admiral Sir George
Cockburn, Captains Beechey and Maconochie,
with myself, for the purpose of pointing out on
the chart the line of the proposed route, sub-
mitting, at the same time, a sketch of the intended
proceedings ; on which occasion their Royal
Highnesses evinced a truly benevolent interest
in the expedition.* Nor was the Duke of Sussex
less solicitous to forward the undertaking, as I
had the honour to receive a letter from his Royal

* Besides being liberal subscribers to the expedition, their
Royal Highnesses sent me, some days afterwards, a pocket
compass and a case of mathematical instruments, as a con-
tribution to its scientific equipment; and I shall not attempt
to describe the enthusiasm which these tokens of the interest
taken by them in our benevolent mission afterwards created,
not only in British North America, but also in the United
States. It will be seen in a future part of my Narrative,
that this compass, from its extreme delicacy, became after-
wards of essential service.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 13

Highness, recommending me to the attentions
of Doctor Hossack, a scientific gentleman at
New York.

Finally, it was deemed expedient, on many
accounts, but more especially to give me ad-
ditional authority over the men whom I might
engage for the service, that my mission should
be taken under the direction of his Majesty's
Government ; and accordingly I received from
the Secretary of State for the Colonies the follow-
ing instructions :

" Colonial Office, Downing Street,
4th February, 1833.

" SIR,

" The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
having been pleased to lend your services to this
office, that you may conduct an expedition now
preparing to proceed to the Polar Sea in search
of Captain Ross, you are hereby required and
directed to undertake this service, placing your-
self for the purpose at the disposition of the
Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who have undertaken to furnish you
with the requisite resources and supplies.

" You are to leave Liverpool early in the
present month, and proceed with your party by
way of New York to Montreal, and thence along
the usual route pursued by the north-west

14 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

traders to Great Slave Lake, which it is hoped
you will reach by the 20th of July. You are
then to strike off to the north-eastward, or in
such other direction as you may ascertain to
be most expedient, in order to gain the Thlew-
ee-choh-desseth, or Great Fish River, which is be-
lieved either to issue from Slave Lake, or to rise in
its vicinity, and thence to flow with a navigable
course to the northward, till it reaches the sea.
On arriving on the banks of this river, you
are to select a convenient situation for a winter
residence, and immediately appoint a portion of
your force to erect a house thereon ; but, if
possible, you are to proceed yourself, with an
adequate party, and explore the river to the
coast the same season, erecting a conspicuous
land-mark at its mouth, and leaving notice of
your intention to return the ensuing spring, in
case Captain Ross should be making progress
along this part of the shore.

" You are to take care, however, to return
before the commencement of the winter, to
avoid any undue exposure of your men. Dur-
ing the winter you are to construct two boats,
capable, in your opinion, of navigating the
Polar Sea ; and as early as possible in the en-
suing spring you are to descend again to its
shores.

" Your proceedings afterwards must be much

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 15

guided by your own judgment. The first ob-
ject will be to reach Cape Garry, where his
Majesty's late ship Fury was wrecked; on the
remaining stores of which it is known that
Captain Ross in some measure relied : but in
making for this, whether by the east or west,
you must be governed by the position of the
mouth of the river, and other local circum-
stances, as you progressively ascertain them.

" While passing along the coast, you are to
keep a vigilant look-out upon the shore for any
signal or indication of the party of which you
are in search (particularly at the entrance of
the Hecla and Fury Strait, should you take the
eastern passage) ; and in the event of your
meeting them, previous to your arrival at Cape
Garry, you are to offer to return immediately,
and bring them with you to the Hudson's Bay
settlements. Or should you find any indication
of their having been on any part of the coast
before your arrival, you are to search minutely
for some memorial which may lead to the dis-
covery of their intentions ; and to proceed, in
the event of success, in whatever practicable
direction may seem best calculated to lead you
to them.

" Devoting the summer, then, to the interest-
ing search in contemplation, it is unnecessary to
recommend to you to make it as effectual as

16 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

possible, consistently with a due regard for
the health and preservation of your party. But,
whatever may be its prospects or success, you
are on no account to prolong it beyond such a
period of the year (varying from the 12th to
the 20th of August, according to the distance
which you may have attained) as will insure
your return to your winter quarters before the
severe weather sets in. On your acting in this
particular with due caution may depend the
eventual success of the whole expedition. On
your return to your temporary establishment,
you are carefully to examine the state of your
supplies ; if possible, also, communicating with
Great Slave Lake, to ascertain whether additional
stores are there collected for you. And if you
find that you can, with reasonable prudence,
devote a second summer to the service on which
you are engaged, you are hereby required and
directed to do so ; but if not, you are to return
to England in the following spring.

" Subordinate to your object of finding Captain
Ross, or any survivors or survivor of his party,
you are to direct your attention to mapping what
yet remains unknown of the coasts which you
will visit, and making such other scientific ob-
servations as your leisure will admit ; for which
purposes the requisite instruments will be supplied
to you. But you are not for such objects to deviate

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 17

from your principal pursuit, until you shall have
either succeeded in its accomplishment, or satis-
factorily ascertained that its success is impossible.
" You are, during your absence, to embrace
any opportunities that may offer of corresponding
with this Office, and report your arrival here on
your return,

" I have the honour to be, Sir,

" Your obedient servant,

" GODERICH."

" Captain George Back, R. N.
21. Regent Street."

Strengthened by this authority, as well as by
the commission from the Hudson's Bay Company,
which ordered every assistance to be rendered me
by the different officers in their territories, there
now wanted only an efficient medical man to take
care of the health of the party. This was found
in Mr. Richard King, who, having in the first
instance volunteered his services, was subse-
quently engaged, at a salary, as surgeon and
naturalist to the expedition. Three men only
(two of whom were carpenters and shipwrights)
were taken from England : the remainder, as will
hereafter be seen, were selected either from
Montreal or from the Company's posts in the
interior,

To present at one view the objects, purpose,
c

18 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

and direction of the service, the execution of
which is narrated in the following pages, it will
be proper to mention here, that exactly one year
after our departure from Canada, by a despatch
which had been forwarded with the most praise-
worthy diligence by the Hudson's Bay Company *,
I received the happy intelligence of Captain
Ross's providential return, communicated in
the following letter from Sir Charles Ogle, Ba-
ronet :

" Arctic Land Expedition.

" 21. Regent Street,

22d Oct. 1833.
« SIR,

" I have much pleasure in acquainting you, on
the part of the Committee for managing your
expedition, that Captain Ross and the survivors
of his party returned to England a few days
ago, in a whaler, which picked them up in
Barrow Straits ; and that thus one object of
your expedition is happily attained.

" In concert, therefore, with his Majesty's
Government (though the signature of the Se-
cretary of State for the Colonies cannot be

* The extraordinary expedition with which this despatch
was transmitted is worthy of being recorded ; and I have,
therefore, in the Appendix, given a few particulars which
will be interesting to the reader.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 19

immediately procured, in consequence of his
absence from town), you are hereby directed to
turn your whole attention to your second object,
viz. completing the coast line of the north-
eastern extremity of America. You will observe,
from the enclosed abstract of Captain Ross's pro-
ceedings, that this, also, is become an object of
comparatively easy acquisition. By proceeding
first to Point Turnagain, and thence eastward to
an obelisk in about 69° 37' N. and 98° 40'W.,
which marks the termination of Captain Ross's
progress, or, vice versa, by proceeding first to
this obelisk, and thence westward, it is believed
that you may accomplish all that is now wanting
in one season. But even should this prove im-
possible, and you find that a second season on
the coast is desirable, I believe that I may confi-
dently assure you that the means will be ob-
tained for that purpose.

" Your choice of routes will of course depend
on the point where the Thlew-ee-choh joins the
sea ; on which head, therefore, the Committee
has few or no observations to offer. If, as
Governor Simpson imagines, it falls into Ba-
thurst's Inlet, and is identical with Back's River
there, you will of course proceed thence to the
eastward; or if any brancii of it, or any other
river you may meet with, turn decidedly to the
westward or eastward, the Committee would

c 2

20 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

rather recommend your endeavouring in this
case to start from one or other extremity. But
beyond this it can offer no hints.

" I cannot conclude, however, without ear-
nestly recommending to you, in its name and that
of all the subscribers to and promoters of your
expedition, to be careful not to expose yourself
and men to unnecessary hazard. The satisfaction
which we all experience in receiving Captain
Ross again is very great ; but it will be much
impaired by any casualties in your expedition.
" I have the honour to be, Sir,

" Your obedient humble servant,

" CHARLES OGLE, Chairman.

" P. S. As we are not yet quite certain of
obtaining funds for a third year (although rea-
sonably confident that his Majesty's Govern-
ment will, if necessary, supply them), you will be
entirely guided, with regard to it, by further in-
structions which will be forwarded to you in the
course of next season, and which you will receive
on your return to your winter quarters.

" C. O."

The instructions alluded to were never sent,
and, had they been so, would have been unavail-
able. For, first, the difficulties already encoun-
tered had by that time proved, that any further

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 21

attempt by the Thlew-ee-choh would be as
rash as its result would be fruitless ; secondly,
the hope of crossing the country direct to
Bathurst's Inlet, or in any other direction lead-
ing towards Point Turnagain, had long been
relinquished, in consequence of the unanimous
testimony of the Indians, as to the insurmount-
able obstacles that would oppose the transport
of canoes, and even the requisite provision for so
long and arduous a journey. The whole of the
streams west of the Thlew-ee-choh, within the
knowledge of the Indians, are its tributaries, and
are too shallow and rapid, and too much inter-
rupted with rocks and other dangerous obstruc-
tions, to be navigable in any thing larger than a
small canoe. There remained, therefore, but one
way of penetrating to the sea, viz. by travers-
ing the intervening mountains ; and this, with
such boats or canoes as would carry even the
very limited number of men that composed my
party, was totally impracticable. Had I not
been fully convinced of this, I should, in the
hope of accomplishing one of the great objects
of my mission, have undoubtedly ventured to
remain out another season, even though such an
act had not received the sanction of the Com-
mittee.

The other points of my instructions were
followed up to the best of my ability, as, it is

c 3

22 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

humbly hoped, will be demonstrated in the nar-
rative which follows.

I cannot, however, close this preliminary state-
ment, without conveying the public expression
of my thanks to Mr. Richard King, for his uni-
form attention to the health of the party, and
the readiness with which he assisted me in all
cases where his services were required. To him
the merit is due of whatever collections have
been made in natural history, as well as of the
preparation of a table of the temperatures of
animals, &c. &c.

To the invaluable services of Mr. R. M'Leod,
the narrative itself bears ample testimony ; yet
I must be permitted to indulge my own feel-
ings, by offering to him here the tribute of my
gratitude and esteem, for the zeal, courage,
constancy, and ability which he displayed in
emergencies and trials of no ordinary kind.

The men, also, and particularly those who ac-
companied me to the sea, were admirably quali-
fied for the service they undertook, and are
entitled to my warmest commendations for their
general conduct. Nor can I withhold especial
notice of the three artillery-men who accom-
panied me from Montreal ; their behaviour
furnishing an instructive and useful example to
the others, and fully according with the high
and generous feeling which induced them first
to engage in the expedition.

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 23

Numerous, indeed, are the obligations which I
am under to a multitude of excellent persons, both
in England and America, who either gave or
offered assistance at different stages of the enter-
prise. A particular and circumstantial acknow-
ledgment of all these is impossible ; but my
English friends, I am sure, will forgive me
for making one exception. After the fire at
Montreal, by which our hotel was consumed, a
rumour having got abroad that all the instru-
ments, &c. belonging to the expedition were de-
stroyed, I received, not long afterwards, the
following communication :

" Albany, April 29.1833.
" MY DEAR SlR,

" We have just heard of the destruction of the
British American Hotel, and it is reported you
have suffered loss. Under these circumstances,
permit one of your American friends to offer to
do any thing for you in his power, by way of
REPLACING any articles at his own expense.

" Any thing I can do for you it will give me
pleasure to do, on hearing from you.
" With sincere regard,

" Yours very truly,

" (In haste,)

" S. DE WITT BLOODGOOD.
" Capt. Back."

C 4.

24 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

Any comment on a letter so honourable to
the liberal and public-spirited writer would be
superfluous. Such a generous act will be duly
estimated by every English reader.

To my friend Dr. Richardson I owe a large
debt of gratitude for many most useful sug-
gestions, and for his friendly aid in general.
The public also is his debtor, not only for the
valuable matter contained in the fourth Chapter,
but also for the exposition of the Natural His-
tory which is found in the Appendix.

Nor are my obligations less to Professor Chris-
tie, of Woolwich, for his valuable assistance in
selecting some of the instruments, and for his
examination and analysis of the results of the
observations made with them. I am also indebted
to Professor Hooker, J. G. Children, Esq., and
Dr. Fitton, for their kind assistance in different
departments of science.

Of the great and unappreciable service afforded
by the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Di-
rectors of the Hudson's Bay Company, I have
already spoken ; but I should be indeed ungrate-
ful, if I were not to add that their benevolent
intentions were zealously fulfilled, and their ju-
dicious arrangements carried into complete effect
by Mr. Simpson, the resident Governor, and the
various officers in the service of the Company.
Those who reflect how much, if not how en-

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 25

tirely, the success of an expedition like that
which I had the honour to command must neces-
sarily have depended on the aid and co-operation
of these gentlemen, will feel how incumbent it
is on me to acknowledge, as I now do, with sin-
cere and fervent gratitude, the prompt attention,
the ready assistance, and the provident care for
our wants, manifested by all and each of them
in their respective departments. Thus, for the
complete and effective arrangements at Montreal
I am indebted to Mr. James Keith, the agent
of the Company at La Chine. At Norway
House, chief factors Christie, Cameron, Rowand,
and Lewis rendered me important service in the
procuring of a crew, and suggested whatever
useful information their experience and know-
ledge of the country enabled them to supply.
By Mr. Christie, indeed, the whole of the winter
stock was forwarded to the establishment at Fort
Reliance. Neither can I pass over in silence the
efficient and valuable services of chief factors
Charles, Smith, Stuart, andM'Kenzie, Sen.; of Mr.
D. Ross at the depot of Norway House; Messrs.
D. M'Intosh, Miles, Hargraves, and M'Murray,
chief traders ; and of Messrs. Hutchinson, Bris-
lois, and Clouston, clerks. The frank and hos-
pitable kindness which was shown by all to
myself personally will never be forgotten bv me,
and is entitled to this public acknowledgment.

26 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

The courtesy of His Excellency Lord Ayl-
mer, and the gratifying attentions of the worthy
citizens of Montreal and New York, are of
course to be attributed rather to their benevo-
lent sympathy with the main purpose of the
expedition, than to any regard for the individual
who had been selected to conduct it. So re-
garded, their conduct is more honourable to
them, and is at the same time not the less valued
and held in remembrance by me. To express
my thanks might savour of presumption ; but I
take the liberty of recording my feelings, in order
that the tribute may be rendered by the British
Public.

CHAPTER I.

Departure from England. Arrival at Montreal.
Preparations for the Expedition. Fire at the Hotel.
· Departure from La Chine. The St. Lawrence.
The Ottawa. Lake Huron.The Sault de Ste. Marie.

Arrival at Fort William. Distribution of the
Loadings. The Mountain Fall. Lac de la Pluie.
Arrival at Fort Alexander. Magnetic Observations.

Arrival of Governor Simpson, and Arrangements
made by him. Arrival at Norway House. Difficulty
of procuring Men for the Service. Departure from
Norway House.

ON Sunday, the 17th of February, 1833, ac-
companied by Mr. Richard King and three men,
two of whom had gained experience under Sir
J. Franklin, I embarked in the packet ship
Hibernia, Captain Maxwell, from Liverpool ;
and, after a somewhat boisterous passage of
thirty-five days, during part of which the ship
was entangled amongst ice on St. George's Bank,
arrived at New York. We were received with
every attention that politeness and hospitality
could dictate. The usual forms at the Custom-
house were dispensed with in our favour ; and
all classes seemed anxious to facilitate an under-
taking, in the success of which the warmest

28 ARRIVAL, AT MONTREAL.

interest was manifested. The proprietors of the
Ohio, steam-boat, offered that fine vessel for our
conveyance to Albany; and, as we started from
the wharf, upwards of a thousand well-dressed
persons, with our friend Mr. Buchanan, the
British consul, at their head, gave us three
hearty cheers.

From Albany we travelled in coaches or
waggons, according to the quality of the roads ;
and reached Montreal on the 9th of April, a
day earlier than I had promised six months
before. Mr. Keith, the principal officer of the
Hudson's Bay Company at La Chine, lost no
time in acquainting me that preparations for the
expedition were in a forward state, and would
be ready by the appointed time. He entertained,
however, some doubt whether he could himself
obtain the required number of able voyageurs;
and thought that they might be selected, with
greater advantage to the service, from among
the old "winterers" resorting to a depot of the
Company in the interior, which I should neces-
sarily have to pass. He also informed me that
despatches, sent from England, had been for-
warded to the resident governor, Mr. Simpson ;
who, being thus apprised of our movements,
would be enabled to co-operate accordingly.

No sooner was it known in Montreal that
our little party was in one of the hotels,

PREPARATIONS. 29

than the commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel Mac-
dougall, of the 79th regiment, and the officers
of the garrison, as well as the principal inha-
bitants of the town, waited upon us, and vied
with each other in administering to our comforts,
and rendering as agreeable as possible the short
time which remained to us for the enjoyment
of civilised society.

I availed myself of this interval to ascer-
tain the rates of the chronometers with the
nicest precision, and to make a set of observ-
ations for the dip and magnetic intensity, with
Dollond's and Hansteen's needles ; which oper-
ations, with the numerous arrangements neces-
sary for completing our outfit, fully occupied
Mr. King and myself until our departure.

Neither was I without a foretaste of the
anxiety inseparable from the service on which I
had embarked. A refractory spirit had of late
been manifested by two of my three men, who
even threatened to proceed no farther ; for
no better reason than a sudden and wayward
apprehension of a journey, which the strong
expression of public sympathy had taught them
to regard as beset with more than ordinary
perils. However, by convincing them of the
disgrace which would attend a desertion, and
then despatching them at once, through the
means of Mr. Keith, to a distant post of the

30 FJRE AT THE HOTEL.

Company, I was enabled to retain their services,
which I was not without hope would, in the
sequel, turn to good account. Still this incident
taught me the little dependence that could be
placed on men who shrank from dangers in pros-
pect, and were ready to abandon an expedition in
which, but two months before, they had engaged
with the utmost alacrity and zeal : and as Cap-
tain Anderson, of the 6th battalion of Royal
Artillery, had intimated the eager desire of
several of his best men to accompany me, I
wrote to Lord Aylmer, the Governor-general, and
His Excellency was pleased to sanction the dis-
charge of four for that purpose. Colonel Godby
was equally kind in affording me assistance ; and,
strengthened by those volunteers, I felt that I
had now a check on any that might hereafter
prove refractory, as well as the comfortable
assurance of having those with me on whom I
could rely in the utmost need.

On the evening of the 24th of April a fire broke
out in our hotel, just as we were about to quit it.
The performance of the Bohemian brothers had
brought together a numerous assemblage, prin-
cipally of ladies ; and such was the fury of the
flames, that for many the upper windows afforded
the only means of escape. Luckily, my bag-
gage was, for the greater part, removed ; and
thus, though most of the property in the house

LA CHINE.

was consumed, I had chiefly to regret the
loss of my only available barometer. The two
which I had brought from England had been
damaged in the voyage, and could not be re-
paired at Montreal; and the one thus unfor-
tunately lost had been most kindly obtained
and presented by Mr. Walker, to whom we were
under many other obligations.

As I was compelled to hire a certain num-
ber of voyageurs for the expedition, and they
are generally an extremely superstitious race,
there was reason to apprehend that I might find
a difficulty in doing so, if, as was not unlikely,
they chose to construe as an evil omen this
untoward accident, marking the moment of our
departure. I must own, therefore, that it was
with some pleasure that, on arriving at La Chine
the following morning (April 25th), accompanied
by my friend Colonel Macdougall, I found them
far too assiduous in their libations to Bacchus, to
be subject to any less potent influences.

Notwithstanding the alarm and confusion of
the preceding night, a number of the officers of
the garrison, and many of the respectable in-
habitants, collected spontaneously together, to
offer us a last tribute of kindness. We em-
barked amidst the most enthusiastic cheers, and
firing of musketry. The two canoes shot rapidly
through the smooth waters of the canal, and

32 ST. LAWRENCE. OTTAWA.

were followed by the dense crowd on the banks.
A few minutes brought us to the St. Lawrence,
and, as we turned the stems of our little vessels
up that noble stream, one long loud huzza bade
us farewell !

Both our maitre-canôt *, and the other, which
was of smaller dimensions, were rather lum-
bered than loaded. Every package had been
reduced or augmented to a "piece" of 90 Ibs.
weight ; and, as there were only about fifty of
these altogether, we were what is termed " half-
loaded," and in a condition, therefore, to make
reasonable speed, with any thing like an efficient
crew. In our case, however, there was an un-
avoidable mixture of old hands and " mangeurs
de lard," or green-horns; and there was scarcely
one who had failed to take advantage of the last
opportunity of getting drunk. At the head of
them was Paul, an old Iroquois guide, who was,
however, otherwise invaluable, as, I really be-
lieve, he knew the situation of every dangerous
rock in the whole line of rapids between Mon-
treal and Hudson's Bay.

Turning off to the right, we entered the
Ottawa, which (like the Moselle after its conflu-
ence with the Rhine), for some distance below
the junction rolls on its brown waters unmixed

* A large canoe used between Montreal and Fort Wil-
liam, on the banks of Lake Superior.

THE OTTAWA. 33

with the clear stream of the St. Lawrence. On
coming abreast of a village, near which stood a
large cross, a few paces from the church, the
more devout of the voyageurs went on shore,
and, standing in a musing posture, implored the
protection of the patron saint in the perilous
enterprise on which they were embarked ; while
their companions, little affected by their piety,
roared out to them to "s'embarquer," and
paddled away to the merry tune of a lively
canoe song. We soon reached the rapid of St.
Anne ; and, having ascended it with a trifling
injury to one of the canoes, we encamped on an
island in the pretty Lake of the Two Mountains.
As our route was precisely the same with that
followed by the Company's people every season,
which has been described by Sir A. M'Kenzie,
as well as by more modern travellers *, a minute
detail of our progress seems unnecessary ; and it
will be sufficient merely to indicate a few of the
principal places in the line of country from La
Chine to the south-west end of Great Slave Lake,
from which point the discovery properly begins.
By the kindness of Colonel Duvernet, the canoes
were permitted to go through the government
canal, which cuts off the dangerous rapid of the
long Sault. They were afterwards towed by

* Herman, Ross, Cox, Sir J.Franklin, Major Long, &c.
D

S4 THE OTTAWA.

the steam-boat which plies between that place
and Bytown, a village beautifully situated on
the heights between the Rideau and the Chau-
dière Falls ; in which latter, only the evening
before several raftsmen had been unfortunately
engulfed. Lieutenant Kains, who commanded the
steam-boat, could not be prevailed on to accept
any remuneration for the important service thus
rendered to us.

During the night, two of our young hands
deserted ; a casualty, however, which did not
give me any uneasiness, and relieved me from
any further apprehension on their account. In-
deed, the probability of such an event is usually
taken into account by those who are accustomed
to this mode of travelling, and a few extra men
are generally engaged as a reserve.

April 28. Having arrived at a portage by
which term, it is almost unnecessary to say, is
understood a place where, by reason of some
obstruction to the navigation, it is necessary to
carry the baggage and canoes we were kindly
invited to breakfast at the house of an Indian fur
trader of the name of Day. This old gentle-
man declared, that his feelings were so warmly
excited by the praiseworthy object of the expe-
dition, that he could hardly refrain, even at his
advanced age, from offering his services. At one
of the Company's posts, called Fort des Chats,

LAKE HURON. 35

I found my three men who had been sent from
Montreal ; and, having embarked them, with
seventeen " pieces " out of nineteen which had
been forwarded by the steam-boat, we proceeded
along rapids, which more or less detained us
until we got to Fort Coulonge. The houses
above this were far apart, and the population
comparatively thin ; but, on my return in 1835,
I was agreeably surprised to see many com-
fortable dwellings erected in the interval, sur-
rounded by smiling corn fields, and animated
by groups of both sexes, who looked from the
windows or stood on the banks to see us pass.

Leaving the Ottawa, we diverged to the left,
up a deep and black stream, so overhung by
sombre rocks and withered trees, and so bleak
and lifeless, that it seemed the very home of
melancholy and despair, and forced upon my
recollection an admirable painting represent-
ing Sadak in search of the waters of oblivion.
It took us to Lake Nipising, whence we de-
scended by the Rivière des Français into Lake
Huron ; our progress through which was so im-
peded by fogs and head winds, that it was not
until May llth that we reached the Sault de Ste.
Marie, at the head of the lake, and the extreme
point to which civilisation has yet extended.

Some surprise was testified at our early arrival
by my old acquaintance Mr. Bethune, who in-

D 2

36 THE SAULT DE STE. MARIE.

formed me that the vast quantity of floating ice
on Lake Superior had prevented his forwarding
the despatches mentioned by Mr. Keith before
the 1st of the month; so that, in reality, they
were only eleven days in advance of me, though
sent from England in December. My only re-
gret at this circumstance was, the very limited
time which would be thus afforded Mr. Simpson
for aiding the expedition in the efficient man-
ner to which, I was well assured, his zeal would
prompt him. As yet, I had not one third of the
necessary number of volunteers to go through
the service ; and there were many other im-
portant arrangements that could be satisfactorily
made by the resident governor alone.

Owing to the scarcity of provisions in the
interior, it became advisable to take a supply for
five weeks ; and a third canoe was purchased to
assist in carrying it. Before leaving the Sault,
I waited on the officers of the American garrison,
accompanied by the gentlemen of the Company ;
and it is almost superfluous to say, that we expe-
rienced a reception in perfect keeping with the
strong feeling of interest which had been mani-
fested for us throughout the state of New York.
But the commanding officer, Captain Baxly, not
satisfied with the ordinary courtesies of polite
attention, sent us a more substantial proof of his
kindness, in the shape of prepared venison,

ARRIVAL AT FORT WILLIAM. 37

tongues, sweet corn, and many other dainties ;
which, though most welcome on their own ac-
count, were, in my estimation, still more valuable
for the feeling which had prompted the present.

Nothing beyond the ordinary causes of de-
tention occurred while crossing the northern
extremity of Lake Superior. At a post called
the Pic, we were liberally supplied with fresh
butter and fish by my old friend Mr. M'Murray,
who would willingly have had us remain the
night with him. The inviting appearance of
the weather induced us to decline his hospitality ;
and it was not a little mortifying, therefore, to
find ourselves soon enveloped in a dense fog,
which baffled the skill of the guide, and com-
pelled us to land.

On the 20th of May we arrived at Fort William,
much to the astonishment of Mr. D. M'Intosh,
the gentleman in charge, who assured us that the
light canoes of the preceding season had been
fully twelve days later. It was here that the
large canoes were to be exchanged for smaller,
better calculated to overcome the numerous
impediments which obstruct the navigation of
the inland rivers ; and I had every reason to be
satisfied with the two beautiful ones which had
been constructed for the purpose, by the direction
of Governor Simpson, and under the superin-
tendence of Mr. M'Intosh.

D 3

38 DISTRIBUTION OF THE LOADINGS.

An entire day was now devoted to the exa-
mining and repacking of our various stores and
instruments. Our " North Canoe," brought from
Montreal, was also repaired ; for, lumbered as we
were with provisions, it was found impracticable
to ascend the shallow waters of the Kamines-
tiquoia without taking her, in addition to the
two new ones ; and I did this the less reluc-
tantly, as no extra expense was thus incurred, and
there were hands enough to manage the three.

The Canadian voyageur is, in all respects,
a peculiar character ; and on no point is he
more sensitive, or, rather, to use an expressive
term, more touchy, than in the just distribution
of " pieces " among the several canoes form-
ing a party. It must be admitted, at the same
time, that he has very substantial reasons for
being particular in this matter, for he well knows
that, supposing the canoes to be in other re-
spects equally matched, a very small inequality
of weight will make a considerable difference in
their relative speed, and will occasion, moreover,
a longer detention at the portages. The usual
mode is for the guide to separate the pieces,
and then to distribute or portion them out by
lots, holding in his hand little sticks of different
lengths, which the leading men draw. From
the decision so made there is no appeal, and
the parties go away laughing or grumbling

THE MOUNTAIN FALL. 39

at their different fortunes. These important
preliminaries, therefore, being settled to the
tolerable satisfaction of those concerned, we took
leave of our friendly host, and encamped at the
imposing fall of Kakabikka, by the voyageurs
commonly called the Mountain Fall. This
has been well and graphically described by
Major Long * and Sir J. Franklin t ; in mag-
nitude it is inferior only to the Niagara or the
Falls of Wilberforce, whilst it far surpasses both
in picturesque effect.

On the 26th, the despatch canoe (a sort of
mail) overtook us at the Savannah portage ;
and I gladly seized the opportunity it afforded me
of sending a letter to Mr. Simpson, with a requi-
sition for men and stores, and a request that
he would do me the favour to make certain in-
quiries as to the most practicable route to the
Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth. ï

While descending the narrow and encumbered
stream of the Savannah, William Malley, one
of my volunteer artillerymen, slipped off a float-
ing tree, as he was attempting to open a pas-
sage for the canoes, and narrowly escaped being

* " Narrative of an Expedition to St. Peter's River,
Lake Winnepeg," &c.

\ " Second Journey to the Polar Sea."

t Dezeth, desseh, tessy, &c. being only the same word for
river, will in future be omitted in the Narrative.

D 4-

40 LAC DE LA PLUIE.

drowned ; but he bore thé accident with so much
indifference and good humour as to call forth
the admiration of Paul, who at once predicted
that he would make a good voyageur.

On the 31st, we crossed Lac de la Pluie,
which well sustained its name and character, by
receiving us with a pelting rain which drenched
us to the skin. There was neither meat nor
fish at the Company's establishment, and, owing
to the failure of the crops, scarcely any rice,
(wild rice, Folle arvine, Zizaniaaquática,} which
is generally abundant at this solitary station,
growing in the swampy ground round the lake.
We encamped on a small island in the Lake
of the Woods, which was literally covered with
a dwarf species of prickly pear ( Cactus opuntia},
much to the annoyance of the men, whose feet
were soon stuck full of its irritating prickles.

On the 6th of June we arrived at Fort Alex-
ander, situated at the southern extremity of
Lake Winnepeg. Here I had hoped to find the
governor, and was not a little disappointed when
informed by Mr. Clouston, the gentleman in
charge, that it might be several days before he
arrived ; though, as the despatch canoe had left
the day before, there was every reason to suppose
that he was by that time in possession of my
letter, and, therefore, would naturally infer that I
could not be far off. Important as every hour

MAGNETIC OBSERVATIONS. 41

was to the accomplishment of my plans, it was of
still greater moment to me to see Mr. Simpson
personally ; and, aware of the probability of our
passing each other unobserved, if I attempted to
hasten towards him in a canoe, I preferred the
alternative of remaining quietly at the establish-
ment, and so securing an interview which I so
ardently desired.

To beguile the time, the stores were ex-
amined, and the few which the rain had damaged
were exposed to the sun, dried, and carefully
repacked. I also made a set of observations for
the dip. The result was 79° 12'*, making a
difference of 25 minutes from those taken on a
former occasion. The vibrations and dip were
ascertained alternately, according to the face of
the instrument; and all were satisfactory enough,
except needle No. 2. reversed, with the face of
the instrument east, when a considerable alter-
ation appeared both in the number of the vibra-
tions and the point at which the needle finally
rested. A second trial showed a similar discre-
pancy. The reason of this peculiarity I could
not divine until about an hour afterwards, when
some gentlemen arrived from the westward, and
acquainted us that they had just encountered a se-
vere thunder shower, though the sky over the fort

* The results are those given by the instrument, without
any correction for temperature.

42 ONE OF THE PARTY SOLICITS HIS DISCHARGE.

underwent no visible change, and wore the same
sultry aspect as it had done most of the forenoon.
Amongst the people who had accompanied us
from Montreal, was a tall fine-looking fellow of
the name of Larke, who had volunteered, and,
indeed, had taken a great deal of trouble to get
entered, for the expedition. He had passed a part
of his life in the woods, was particularly well qua-
lified for such an undertaking, and had attracted
universal admiration by his apparent determina-
tion to brave all difficulties. This man now, how-
ever, came to me, and in a humble tone solicited
his discharge, as, to use his own phrase, "he
was sure we should be all starved to death;" and
so firmly was this unmanly resolution fixed in his
mind, that he declared nothing should force him
to go on. It is unnecessary to say that such
pusillanimous weakness was utterly irreconcilable
with an enterprise like that in which we were
engaged, which demanded an entire sacrifice of
home comforts, and an enthusiastic and unre-
flecting ardour in the prosecution of its objects.
I was not sorry, therefore, that the disease had
shown itself so early ; for, had it broken out here-
after, at a more critical period of the adventure,
the infection might have spread in a manner too
formidable for remedy. He had his wish, and
with it a recommendation, at the same time, to
the Company to oblige him to serve, in some

ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR SIMPSON. 43

distant part, the full term of his three years'
engagement.

Mr. H. Berens, who was on his way to Canada
from the Red River Colony, brought me the pleas-
ing intelligence that Mr. Simpson would very
shortly follow ; and as the latter gentleman was
about to return to England, without proceeding
to the depot at Norway House, it was fortunate
that I had determined on remaining, though it
was certain that nothing which prudence and ex-
perience could suggest would have been omitted
to promote my views. I learned from Mr. Berens
that the colony at Red River was in a prosperous
state ; and that notwithstanding the failure of
the crops last season, meat was from three
halfpence to two-pence a pound, and eggs three-
pence a dozen.

June 10thGovernor Simpson arrived, and
communicated to me the measures he had
adopted, as well as the result of a council held
by some of the principal officers of the Company,
respecting the affairs of the expedition.

Every aid, it seemed, was to be rendered to our
operations ; the stores were to be thrown open
for our use ; and the services and experience
of several well-informed individuals were to be
made available for preventing those accidents to
which our remote situation, or other local cir-
cumstances, might particularly expose us. Part

44l ARRANGEMENTS MADE BY THE GOVERNOR.

of the stores ordered last year were at Cum-
berland House, and the remainder would be
there before we reached that station. Of
pemmican Mr. Simpson anticipated a less plen-
tiful supply, on account of the migration of
the buffalo from the plains in the neighbour-
hood of Garitón and Edmonton, the two prin-
cipal posts for collecting that useful, and, to
us, indispensable provision. Yet, as orders had
been transmitted along the whole line of route
up to Great Slave Lake to hoard provision for
the expedition, there was every reason to be-
lieve that we should not be exposed to inconve-
nience.

Two additional men were engaged by the
Governor ; and for the rest he recommended me
to go as speedily as possible to Norway House j
where, by intercepting the different brigades of
boats on their way to Hudson's Bay, I might
have an opportunity of selecting a choice crew
of old hands.

Two letters, which about this time I received
from Mr. Simpson, are so creditable to him,
both as regards his capacity as Governor and
his feelings as a man, that, though written
with no such view, I cannot deny myself the
gratification of making them public. If they
excite in others only a small part of the ad-
miration with which I regarded them, Mr. Simp-

LETTER TO CAPTAIN BACK. 45

son will have no reason to complain. My own
feelings towards him may be understood, when
it is seen that he thus literally identified himself
with the expedition, and, what was scarcely
of less value, impressed those around him with
the same sentiments.

" To Captain Back, R. N., Commander of the
Arctic Land Expedition.

" Red River Settlement,

7th June, 1832.
" MY DEAR SlR,

" I am in possession of two very valuable
communications from you, which came to hand
yesterday ·, one dated London, December 14th,
1832 the other at Gros Cap, Lake Superior,
May 12th, 1833.

" It is with unfeigned regret I have to state
that imperious circumstances oblige me to fore-
go the pleasure of a personal interview with you,
on your route to the scene of your operations ;
but the state of my health is so deranged as to
render it absolutely necessary for me to proceed
direct from hence to Canada, and thence to
England, for the benefit of medical advice.
Indeed, so completely invalided am I at present,
that in this communication I am obliged to have
recourse to dictation, being unequal to the
fatigue of writing.

46 GOVERNOR SIMPSON'S LETTER

" Permit me, however, my dear Sir, to assure
you that I have perused these favours, together
with the printed plan of the expedition under
your command, with impressions of the most
lively interest. Indeed, such are the humane and
philanthropic views of the enterprise altogether,
that they cannot fail to excite and command the
sympathies of all with whom you may come
in contact.

" For myself, allow me to say, that in my in-
dividual as well as official capacity, I am exceed-
ingly anxious to further your benevolent views ;
and I cannot but rejoice that the conduct of the
enterprise is intrusted to one whose experience,
character, and abilities have been already so
well appreciated by the British public in re-
ference to former expeditions.

" What may be the fate of those who are the
objects of your humane exertions it is, in the pre-
sent state of things, impossible to say. Should the
worst forebodings be realised, still the expense
and fatigue of the expedition will be compensated
abundantly in the valuable acquisitions which
discovery and science will acquire, collaterally,
in its prosecution ; while the public in general,
and your party in particular, will have the proud
satisfaction of having done all within the reach
of human exertion for the relief of fellow

TO CAPTAIN BACK. 47

creatures supposed to be in circumstances at
which our nature shudders.

" I fully concur in Mr. Keith's suggestions,
respecting the necessity of getting experienced
men who are inured to the fatigues of the coun-
try. There will probably be some difficulty in
procuring volunteers ; but I am happy to confide
this part of the arrangement to Messrs. Chief-
factors Cameron and Christie, gentlemen, who,
from their experience in the country, and well
known benevolence of character, are eminently
calculated to assist in furthering the well-being
and comfort of the party. Mr. Charles will
meet you at Jack River, and is directed to give
you the full benefit of his experience and local
knowledge of the country about Slave Lake and
its vicinity.

" By the enclosed you will perceive that the
Council have nominated four officers in the Com-
pany's service, all men of courage and ability ;
any one of whom will be fully adequate to the
duties which may devolve upon him under your
command. Hope of speedy promotion in the
service is the reward held out to such person of
that number as may embrace the opportunity of
aiding and furthering your views and objects.
In fine, I wish it to be perfectly understood
that all our resources are available to you ; that
our craft will be at your service, and our stores

48 LETTER FROM GOVERNOR SIMPSON.

at your command; and that this letter is to
be considered as sufficient authority for you to
call those resources into action as occasion may
require.

" Believe me, my dear Sir,

" Yours most faithfully,

" GEO. SIMPSON."

" To Alexander R. M'Leod or Simon M' Gil-
Urn ay, Esquires ; and to Mr. John M'Leod,
or Mr. Murdoch M'Pherson.

" Red River Settlement, '

5th June, 1833.
" GENTLEMEN,

" An expedition has been planned by the
Governor and Committee and the Arctic So-
ciety, in which his Majesty's Government and
the British public take the deepest interest,
having for its object the discovery of Captain
Ross and his crew, and the relieving them from
their supposed perilous situation, if still in exist-
ence ; together with the survey of those un-
known regions on the northern coast of America
lying between Point Turnagain and the Straits
of the Fury and Hecla.

" The command of this expedition has been
given to Captain Back, R.N. ; and the Governor
and Committe have directed that every support,
assistance, and facility be afforded that gen-

LETTER FROM GOVERNOR SIMPSON. 49

tleman towards carrying the important objects
alluded to into effect, which we are most anxious
should be met with the best feeling, in spirit and
to the letter.

" Captain Back will require the assistance of
one of the Honorable Company's officers on this
mission ; and we see none so likely to render him
the assistance required as one of yourselves.
We therefore call upon one of you, in the order
in which your names stand at the head of this
letter, to join Captain Back without delay, and
to act under the command of that gentleman in
the service in question ; and as an encourage-
ment to enter on this dangerous service, we
hereby assure to you Alexander Roderick
M'Leod, Esquire, or to you Simon M'Gillivray,
Esquire, our warmest support towards early pro-
motion to a chief factorship, in the event of
either embarking on this enterprise, and render-
ing to Captain Back such valuable services as we
consider you qualified to afford ; and to Mr.
John M'Leod, or Mr. Murdoch M'Pherson,
we hereby promise our warmest support towards
early promotion to a chief tradership, in the
event of either embarking on this enterprise, and
rendering in like manner to Captain Back such
valuable services as we consider you capable of
affording, besides an increase of salary of 100/.

50 DEPARTURE FROM FORT ALEXANDER.

per annum for the time you may be employed
on this expedition.

" I am, Gentlemen,
" Your most obedient Servant,

" GEO. SIMPSON."

Flattering, as these arrangements were, and
in the hurry of our affairs decidedly the best
that could have been made, I felt nevertheless
that the time necessary to collect my party and
stores, and convey them into the interior against
the obstacles and difficulties of an unknown route,
would seriously obstruct, if it did not entirely
prevent, my getting to the Polar Sea this autumn.
Not that this would materially affect our ulterior
object, as I believe the most sanguine never
contemplated the idea of our being in a condition
to afford succour to Captain Ross and his much-
enduring party before the summer of 1834. Yet
for many reasons it was desirable that the situation
and nearest route to the river Thlew-ee-choh,
and thence to the sea, should be discovered,
if practicable, by the time the laden bateaux
should get to Slave Lake ; more especially as
it would tend to encourage the men, who, gene-
rally speaking, are always more or less nervous
on new ground.

After the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Simpson,
I prepared to leave Fort Alexander to the

MUSQUITOES. 51

great delight of the voyageurs, who had been
so tormented by the mosquitoes that they
longed to get to the cool breezes of Lake Win-
nipeg, and indulge in the luxury of an undis-
turbed nap. My companion Mr. King, among
others, was severely punished, to his no little
disappointment, as, being indifferent to the
attacks of English insects of every description,
he had fondly imagined he should be invulner-
able to those of America. But a dipping in the
Styx itself would not have saved him from the
darts of the indefatigable searchers after blood
to which he was now exposed ; and he rose in
the morning with features so changed that it was
difficult to recognise the friend of the preceding
night.

At 4 A. M. of the 11 th of June, we left the esta-
blishment ; but the wind blew so hard, that we
had not proceeded more than three miles before
the height of the waves, which broke freely over
both sides of the canoes, obliged us to encamp.
But few birds of any kind were seen ; and though
I remembered that on a former occasion the wild
pigeons were very numerous, yet none were now
found near the fort, though the cleared land
around the Red River colony, not more than a
day's march off, was said to swarm with them.
On the 12th and following day we made con-
siderable progress. The weather afterwards

52 NATURAL HISTORY.

became unsettled and stormy. Geese, ducks,
plover, gulls, and tern, were seen sparingly
scattered along the east shore of the lake, which,
unlike the mountains to the north, which are
limestone *, is composed of smooth and rounded
granitic rocks of little altitude, intervening
between low banks, with sand, and skirted by a
swampy country behind. From the different
ridges of sand in the bays between the rocks,
and the increase of vegetation on them, I con-
cluded that the shore was gradually gaming on
the water ; and this opinion seems confirmed
by the fact that the Company has been obliged
to change the situation of Old Norway House,
on the opposite side, owing to the rapidly
progressive advance of the water there. In
fact, it has so undermined and washed away
the banks, as to have arrived within a few feet
of a building, the distance of which from the
edge of the lake in 1819 was upwards of three
hundred yards. Few pelicans were noticed ;
and as these birds are faithful attendants at
good fishing places, for which the lake is re-
markable, the Canadians augured an indifferent

season.

On the 17th of June, having hoisted the Com-
pany's flag, we arrived at the depot called

* Richardson, Appendix to Franklin.

ARRIVAL AT NORWAY HOUSE. 53

Norway House, situated on Jack River. Our
reception was most cordial. Messrs. Christie,
Rowand, Lewis, and Donald Ross, for most of
whom I had letters from my excellent friend
Mr. Garry, lost not a moment in tendering all
the assistance in their power. But notwith-
standing the good feeling on their part, some
trouble was experienced from the exorbitant
terms proposed by the men who seemed dis-
posed to volunteer. The bulk of the people
from the more remote stations had already passed
the depot ; and those who remained, either re-
luctant to expose themselves to the hazard of
what was justly considered an enterprise of dan-
ger, or influenced by the strong desire of gain,
demanded the same privileges and emoluments
which had been granted to the men employed
on the two Government expeditions under
Sir J. Franklin. Unreasonable as this seemed
to us, we had no choice but to yield in part to
their demands ; and even then, it was not until
I had taken infinite pains, by pointing out on
the map the whole line of my operations, by
lessening the danger and magnifying our re-
sources, and, finally, by arousing the slumber-
ing spirit of the Highlander, that James M'Kay,
to whom I first addressed myself, a powerful
fellow, and one of the best steersmen in the

E 3

Sé DIFFICULTY OF PROCURING

country,at length consented to be my follower.
The example once set was soon imitated, and
others, more or less qualified, completed my list
to within two of the complement. Two days
sufficed to equip them ; and as a large supply of
stores, together with sixty bags of pemmican
and two new boats, or batteaux, were already at
Cumberland House, I despatched Mr. King,
with written instructions and fifteen men, to
precede me to that post. I remained behind to
secure, if possible, another steersman, and a mid-
dleman for a canoe, with which it was my inten-
tion to push on, by the Athabasca, to Great Slave
Lake ; whence I hoped a route might be found to
the Thlew-ee-choh, and where at all events an
eligible place might be selected for our winter
residence. About the same time Mr. Christie
and several other gentlemen took their departure
for York factory, with a promise to provide me,
if possible, with an Esquimaux interpreter, either
in the person of my old friend Augustus, who
was expected from the Labrador coast, or in
that of a lad of the name of Dunning, then at
Churchill, and represented by Governor Simpson
as equal to the task.

Messrs. Cameron, Lewis, Ross, and myself,
were now the only persons left at the depot ; and
I may conscientiously say that I almost counted
the hours, in my anxiety for the arrival of the

MEN FOR THE SERVICE. 55

parties, from either of which it was supposed I
might get the men required. They came at
last ; and two Canadians, former acquaintances
of mine, presented themselves, almost breathless
with haste, as candidates for the service. Their
merits being known to me, I made no scruple
about receiving them, and directed their agree-
ments to be made out. In the meantime, how-
ever, returning to the camp, they were met by
their wives, who were no sooner made acquainted
with the transaction than they resorted to dif-
ferent, though as it seems equally efficacious,
methods of diverting them from their purpose.
The one, a good strapping dame, cuffed her
husband's ears with such dexterity and good
will, that he was fain to cry peccavi, and seek
shelter in a friendly tent ; the other, an in-
teresting girl of seventeen, burst into tears, and
with piteous sobs clung to the husband of her
love, as if she would hold him prisoner in her
arms. I had therefore to look elsewhere; and it
was not until the 26th, that George Sinclair
(born in the country, and an admirable steers-
man) engaged on similar terms with M'Kay.
There now wanted but one ; and this deficiency
was with great kindness supplied by Mr. Came-
ron's allowing me to take an Iroquois belonging
to the Company, on condition that if he went

E 4

56 DEPARTURE FROM NORWAY HOUSE.

beyond Slave Lake, he should be entitled to the
same advantages as the others.*

All was now complete ; and, after writing
despatches for His Majesty's Government and
the Arctic Committee, letters, &c., I took leave
of my worthy host Mr. Ross, and at 2 A. M.,
June 28th, left Norway House.

*The men engaged for the expedition were the following:

James M'Kay

George Sinclair

Thomas Matthews

William Matthews -

John Ross

Hugh Canon

David Williamson

William Rowland - - -n· u

Thomas Anderson - Udennen.

Malcolm Smith.

Donald M'Donald.

Morrison Morrison.

James Spence - -1 T« j a.

Peter Taylor - - . j Engaged afterwards.

Charles Boulanger.
Pierre Kanaquassè.
Thomas Hassel - - Interpreter.

Also the following, who were subsequently discharged :.

Antoine De Charloit. Pierre Ateasta.

- La Charité. Two more Iroquois.

Olivier Seguin. François Hoole.

CHAP. IL

Commencement of the Expedition. Interview with Mr.
Charles. Wind-bound by a Land Gale.A Receipt for
the Cure of "Blue Devils."Description of a Voyageur¹ s
Tent. A Land Storm. The Grand Rapid. Ad-
vance of Cultivation. Arrival at Cumberland House.

Departure of the Bateaux under Mr. King. Em-
bark in a Canoe. Working of the Boats in the Rapids.

Isle à la CrosseBuffalo Lake. ·A Squall.A
Skunk.Portage la Loche.Effect of the Scenery.
Interview laith Mr. · Stuart and Mr. A. M'Leod.
The latter volunteers to accompany the Expedition.
Arrive at Fort Chippetxy an,Information as to the
supposed Route by the Fond, du Lac. Journey re-
sumed. Salt River. Sketch of a Party of Indians.

Description of the Salt Springs. Indian Encamp-
ment. · Information of the Natives as to the Rivers
Thletso-ee-choh and Teh-Ion. Arrival at Fort Resolu-
tion.

JUNE 28th. This was a happy day for me ;
and as the canoe pushed off from the bank, my
heart swelled with hope and joy. Now, for the
first time, I saw myself in a condition to verify
the kind anticipations of my friends. The pre-
liminary difficulties had been overcome : I was
fairly on the way to the accomplishment of the
benevolent errand on which I had been com-
missioned; and the contemplation of an object

58 COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION.

so worthy of all exertion, in which I thought my-
self at length free to indulge, raised my spirits
to a more than ordinary pitch of excitement.

We paddled along, with little respite, until
5 P. M., when a small speck was seen under
the steep sandy cliffs round Mossy Point, on the
northern boundary of Lake Winnipeg. It was
Coming towards us, and was at first taken for an
Indian canoe ; but as we approached, I had the
satisfaction to find that it was the Company's
light canoe from the Athabasca, with Messrs.
Smith and Charles, two gentlemen whom I had
long wished to see. From the latter I now
learnt that he had made every endeavour to
obtain, by inquiries from the Indians, a toler-
ably correct notion of the situation of the river
Thlew-ee-choh ; the result of which was an
opinion that it ran somewhere to the north-east
of Great Slave Lake, in a position not far from
that which had been speculatively assigned to it
by my friend Dr. Richardson and myself. Mr.
Charles had further been informed by an Indian
chief, called the " Grand Jeune Homme," whose
hunting grounds were in the neighbourhood of
Great Slave Lake, that the Thlew-ee-choh was so
full of rapids as to make it doubtful if boats, or
indeed large canoes, could descend it ; but that,
by pursuing a different course to a large river,
called Teh-Ion, such difficulties would be avoid-

INTERVIEW WITH MR. CHARLES. 59

ed ; whilst the distance between the mouths of
the two rivers was so trifling, that the smoke of
a fire made at one was distinctly visible at the
other. The chief had drawn a rough outline of
the track, some part of which I recognised as
being on the borders of Slave Lake ; but the
directions assigned to the rivers could not be
explained by either of the gentlemen, nor was I
able to bring myself to any satisfactory con-
clusion about them. The waters, however, were
described as abounding in fish, and the country
in animals ; and, what was not less gratifying,
the chief and some others were willing and
desirous to accompany me.

Mr. Charles was the officer in charge of the
Athabasca district ; and having resided at Chip-
pewyan Fort, he was well qualified to judge of
the accuracy of an opinion expressed by Mr. A.
Stewart, a gentleman whom I had seen at Mon-
treal, that a practicable route might be found from
the bottom or eastern extremity of that lake. He
disclaimed, however, any knowledge of such a
route, though he thought it desirable that I
should ascertain the fact. He, as well as Mr.
M^cKenzie, at Isle à la Crosse, had provision for
us, if required ; and after some further arrange-
ments respecting boats at the north end of Por-
tage la Loche, and the procuring; of dogs along
the route, in all of which he cheerfully met my

60 MOSSY TO NEW LIMESTONE POINT.

wishes, we separated, both for the sea, though
in directions very different. The evening was
calm and clear, and, if the strength of the men
had been equal to my impatience, we should
have passed the night on the water ; but they
had been nearly eighteen hours labouring at the
paddles, and I could not refuse them a little
rest : at 8^h 40^m P.M., therefore, we encamped
on the beach, and were instantly beset by swarms
of mosquitoes.

The appearance of the cliffs or steep banks, from
Mossy to New Limestone Point, is somewhat re-
markable : they are composed of clay, with a su-
perstratum of vegetable substances about six feet
thick; the layers of which appear to be horizon-
tally foliated, like the leaves of an outspread book.
In colour they vary from a blackish brown to a
light ochre, and they rest entirely on a substratum
of calcareous sand, with small fragments of water-
worn limestone, on which the lake is constantly
encroaching, as may be distinctly seen by the
numberless broken stems of trees, whose roots
are yet green in the soil.

We started at three o'clock on the following
morning, and were soon relieved from the fatigue
of the paddle by a favourable light breeze. To go
on shore and trim a mast was the work of ten
minutes; butas, according to the old adage, "it
never rains but it pours," so our light breeze was

WIND-BOUND BY A LAND GALE. 61

soon converted into a gale. In an hour or two
we were compelled to run the canoe into shoal
water, to save her from being swamped in deep ;
and each man, getting out, waded with the bag-
gage to a place of shelter, where the canoe also
was secured.

Nothing is more annoying to a sailor than to
be wind-bound on fresh water. " On the wide
ocean ranging," he is more resigned to the
imperious will of the elements ; but, to be
stopped for an indefinite time, within sight of
birds and animals gamboling in the gale, is a
species of annoyance which quite overcomes his
philosophy : at least, it was so with me ; so, to
dispel the moody fit which was gathering, I drew
on a pair of Esquimaux boots made of seal-skin,
and, taking my gun, made the tour of a thickly
wooded swamp, which was so interlaced with
undergrowth, willows, and fallen trees, that, when
once in, I found it no easy matter to get out
again. In the exertion necessary for extricating
myself my restlessness found a vent, and the
exercise soon restored my mind to its usual tone,
and prepared it for other occupations. I returned
to the tent thoroughly tired ; and, here reclining
in the full ease of a voyageur, I amused myself with
observing the odd assemblage of things around
me. At myfeet was a rolled bundle in an oil-cloth,
containing some three blankets, called a bed ;

62 A VOYAGEUR'S TENT.

near it a piece of dried buffalo, fancifully orna-
mented with long black hairs, which no art, alas !
can prevent from insinuating themselves between
the teeth, as you laboriously masticate the tough,
hard flesh;then a tolerably clean napkin spread,
by way of table-cloth, on a red piece of canvass,
and supporting a tea-pot, some biscuit, and a
salt-cellar ; near this a tin plate, close by
a square kind of box or safe, of the same mate-
rial, rich with a pale greasy ham, the produce of
the colony at Red River ; and, last, the far-
renowned pemmican, unquestionably the best
food of the country for expeditions such as ours.
Behind me were two boxes, containing astrono-
mical instruments, and a sextant lying on the
ground ; whilst the different corners of the tent
were occupied by washing apparatus, a gun,
Indian shot pouch, bags, basins, and an unhappy-
looking japanned pot, whose melancholy bumps
and hollows seemed to reproach me for many a
bruise endured upon the rocks and portages
betwixt Montreal and Lake Winnipeg. Nor
was my crew less motley than the furniture of my
tent. It consisted of an Englishman, a man
from Stornaway, two Canadians, two Metifs
(or half-breeds), and three Iroquois Indians.
Babel could not have produced a worse confu-
sion of unharmonious sounds than was the con-
versation they kept up.

LAND STORM.----GRAND RAPID. 63

Towards evening the wind abated, and I made
sure of resuming the march in the night ; but
the clouds soon grew heavier, and sent forth, at
intervals, hollow-sounding gusts of wind, the
harbingers of a strong gale, which the morning
of the 30th ushered in. The lake resembled
one rolling sheet of foam, which contrasted
strongly with the dark slaty sky to windward :
the mosquitoes had vanished ; six or eight gulls,
unable any longer to sustain their flight in search
of food, had huddled together on the lee side of
a projecting sand-bank ; and two crows, wearied
with exertion, sat perched on the waving branches
of a tall pine, unscared by the approach of in-
truding feet. It was altogether an impressive
scene of picturesque and melancholy wildness.
I assembled the men in the tent, and read
divine service. In the evening a fire-fly was seen.

July 1st. An opportune change in the wea-
ther allowed us to get away ; and, having passed
the limestone rocks bordering that part of the
lake, we shortly arrived at the Grand Rapid, the
interesting particulars of which are too well and
too minutelv described in Sir John Franklin's

Narratives, to require or even justify a repetition
here.

Some "freemen" *, Indians, and other idlers,

* Persons who, having been in the Company's employ,
have obtained their discharge, and are living on their own
exertions.

64 ADVANCE OF CULTIVATION.

had, according to their usual custom, congregated
at either end of the rapid, with the view of inter-
cepting the voyagers, as they passed to and from
the interior, in order to barter their maple sugar,
or, in consideration of a recompence, to assist the
exhausted crews in carrying their heavy burdens
across the portage. Many were sick, and all
bitterly complained of the late scarcity of ani-
mals.

Having poled up several rapids, we got to
Cedar Lake, the well-known " Lac Bourbon,"
where Indian barbarity, in its most hideous form,
annihilated for ever the pious labours of the early
missionaries.

In the River Saskashawan, I was not more
pleased than surprised to behold, on the right
bank, a large farm house, with barns and fenced
inclosures, amid which were grazing eight or
ten fine cows, and three or four horses. It be-
longed to a freeman, of the name of' Turner,
whom I regretted not having an opportunity of
seeing.

At length, on the 5th of July, we entered the
Little River, and got to Pine Island Lake.
The crew had dressed themselves out in all their
finery,silver bands, tassels, and feathers in their
hats, intending to approach the station with
some effect ; but, unhappily for the poor fellows,
the rain fell in torrents, their feathers drooped,

ARRIVAL AT CUMBERLAND HOUSE. 65

and such was the accumulation of mud, that it
was necessary to wade a full mile before we
could land at Cumberland House. Owing to
the same cause, a creek leading from the Saska-
shawan had been rendered impassable ; and dry
land extended so far from the house into the
lake, that the fishery, as I afterwards found, was
diminished almost to nothing. During the whole
of my stay there, though no pains were spared,
not a solitary fish was taken. I was received
by Mr. Isbester, a clerk of the Company, my
companion, Mr. King, who had arrived with-
out accident, and another person, who had been
accommodated with a passage in the boat.

The boats, stores, and pemmican were in good
order and quite ready ; and, having made some
arrangements with Mr. Isbester for our mutual
convenience, and a few changes as regarded the
different crews, I had the satisfaction of getting
my two bateaux away, under the orders of
Mr. King, on the 6th of July. Each was laden
with a cargo of 61 pieces of 90 Ibs. each, making,
for both, 10,980 Ibs., exclusive of men, bedding,
clothes, masts, sails, oars, and other spars. Yet,
with such steersmen as M'Kay and Sinclair, I
had not the slightest apprehension for their
safety, and looked with confidence to their ar-
riving at winter quarters before the setting in of
the ice.

DD EMBARK IN A CANOE.

It occupied the day to make some alterations
in the canoe, and I availed myself of the interval
to obtain observations on the dip, force, and lati-
tude ; the latter of which agreed, within three
seconds, with Sir J. Franklin's. I also wrote to
the Company for a further supply of stores to be
forwarded with the outfit of the following season.
The hope of getting sights for time induced
me to remain a little longer than I had in-
tended ; but, as there was every appearance that
the weather would continue overcast, I embarked
about noon of the 7'th of July, in the canoe, with
eight hands ; and, being comparatively light, we
made tolerable progress.

On the following day we overtook Mr. King
in the Sturgeon River, or, as it is more ex-
pressively named in the country, the Rivière
Maligne. It may with perfect propriety be
described as one uninterrupted rapid ; and was
at that period so low, that the boats had to
treble their distance in going backwards and for-
wards for the cargo. A glance at their manner
of working was enough to satisfy me of their
capability, and confirmed me in the expectation
that they would arrive early at Great Slave Lake.
Still the contrast between us was great ; and my
skilful guide, De Charloît (a half-breed), did
not fail to make the superiority of the canoe
appear to the best advantage. The cumbrous

WORKING OF THE BOATS IN THE RAPIDS. 67

bateaux were dragged laboriously, a few paces
at a time, by the united exertions of those on
board and those on shore. Sometimes, unable
to resist the impetuous force of the current, they
were swept back ; at others, suspended on the
arched back of a descending wave, they struggled
and laboured until they were again in the shelter
of a friendly eddy. But the canoe, frail as she
was, and too weak for the encounter of such rude
shocks, was nevertheless threaded through the
boiling rapids and sunken rocks with fearful
elegance. The cool dexterity with which she
was managed was truly admirable ; not a "set"*
was missed ; and, as she glanced past the boats,
she must have seemed to the envying crews as if
endowed with preternatural powers. We were
soon out of sight, and, by wading and poleing
over shoals and rapids, at length reached the head
ofthat dangerous and annoying river. The canoe
was then examined ; and, besides several minor
fractures, she was found to have been grooved by
the sharp and cutting rocks from one extreme
to the other. For many days there was heavy
rain, with thunder and lightning. The woods
were burning in all directions ; set on fire, ac-
cording to the account of some Cree Indians,

* A " set " is the 6rm fixing of the pole against the bottom
of the river, and a false " set" has often occasioned the loss
of a canoe.

F 2

ISLE A LA CROSSE.

by their own hands, to scare the animals into
the water, where they are more easily captured.

July 17th.We got to Isle à la Crosse, where
I made the necessary arrangements for the boats
receiving twenty bags of pemmican, some dogs,
and whatever might be further requisite for ex-
pediting their progress. Here, also, two new
canoes were at my disposal, having been pur-
posely made to prevent any disappointment in
conveying the stores to the north of Portage la
Loche, in case, as sometimes happens, there
should be only sufficient boats to carry the
trading supplies of the Company to their dif-
ferent posts. However, as my arrangements
with Mr. Charles had obviated every difficulty
in that respect, I had only to admire, and to
express my thanks for, such considerate fore-
sight ; and, having made the accustomed ob-
servations for the dip, force, &c., I left the
fort, and pursued my way.

Keeping to the left of Clear Lake, we entered
Buffalo Lake, which, among a less rude and savage
people, would certainly have formed the theme of
many a legendary tale of " hair-breadth 'scapes,"
from the mischief-loving genius that haunts its
shores. Few persons have ever completed the
long traverse of this deceitful lake, without being
favoured with a breeze that endangered their
lives. I had been caught before ; yet, from the

A SQUALL. 69

unruffled smoothness of its wide surface, I began
to fancy that we were now to be exempted from
the usual compliment. The men sung and pad-
dled with energy, the fitful cry of a slightly
wounded bittern, which lay at the bottom of the
canoe, serving for an accompaniment ; and we had
gained the centre of the traverse, when suddenly
a gentle air was felt coming from the well-known
quarter of the Buffalo Mountain. The suspicious
guide would now no longer permit even the cus-
tomary rest of a few minutes to recover strength,
but urged the crew to exertion ; and they, ever
and anon looking towards the blue summits of
the mountain with something of a superstitious
glance, made our light bark skim over the water
like a thing impelled by wings. A dark cloud
rose from behind the mountain, and began to
expand towards the zenith ; little gusts of wind
followed ; and in less than half an hour we were
in the midst of a thunder-storm, that raised a sea
from which there was no escape but by hoisting
a shred of a sail, and running through breakers
to the nearest lee land.

The place was a swamp, concealed by long
grass ; and, just as a spot had been found to pitch
the tent, a man, in going to it, accidentally dis-
turbed a skunk. The animal resented the intru-
sion in the usual way. In a moment there was a
general complaint against the rank offence ; every

F 3

70 PORTAGE LA LOCHE.

one turned himself to windward, and the poor
fellow who had unconsciously brought the evil
upon us was half stifled with the noisome
odour, and threw his capot into the lake, with
deep imprecations on the unsavoury and ill-
mannered brute.

It was the 21st of July when we reached
Portage la Loche, the high ridge of land which
divides the waters running into Hudson's Bay
from those which direct their course to the Arc-
tic Sea. For about six or seven miles on this
portage, the voyageurs are exposed to temporary
but acute suffering, from the total absence of good
water to quench the thirst, aggravated, in our case,
by carrying loads of 200 Ibs. in an atmosphere of
68° of Fahrenheit. They are, at the same time,
incessantly tormented by myriads of insatiable
mosquitoes and horse-flies, significantly called
" bull dogs," which, delighted with the rare
treat of a human subject, banquet on their
victims till, not unfrequently, the face streams
with blood. Happy, therefore, is the moment
when the bright surface of the Little Lake
is descried, which cools and refreshes their
wearied frames. In addition to these evils,
which are common to all, two of my party were
sadly foot-fallen, and almost groaned under their
burdens,a sight too painful to be witnessed
without compassion. However, in services such as

EFFECT OF THE SCENERY. 71

that on which we were engaged, it often becomes
even a duty to stifle our sensations ; or, rather,
though we may and must feel, there are times
when we must be careful not to express the
feeling.

After labouring, with frequent halts, through
the thick woods, we came suddenly upon the
spot from which the picturesque and beautiful
view from Portage la Loche bursts upon the
sight. A thousand feet below, the sylvan land-
scape lay spread before us, to the extent of
thirty-six miles, in all the wild luxuriance of its
summer clothing. Even the most jaded of the
party, as he broke from the gloom of the wood on
this enchanting scene, seemed to forget his weari-
ness, and halted involuntarily with his burden, to
gaze for a moment, with a sort of wondering ad-
miration, on a spectacle so novel and magnifi-
cent. My own sensations, however, had not the
keenness of those of a stranger to the sight ; and
it was not without a sort of melancholy, such as
results from satiety, that I contrasted my present
feelings with the rapture which I had formerly
experienced. It was, to me, Portage la Loche,
and nothing more, the same beautiful and
romantic solitude through which I had passed
and repassed on two former expeditions. There
was nothing new to excite surprise, or quicken
delight ; not a spot or latent beauty, not even

F 4

72 EFFECT OF THE SCENERY.

a gleam of light glancing across the valley,
which had not been well noted before, and di-
ligently treasured in the memory. I looked
upon it as I should look upon an exquisite but
familiar picture with pleasure, but without
emotion.

There is something appalling in the vastness
of a solitude like this. I had parted from my
companions, and was apparently the only living
being in the wilderness around me. Almost
unconsciously I reloaded my gun ; and then,
stepping cautiously along the narrow ridge of
the descent, glided silently into the valley, as
if afraid to disturb the genius of the place. It
was a positive comfort to hear, now and then, the
hollow tread of the men as they passed rapidly
through the thicket which screened them from
sight ; and when the white tent was pitched, and
the curling smoke rose through the dense green
of the forest, it seemed as if the spell of the de-
sert was broken, and the whole landscape was
suddenly animated into life and cheerfulness.

July 23d. The last loads were brought
down to the water's edge, and, as soon as they
were safely deposited, the men, exhausted with
fatigue, threw themselves on the ground, and
remained almost motionless for upwards of an
hour. After this the canoe was gummed, and
we embarked near some bateaux belonging to

INTERVIEW WITH MESSRS. STUART AND M'LEOD. 73

the Company, which, Mr. Charles had informed
me, might, if we pleased, be appropriated to our
use.

On arriving at the Pine Portage, I was agree-
ably surprised by meeting Mr. J. Stuart, and
Mr. A. R. M'Leod, who had got thus far
on their way from M'Kenzie's River, with a
large cargo of furs. I had looked forward with
no little anxiety to the chance of seeing the latter
gentleman, not only as he was the first person
named in Governor Simpson's circular to accom-
pany me, but as being an old acquaintance, and
one whom I knew to be particularly well qualified
for the performance of those duties which the
nature of the service would require. Indeed, his
refusal to accompany me would have placed me
in a very awkward predicament ; for I had reck-
oned on his assistance in many matters which
could not, without great inconvenience, have de-
volved on myself. It was therefore of importance
to secure him ; and my friend Mr. Stuart, to
whose kindness and love of enterprise I was
no stranger, undertook at once to break the
subject to him. But there was no necessity for
mediation ; for, although Mr. M'Leod had long
been indisposed, and was then on his way to
Canada, with a view to the re-establishment of
his health, no sooner did he see the circular
from Mr. Simpson, and learn the humane

74 MR. M'LEOD ACCOMPANIES THE EXPEDITION.

object of my mission, than he removed every
apprehension from my mind, by declaring his
sympathy for our long absent countrymen, his
satisfaction at seeing me, and his gallant de-
termination to sacrifice his own plans to the
pleasure of becoming my companion. I wrote,
therefore, immediately to the Company, and, with
his able assistance, made a requisition, in full, for
the necessary supplies, to support the expedition
during the year 1834. Mr. Stuart, I believe, was
scarcely less delighted at his friend's decision than
myself, and, besides many useful suggestions, of
which I was glad to take advantage, generously
offered every aid, public and private, within his
power.

July 25th.There was so much difficulty in
stowing the additional baggage, that my guide
declared the canoe would not hold us : and when
it is considered that he had to make places for six
more persons, viz. Mr. M'Leod, his wife, three
children, and a servant, whom I hired at the
same rate as the others ; in other words, that
fourteen were to be crammed into a space in-
tended for eight or nine, it is not surprising
that he should indulge in a growl. He foresaw
that, with such extra weight, his " cher canot"
would very possibly get broken ; and his ap-
prehensions were soon verified by our striking
against a sunken rock.

ARRIVE AT FORT CHIPPEWYAN. 75

After some detentions of an ordinary kind,
we got to Fort Chippewyan on the 29th of July.
We arrived so early, that we were not in the least
expected; and the canoe was not seen un til within
a short distance of the land, a circumstance
by no means pleasing to the guide, who, besides
his own decorations of many coloured feathers,
&c., had taken more than ordinary pains to dis-
play to the best advantage the crimson beauties
of a large silk flag. The sleeping inmates were,
however, at length roused ; and we were
welcomed by Mr. Ross, who had been left by
Mr. Charles in charge of the establishment.

It was to be regretted that the whole of the
Indians usually resorting to this station were, at
the time of our visit, too much dispersed to allow
of any one in particular being sent for ; so that
we were obliged to rest satisfied with the meagre
narrative of an infirm old Indian, who, in his
youthful days, had passed by the Fond du Lac
to the rivers I was in search of; and his account
was too vague and uncertain to warrant any hopes
of success in that direction. Mr. M'Leod,
indeed, who had been at the Fond du Lac,
confirmed the statement I had first heard, that
there was a river there which was known to
take its rise far to the north : but yet, when the
old man concluded his description of the coun-
try by remarking, that " he was old and of

76 JOURNEY RESUMJ2D.

no importance in his tribe ; and he did not
like to say too much,"a tone which, how-
ever praiseworthy for its modesty, was very
different from the bold expression with which
an Indian, conscious that he is right, usually
concludes his answers to similar inquiries, as,
" It must be so, for my eyes have seen it," I
say, when I heard this, I abandoned at once all
idea of going by the Fond du Lac.

Besides the provisions required from this post,
there were many other indispensable articles
that could not be provided elsewhere ; but under
the superintendence of Mr. M'Leod, the greater
part, together with the necessary implements
for building a new establishment, were ready
in a couple of days. In that interval, I ob-
tained observations for the dip, force, &c. ; and
with an increased cargo of several bags of grease,
iron-work, guns, and bales of leather, which
were put into a second canoe, which I thought
might be convenient in the event of finding any
shoal rivers to the north, we quitted the fort
late in the evening of the 1st of August ;
further instructions being left for the guidance
of Mr. King, on his arrival with the bateaux.

The lake was unusually low this season, and,
in consequence, we had more than ordinary
trouble in crossing the flats to Stony River,
where we encamped. The following night was

SALT RIVER. 77

remarkably calm, and we heard the sound of
the Falls at a distance of twenty miles. Great
matted rafts of drift wood were floating down
the Slave River ; and. on reaching the Rapids
and Falls, the water line on the rocks showed a
depression of six feet lower than I had ever seen
it. Numerous sand and mud banks, of consider-
able elevation, had been thrown up, and were
already green with incipient vegetation. On
the granitic rocks of the Mountain and Pelican
Falls (which were bare and clean when Sir J.
Franklin passed) was a deposition of at least
fourteen inches of mud, a proof how great a
quantity is annually carried down by the spring
floods into Slave Lake.

August 4. The thermometer this morning
was only 36° ; and a cold N.W. gale blew, which,
being directly against us, counteracted the cur-
rent, and almost prevented the canoes making
head-way ; we were, consequently, five hours in
accomplishing the twelve miles, which brought
us to the Salt River. Here there had been a
recent encampment of Indians. From the marks
about the place, it was supposed that they had
ascended the river to the plains, which are gene-
rally well stocked with buffalo and other animals ;
and, as it was material to have an interview, the
lading was taken out of my canoe ; and with
Mr. M'Leod for a companion, I went, quite

78 SKETCH OF A PARTY OF INDIANS.

light, in search of them. We had hardly rounded
the second point, when the sight of a " cache*,"
suspended from the apex of a deserted lodge,
convinced us that we should soon come up with
the stragglers ; and, accordingly, about a quarter
of a mile farther, two young Indians thrust their
dark bodies through the branches of the trees,
and called to us to stop. They formed part of the
tribe of Slave Lake Indians, who were expected
to be in this direction, and their friends were
not far from them. They merely told us what
we well knew, " that there was little water in
the river, and they doubted if we could get
up." Shortly afterwards, we met a whole fleet
of canoes, whose approach was notified by loud
and discordant sounds a horrible concert of
voices of all ages, utterly indescribable. Their
chief was an intelligent looking old man, called
by the traders, " le camarade de Mandeville ;"
and from his extensive knowledge of the coun-
try to the northward and eastward of Great Slave
Lake, there was every reason to expect consi-
derable information, if it could only be wormed
out of him. To achieve this, Mr. M'Leod re-
turned with the Indians to our encampment ;
there with all befitting ceremony to open the
preliminaries by the customary pipe : for a social

* Secreted heap, or store of any thing.

SKETCH OF A PARTY OF INDIANS. 79

puff is to an Indian, what a bottle of wine is to
an Englishman : " aperit praecordia," it unlocks
the heart, and dissipates reserve.

The tout ensemble of these " people," as they,
with some vanity, style themselves, was wild and
grotesque in the extreme. One canoe in parti-
cular fixed my attention ; it was small even for
a canoe ; and how eight men, women, and chil-
dren contrived to stow away their legs, in a
space not more than large enough for three Eu-
ropeans, would have been a puzzling problem to
one unacquainted with the suppleness of an In-
dian's unbandaged limbs. There, however, they
were, in a temperature of 66°, packed heads
and tails like Yarmouth herringshalf naked
their hair in elf-locks, long and mattedfilthy
beyond descriptionand all squalling together.
To complete the picture, their dogs, scarce one
degree below them, formed a sort of body guard,
on each side of the river ; and as the canoe
glided away with the current, all the animals
together, human and canine, set up a shrill and
horrible yell.

By sunset I got well up the stream ; but not
having been there for thirteen years, and my crew
being no better acquainted with the locality than
myself, we took a wrong channel, and encamped.
The following morning the route was regained ;
and on arriving at the proper spot, we filled our

80 DESCRIPTION OF THE SALT SPRINGS.

five large bags with pure and white salt, in the
short space of half an hour. There were no
mounds like those seen in 1820 ; but just at
the foot of the hill which bounds the prairie in
that quarter, there were three springs, varying
in diameter from four to twelve feet, and pro-
ducing hillocks of salt, from fourteen to thirty
inches in height. The streams were dry, but
the surface of the clayey soil was covered, to
the extent of a few hundred yards towards the
plain, with a white crust of saline particles.
The plain itself had been trodden into paths, by
the footsteps of buffalo and other herbivorous
animals.

We returned the same way to the encamp-
ment at the mouth of the river, and found the
Indians seated in clusters round Mr. M'Leod, still
busy in listening to and answering his interroga-
tories. The information thus collected was made
intelligible to me by means of an outline of
the north-eastern country, drawn by the Cama-
rade. In this sketch, the Thlew-ee-choh and
the Teh-Ion were represented as maintaining a
nearly parallel direction E.N. E. to the sea;
though, where that sea was, whether in some of
the deep inlets of Hudson's Bay, or, as I fer-
vently hoped, more directly north, towards
Point Turnagain, it was altogether beyond his
knowledge to declare.

INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM THE NATIVES. 81

The relative bearings of several lakes, which
many of their number had frequently visited,
and of which, in fact, they knew every winding,
were equally involved in doubt and obscurity.
In one point alone were they positive and una-
nimous ; and that was, the superiority and many
advantages of the Teh-Ion over the Thlew-ee-
choh. The former was described as being a
broad and noble stream, decorated on either
bank with tall pine and birch, and flowing in
uninterrupted tranquillity to its journey's end.
The latter was graphically pourtrayed, as ori-
ginating in rapids narrow, shoal, and dan-
gerous destitute of wood, even for fuelfull of
dangerous cascades and fallsand after a course
more tortuous than that of any river known to
the oldest and most experienced of their tribe,
tumbling over its northern barrier in a foaming
cataract into the sea.

They also affirmedagreeing in this respect
with the information which had previously been
given me at Lake Winnipeg, that the distance be-
tween the mouths of the rivers was inconsiderable ;
and concluded by saying, that if the Great Chief
was determined on going to the Thlew-ee-choh,
it would be without an escort of Indians, who,
inured as they were to privation, would not
expose themselves to the suffering which, in a
district so sterile, was inevitable. To say the

82 ARRIVAL AT Ú¼ÂÔ RESOLUTION.

truth, they were tired of the repetitions and
details of my questions ; and no wonder ; for
before I began, they had sat up with Mr.
M'Leod the whole night, telling their prolix
stories with much cheerfulness. I could not
help smiling at the Camarade, who, puzzled
and distressed at the many positions in which I
requested he would place himself, so as to give
me an idea of the bearings of what he was
describing, at last rather peevishly exclaimed,
" that we did not place the world as it was ;
whereas he kept steadily to the rising and
setting sun."

In our progress down Slave River, we halted
for a short time at a cache of Mr. Stuart's,
having his permission to take from it a stock of
birch bark, sufficient for building a new canoe.
On the 8th of August we reached Great Slave
Lake, and were received at Fort Resolution by
Mr. M'Donnell, the gentleman in charge.

CHAP. III.

Inquiries and Embarrassments about the Route. Pre-
parations for Departure. Embark in search of the
Thle'w-ee-choh. Indian Encampment and Indian
Politeness. Point of Honour among Indian Hunters.
Description of the Country through which the Route
lay. A small Ice-berg seen. A Bear Hunt. In-
dian Inconsistency. Description of the Coast Line.
Point Keith and Christie's Bay. Eastern Extremity of
Great Slave Lake. Discovery of the River supposed,
to lead towards the Thle'w-ee-choh. Preparations to
ascend it.

SOON after my arrival, I was informed by Mr.
M'Donnell that the chief, called "Le grand
Jeune Homme," who had been mentioned to
me by Mr. Charles, was somewhere near the
Buffalo Creek, a day or two from the house,
employed in making canoes, in the full con-
viction that he was selected to accompany the
expedition, and feeding his imagination with
the thoughts of a boundless remuneration.
Thinking it right to eradicate immediately so
preposterous a notion, I despatched a couple

84> INQUIRIES AND EMBARRASSMENTS

of lads in a canoe, to acquaint him of our
arrival, and to require his attendance. In the
mean time, there being many Indians at the
Fort, and among them a half-breed, of the name
of La Prise, whom I had seen on a previous
occasion, and who had now become a kind of
leader of a small party accustomed to hunt to
the eastward, I thought it a good opportunity
of gaining some information as to the bending
of the Great Slave Lake, and the nature of the
country at its eastern extremity. La Prise,
who had been subjected to similar catechising
by my friend Sir John Franklin, in 1820, at
once understood me, and pointed to the com-
pass, as an instrument with which he was ac-
quainted. Having been placed right over it, he
pointed his hand in the direction of the places
required, while I carefully noted their magnetic
bearings ; and it is but justice to state, that the
whole of his description was subsequently found
to be remarkably correct. He made the lake
run nearly north, and estimated the distance at
about five days' march, for a light canoe, well
manned. A young hunter, however, who had
just come from that part, with a message from
one of his companions, offering to take me by a
new cut to the Teh-Ion, differed from La Prise,
and with a bit of charcoal drew a sketch, of
which the following is an accurate copy.

Sun rises in
August.

It was gratifying to observe that, according to
this description, there was a water communica-
tion the whole way, with the exception of three
portages, probably near the height of land.
With this local knowledge of, I may say, every
inch of ground in those directions, it was not a
little singular that he, as well as all the rest of
his tribe, was utterly ignorant of the situation of
the Thlew-ee-choh. Not so, however, of its evil
qualities ; and, like the Camarade, they agreed,

G 3

86 INQUIRIES AND EMBARRASSMENTS

one and all, in magnifying its dangers, and
deprecating any rash attempt to launch a boat
on its unnavigable waters. " And why," said
they, " should the chief wish to go there, when
the Teh-Ion is not only nearer, but offers him so
many more advantages ? where he will find,
musk ox, moose, and rein-deer, wood, fish, and
animals wherewith to pass a comfortable winter.
It is true," continued they, "that our fathers
did go down the Thlew-ee-choh, when they
made war on the Esquimaux, a long time ago ;
but how few returned ? and who is there now
to tell of what they did, and what befell them ?
No one ; they are in the land of spirits, and
our old men only remember their names."

Nor was this the only discouragement of my
projected route by the Thlew-ee-choh, for at
the same time a circumstance came to light, as
unexpected as it was unwelcome. A Cana-
dian, named Sanpére, had formerly, at Sir John
Franklin's request, been sent by the gentleman
at that time in charge of Fort Resolution, to
ascertain the existence of the Thlew-ee-choh.
The man accordingly set out, in company with
the natives, and on his return gave a detailed
account of his journey. But his guides, to some
of whom I was speaking, now affirmed that on
reaching the end of the lake next to Great Slave
Lake, he became alarmed ; and in spite of all

ABOUT THE ROUTE. 87

their efforts and remonstrances, refused to go
farther, and returned back without having seen
or even approached the river. They related
minutely all particulars, and ended by remark-
ing, that I was no stranger to Indians, and that
when I passed the spot I should find that they
had spoken the truth.

The account given by Sanpére had been gene-
rally credited ; and I confess I was of the number
of those who had relied on his veracity. This,
however, being now rendered doubtful, if not
absolutely destroyed, I was left in a state of very
uncomfortable uncertainty. Besides, though the
sketch of the young hunter represented the
Teh-Ion as running to the westward of north,
and the position of the sun was in favour of
its maintaining that course, still I could not
reconcile to myself the notion of high woods,
frequented by moose, on the banks of a river
flowing through the barren grounds, except on
the supposition that it trended far away to the
south-east, in a line for Hudson's Bay. Ulti-
mately, therefore, after much embarrassment and
perplexity, I decided on following up the original
plan, as laid down in the paper read before the
Royal Geographical Society ; comforting my-
self with the reflection, that the observations
of Black Meat, an old Indian warrior, whom I
had known in 1820, were as likely to be correct

G -t

88 PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.

in this instance, as they had proved to be in other
particulars on the two former expeditions.

My resolution being taken, I divided my crew
into two parties. Five were to be left as an
escort for Mr. M'Leod, and four were to accom-
pany me in my search for the Thlew-ee-choh.

It happened, fortunately, that there was at the
Fort a half-sized canoe, which was both lighter
to carry, and in other respects more convenient
than the larger one, for getting up the shoal
streams which we expected to find to the east-
ward. This was immediately, therefore, put in
repair; while Mr. M'Leod, who had the ser-
vice as much at heart as myself, gave me the
benefit of his assistance in arranging our future
operations.

He undertook to wait and appease the Grand
Jeune Homme, under the disappointment which
it was thought he would feel at being rejected :
for, knowing from past experience the constant
trouble and anxiety that a leader, spoiled and
indulged as he had been, would probably have
given us, I deemed it more prudent, as it was
certainly more economical, to dismiss him alto-
gether, with a douceur for lost time, than to
rest my hopes, and possibly the safety of my whole
party, on the exertions of the most fickle and
wavering of his tribe. Such a step, moreover,
was necessary, by way of example, to moderate

PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 89

the extravagant notions entertained by the In-
dians of our liberality ; for, too dull to compre-
hend the disinterested principle on which the
present expedition was undertaken, and viewing
it in the same light as the preceding ones, they
expected the same measure of bounty; and sunk
into a moody silence, when told that I had only
brought goods enough to satisfy the demands of
my hunters ; and that against them, as well as
the others, a strict, account would be kept.

The interpreter I had brought with me was a
pure Indian, a Chipewyan, who, under the
auspices of the Company, had received the
rudiments of an education at the Red River
Colony. But being unaccustomed to speak his
native tongue, he was not altogether adapted
for the first introduction of a party amongst
Indians, many of whom but rarely visited the
trading establishments :and, as much depended
on the information to be communicated, and per-
haps not less on the impression made on the
people by the manner of address, I requested Mr.
M'Donnell to lend me his interpreter, Louison,
who had travelled with me before, and who, from
his intimate acquaintance with the surrounding
tribes, was peculiarly well qualified for our pur-
pose. The inconvenience to him was consider-
able, yet, like the other gentlemen of the country,
he cheerfully acceded to my request, and a tern-

90 EMBARK IN SEARCH OF THE THLEW-EE-CHOH.

porary exchange was effected, as agreeable, as
I afterwards learnt, to Louison, as it was to
myself. We were here also provided with extra
clothing and shoes, in the event of being caught
by the frost ; and the remainder of the time, I
occupied in making observations on the dip,
force, &c., by which it appeared that an increased
difference of three degrees easterly had taken
place since 1825, in the variation.

While we were discussing our usual dinner
of hard dried meat and pemmican, one of the
hunters burst into the room, with the glad
tidings of his having killed a moose deer, of
which he had brought a small part with him.
At the same moment, the servant entered with a
bladder of fat in his hand, a sight which, from
the great scarcity of that luxury, so surprised
Mr. M'Donnell, that he exclaimed, " Good God !
from what part of the country did that come ? "
Nor will this appear strange, when it is known,
that he had not tasted any fresh meat since
April ; nor had I seen any since leaving Fort
William.

Having written some letters of business, and
left further instructions for Mr. King, I embark-
ed the next morning, August llth, at 6 A.M.,
in my old canoe, now manned by one English-
man, (William Malley, R. A., my servant,) one
Canadian, two half-breeds, and two Indians.

INDIAN ENCAMPMENT. 91

The weather was squally and threatening, and a
heavy swell, which sometimes rose into crested
waves, warned us to avoid the open lake, and
seek the protection of the windward islands.
The canoe shipped much water, but the men
kept on their work, and, after crossing an exposed
bay, we soon reached the muddy entrance of
the Little Channel. This took us to the Slave
River, which we traversed, and discovered, on
the eastern bank, a large party of Indians, who
proved to be the same we had seen at Salt
River. They were assembled in little groups,
thinking that, according to the general custom
of the traders, we should land ; but perceiving
that it was not our intention to do so, they called
out, " What ! does the great chief go past, with-
out even offering us a pipe of tobacco ? " How-
ever, on we passed, and entered a very narrow
channel, where I began the survey, and shortly
after another, called Cha-bilka, which is said to
come from some lakes not far distant. Near to
this was an Indian encampment, the occupants
of which were busily and noisily employed in
drying the meat of three recently killed moose.
The successful hunters, apparently not a little
vain of their prowess, were either lying at full
length on the grass, whiffing the cherished pipe,
or lounging on their elbows, to watch the frizzling
of a rich marrow bone, the customary perquisite

92 INDIAN POLITENESS.

of their labours. Women were lighting or tend-
ing the fires, over which were suspended rows
of thinly sliced meat, some screaming to thiev-
ish dogs making free with the hunt, and others
with still louder screams endeavouring to drown
the shrill cries of their children, who, swaddled,
and unable to stir, were half suffocated with the
smoke ; while, to complete the scene, eight or
ten boys at play were twining their copper-
coloured bodies over and under some white bark
canoes, like so many land dolphins. Poor crea-
tures, their happiness was at its full : at that
moment they were without care, enjoying them-
selves according to their nature and capacity.
Is human happiness ever much more than this ?
A clump of trees had prevented me from
observing another group, consisting of La Prise
and his followers. He had undertaken to paddle
my half-sized canoe to the other end of the lake ;
but finding, as he said, that two persons were
required to keep her free from water, he had
wisely put on shore to repair her. After that
operation, twelve of them, with several dogs,
squeezed themselves into her, and yet managed
so well, that we had hard work to keep way with
them. On parting from the Indians, we were
supplied with fresh meat. One of them, to show
his respect, put on a surtout that he had pur-
chased at the Fort. The coat was unbuttoned ;

CROSS THE GRANDE RIVIERE Λ JEAN. 93

and, as he was unprovided with inexpressibles,
the effect was extremely comical. It is curi-
ous, by the way, to observe that the notion
of testifying respect by appearing in full dress,
if in this case the term can be properly applied,
is not confined to drawing-rooms and courts.

Hemmed in by willows on either side, we
occasionally got a glimpse of the lake through
various little creeks and openings, and shortly
crossed the Grande Rivière à Jean, to enter the
Petite Rivière à Jean, where the stream was in our
favour. Its course was uncommonly tortuous, the
banks being bordered by low land, covered with
pine, poplar, and willow. The sharp sight of
the Indians had detected a moose some distance
ahead of us, and La Prise, being expert at ap-
proaching those quick eared animals, went in
pursuit. Meanwhile we dropped silently down
the stream along the opposite side, until a place
was found dry enough for encamping. The
night was clear and bright ; and the men were
earnestly watching the boiling of a kettle of
meat, when they were startled by a long shrill
whoop, which Louison the interpreter imme-
diately answered, announcing, at the same time,
that it was the small canoe, and that La Prise
had killed his game. The splash of paddles was
now heard in the distance ; and in a few minutes
the canoe, with its many inmates, glided against

94 POINT OF HONOUR AMONG INDIAN HUNTERS.

the long grass, on the bank of the encampment,
under the broad shade of which nothing was
visible but the dark heads of the Indians, as
they appeared and vanished, with the motion of
their canoe. When Louison inquired if he had
been successful, La Prise, with the character-
istic of a true Chipewyan, answered in the
negative, Oolah. Oolah ! re-echoed the inter-
preter, in a disappointed tone, oolah ! " Mon-
sieur, il a manqué ; who ever heard of the whoop
without its accompanying prey ?" Scarcely were
the words out, when La Prise was at his side ;
and as he handed him the gun, gave from
the other hand the fine tongue and nose of a
moose. " There," said he ; "I shot it through
the heart, through an opening between the
trees not wider than my hand : but it was with
your gun and ammunition, which, according
to our customs, you know, makes it your pro-
perty. I thought the Chief would like to have
the tongue and the nose*, and the rest lies at
the bottom of the canoe for your disposal." This
restraint on their appetite was the more remark-
able, as they had scarcely eaten any thing for
several days past ; and the few scraps with
which their friends had supplied them could
not have sufficed for a single meal. But they
never infringe this law among themselves ; and

* Considered the choice parts.

ENCAMP FOR THE NIGHT. 95

nothing but imminent starvation would excuse
the Indian who should transgress it. Neverthe-
less, such conscientious dealing merited a re-
ward from me, which was easily bestowed by
allowing La Prise and his party to retain the
larger proportion of the animal.

August 12th___We continued our course

down the Little River ; but the cold north-west
wind, which bent the pines with its violence, too
plainly indicated what was passing on the lake,
which, accordingly, on our arriving at it, pre-
sented so stormy an appearance, as to forbid our
venturing farther, and compelled us reluctantly
to encamp. The night was very boisterous, and
the morning of the 13th wore a threatening
aspect ; but suddenly it fell calm, the wind
changed to south, and by 6 A. M. we were en-
abled to put out into the wide expanse of the
lake. Keeping along the low swampy shore,
thickly matted with drift wood, we made for
a jutting elevation, called Rocky Point, and
then striking off in a northerly direction, pad-
dled with spirit for a cluster of distant islands,
which, owing to the refraction of the atmo-
sphere, appeared as if poised in the sky. This
is the traverse so much dreaded by the Indians,
who, having no stouter craft than their small
canoes, are in great danger of perishing, if un-
happily caught by a gale. A light breeze sprung

96 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY

up to assist us, and, with the aid of the paddles,
the islands were gained by 11 A. M. They were
too numerous to be counted ; but most of them
were marked by small clumps of dwarf pine,
and the one on which we landed produced whor-
tleberries and cranberries. The rocks were
all granitic, being either grey with plates of
mica, or red felspar with quartz. From this
position I could see the Rein-deer Islands
and M'Kenzie's cape to the westward, a re-
markably high round rock with innumerable
islands to the northward, a clear horizon and
spots of' land to the eastward, and the main
shore to the southward. Sending La Prise for-
ward, that I might more easily get my beatings
by having him as a mark, I followed myself
shortly afterwards, but in no very amiable mood,
having just discovered that either the bow or
steersman had left our only frying pan at the
last encampment, for the benefit of whoever
might find it. This was a matter of no small
consequence to me, who, however ready to rough
it on pemmican, had been enjoying prospectively,
for some days past, the rich rein-deer steaks
which the " barren grounds " were sure to
afford ; nor did the assurance of the interpreter,
who maintained that the "grillades" were just
as good done in a kettle, afford me much con-
solation.

THROUGH WHICH THE ROUTE LAY. 97

Following the small canoe through a labyrinth
of islands, more or less wooded, some steep,
round, and bare, others broken or shelving, co-
vered with low pine and birch, we made a short
turn to N. N. E., and opened into a fine long
reach, bounded on each side by rocks, varying
in height from two hundred to a thousand feet ;
which resembled in some parts those to the
westward, about the Gros Cap, and in others
still more closely the red granite of Chipewyan.
The necessity of despatch forbade my landing,
to ascertain the difference in these respects. The
character of the scenery, so different from that
which we had quitted in the morning, together
with the northerly trending of the land, was the
more gratifying, as it coincided with the Indian
accounts, and led me to expect a long extent of
navigation. The drift wood, found in such piles
from the Slave River to the M'Kenzie, and
far along the east and west shores of the lake,
had now disappeared, and the water, no longer
turbid and yellow, was of a pellucid green. Its
temperature was 52°, while that of the sur-
rounding air was 58°, having increased 10°
since the morning. The extensive islands as-
sumed a more mountainous character as we ad-
vanced ; and it was observable that the western
ones were more thickly wooded than those to
the eastward. Through occasional vistas, the

98 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY

distant blue land was seen faintly in the clear
horizon to the right. At 8 p. M., the people
being completely tired, I encamped for the
night.

August 14th. The thermometer had sunk
to 30° ; and when at 4 A. M, we resumed our
course, the water was found to be slightly en-
crusted with ice, which, together with the cold
wind, so cracked and injured the bark of the
canoe, as to make it necessary to repair her.

The country to the left became gradually
less rugged, subsiding into round-backed hills,
whose sloping sides were covered with wood ;
the uniformity being agreeably broken by two
light columns of smoke issuing at separate points,
most likely from the fires of some straggling hunt-
ers. But the scenery to the right increased in
grandeur and boldness ; and never, either in Alp
or Apennine, had I seen a picture of such rug-
ged wildness. Rising to a perpendicular height of
upwards of twelve hundred feet, the rocks were
rent, as if by some violent convulsion, into deep
chasms and ragged fissures, inaccessible to the
nimblest animal. A few withered pines, grey
with age, jutted their shrivelled arms from the
extreme ridge of the abyss : on one of which a
majestic fishing eagle was seated, and there,
unscared by our cries, reigned in solitary
state, the monarch of the rocky wilderness.

THROUGH WHICH THE ROUTE LAY. 99

Salvator alone could have done justice to the
scene.

As we proceeded, the view was obstructed
in part by two conical hills, apparently uncon-
nected with the shore on either side, and ex-
ceedingly picturesque in their outline. They
were not far from a point of the eastern main ;
whence, taking a long sweep to the right,
and then stretching south and west in a broad
belt of fifteen or twenty miles, it ultimately joins
Rocky Point, at a distance of about fifty miles,
measured in a direct line. To the whole of the
islands included in this range I gave the name
of Simpson's Group, in token of my esteem
for the Governor. The channel between the
western islands and the main is, in some parts,
not more than a quarter of a mile broad ; and
this contraction is rendered the more apparent by
the ripple of a rather strong southerly current,
not observable elsewhere. It is favourable for
fish, and subsequently a station was formed
here. On opening round the northern end of
the channel, a magnificent expanse of water was
seen east and west, with clear horizons, dotted
however with three islands, from the light mural
cliffs of which the rays of the setting sun were
softly reflected. The peninsula, dividing the
waters of the south and north side of the east-
ern main, has been called Point Keith, in com-

H 2

100 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY

pliment to Mr. J. Keith, the Company's agent
at Montreal, whose name has already been men-
tioned in terms of merited commendation.

We next crossed a wide traverse towards some
table hills, forming part of what the Indians
called Rein-deer Island, the walled sides of which
rose far above the sloping and wooded country at
their base ; and here we landed, to examine more
closely its diversified formation. Either from
the grinding pressure of the immense masses of
ice that are forced on this exposed coast, or
from the continued action of breaking waves,
the whole line of shore, for two or three miles, is
composed of a kind of pudding stone ; contain-
ing large and small stones, all more or less glo-
bular, cemented by a yellowish clay, which has
become as hard as rock. It varies in elevation
from six to forty feet, and appears to run
into the adjacent rocks, which attain an altitude
of from fourteen hundred to two thousand feet,
with an irregularity which contrasts strongly
with the flowing outline of the western main,
now discernible to the distance of twelve or fif-
teen miles. Re-embarking, we made for the
point of an island, resorted to by the Indians for
a particular stone, used for the making of pipes,
and generally of a greenish-grey colour. On this
occasion it was visited for the purpose of allow-
ing one of them to inspect a small deposit of

THROUGH WHICH THE ROUTE LAY. 101

tobacco, which in some season of affluence he
had concealed among the rocks. His little
treasure was in safety ; and, trusting to my sup-
plying his wants, he allowed it to remain for
a future emergency.

The south-west face of the rock was smooth
and almost perpendicular ; and as we bore up to
the north-east, it became still more so, extend-
ing to the extreme limit of sight, in one unin-
terrupted mural precipice, along the base of
which was a succession of trap hills, with similar
faces, and rounded summits. I could not but re-
mark the resemblance of these last to the form-
ations around Point Lake, and on the coast to
the eastward of the Copper-mine. Being unable
to land on this side, we made for the north main
shore, on the declivities of which some patches
of last winter's snow were yet visible. Here we
disembarked ; and, the tent having been pitched,
La Prise set a net, which the following morning
produced a few white fish, a trout, and, what
surprised the Indians, an inconnu. *

August 15.A smart head wind with a
pitching sea did not allow us to do much with
the paddles ; and though we sought the lee of
any thing that offered shelter, we were soon
obliged to lie by. Presently intelligence was

* Salmo Mackenzii, See Richardson's Appendix to
Franklin.

u 3

102 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

brought me that La Prise and an Indian in my
canoe were quarrelling in a manner that fore-
boded a disagreeable termination. My appear-
ance rather separated than reconciled them ;
since La Prise, in going apart, muttered out,
" You may thank the Chief; but it is not finish-
ed : we shall meet on the barren lands." The
weather becoming more favourable, the journey
was continued, and we got to a narrow passage
called Tal-thel-leh, or the part that does not
freeze, a fact verified during two successive
winters, but for which we could assign no cause.
The right shore was particularly bold and impos-
ing: it was a continuation of the trap formation
from Pipe-stone Point, with this difference only,
that here it had the glittering light brown ap-
pearance of mica slate, and was piled, terrace
upon terrace, to a height of eight hundred feet.
The dip of the range was N. E. by E., with the
face of the cliffs northerly. To the left, and not
more than a mile from the trap, the rocks were
principally gneiss, with here and there a jutting
mound of red granite or porphyry. A southerly
current was perceptible in the narrow ; though
the Indian positively affirmed, that it was the
reverse in winter, as the ice was invariably
packed towards the north, and not towards the
south of the strait. A few larch and pine were
thinly scattered ; and the general appearance
presented was that of rounded hills, intersected

A SMALL ICE-BERG SEEN. 103

on the one side by valleys, and on the other
cut off in part by the mural precipices of
the island already mentioned, which here rose
into seven consecutive ranges, producing a sin-
gular and striking effect. Another island be-
tween this and the main, consisting of a single
rock, the southern face of which was broken
into columnar cliffs with large rhomboidal frac-
tures, seemed to be basaltic.

The wind had fallen ; but a heavy swell was
running from the clear horizon before us, and
dashed against the rocks with a violence suffi-
cient to swamp a fleet of canoes. The smaller
of the two canoes took in much water at every
pitch ; and as she leaked besides, the Indians
prudently made for a small bay, where they
landed, with no other damage than that of
getting wet. They immediately called out to
me not to persevere, as the shore was inapproach-
able for many miles, and added, that several of
their friends had perished in the same place,
from disregarding this counsel. And, indeed,
we found as we proceeded a high surf lashing
the beach ; and had a gale come on, which, how-
ever was not indicated by the clouds, we might
have had reason to repent our obstinacy. A
large piece of ice was seen floating in the dis-
tance, in the pride of a miniature berg ; a sight
which so surprised the Canadian, who had been
ii 4

104 A BEAR HUNT.

long to the southward, near the Columbia, that
he exclaimed, " Cela va bien, nous ne sommes
pas mal avancés au nord," and the poor fellow
actually thought we could not be far from the sea.
While rounding a projecting bluft'or headland,
near which I was told there was a river, our
attention was attracted to the crest of a steep
rock, where the keen eye of the Indian de-
tected a poor 'bear, quietly regaling himself
with a feast of berries. "Sass! sass!"* whis-
pered he, and in a moment all were down to
a level with the canoe, and remained motion-
less, except the bowman, who persisted in mak-
ing signs perfectly unintelligible ; until at last
he said, in an under tone, " Dites-lui d'ôter son
bonnet rouge," meaning my servant, an honest
Lancashire lad, who, not understanding a word
of French, had never ceased to look at the bear,
without once thinking of his flaming red cap.
" What ! " exclaimed he, as he took it off', " will
it frighten him ?" The interpreter and Indian
waded on shore, and crawling silently through
the bushes, were soon lost to our sight. In a
few minutes a couple of shots, followed by a
whoop, proclaimed the fate of bruin ; and we
landed at a convenient spot to fetch the meat.
While the men were absent on this errand, I
strolled about and saw some gooseberries and
currants on the bushes, still unripe ; there were

* Sass, bear.

LUDICROUS APPEARANCE OF THE BOWMAN. 105

also a few roses yet in bud, the colour of which
was a deeper red than that of the roses which
grow more south. A brood of young ducks was
likewise observed.

The party at length returned : the animal
being small was slung on the bowman's back ;
and as he had placed a stick in its mouth to
keep the jaws apart, and then tucked the head
under his arm, his appearance, as he brushed
through the wood, was ludicrous enough.

The evening being far advanced, we took
advantage of a snug bay that completely shel-
tered the canoe from danger, and very soon after
La Prise also arrived. He stated that after my
departure he had discovered that the frost of
the preceding night had split the canoe in
several places, which at once accounted for its
leaking ; and that having repaired it, he pre-
ferred the risk of coming on to the chance of
being left behind. The truth was, that having
no provision of their own, his party regularly
was supplied from our stock, and could ill brook,
therefore, even a short separation. The aurora
was brilliant, and in rapid motion until midnight,
when the wind increased so much, that we could
not move from the bay. The hunters were des-
patched in every likely direction to find deer ;
and, though unsuccessful, were much pleased at
the many recent tracks they had seen.

106 INDIAN INCONSISTENCY.

By a set of observations made here, the
latitude was found to be 62° 45' 35" N., the lon-
gitude by chronometers was 11Ã 19' 52"·7 W.,
and the variation by Rater's compass 45° 3 Ã Å.
Thermometer at 3 p. M. 54°.

August 17. The nets having been set over
night produced eight white fish and a trout,
which were equally divided ; and at 4 A.M. we
got away, and paddled against a cold north-east
breeze. The main on one side, and a range of
islands on the other, screened us, however, from
its effects, so that by breakfast time we had
accomplished a satisfactory distance, having
passed on our way another small berg, and some
patches of snow, which still lingered in the
fissures and deep gullies of the hills. It is
always difficult to get at the real meaning of an
Indian, even on subjects with which he has been
to a certain extent acquainted all his life, and on
which one might reasonably expect something
like a straightforward answer. Not only the
others, but even the lad who had drawn the sketch,
now began to hint that the Teh-Ion was far away
to the south and east, and that the portages
between the intervening lakes were long and bad
for the transport of baggage, if not altogether
impracticable. The Indians, it was observed,
were never encumbered with any thing heavier
than their guns, and perhaps a small canoe,

DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST LINE. 107

which was often left, in case the carrier were
unable or unwilling to take it on. From the
direction, too, in which they pointed to it, I was
the more confirmed in my former opinion, not
only that it lay considerably to the eastward, but
also that it inclined towards Hudson's Bay.

On the other hand, one of the party confessed
that he had been on the Thlew-ee-choh when
he was a boy ; and though, as he had gone
by land, he had no exact knowledge of the
route by water, still he knew that there was a
river about a day's inarch off,leading to some lakes
which would eventually conduct us to it. His
only apprehension was, whether the canoe could
be conveyed in any manner over the mountains
and falls, in our way to the Barren Lands,
where we should find the lakes to which he had
alluded. " We Indians," said he, "should not
think of attempting it, but the white men are
strong." On such a subject it was scarcely
prudent to hazard an assertion: but as much
depends on first impressions, I did not hesitate
to assure him, that I had the power to sur-
mount all such obstacles as he had described,
and only required an active hunter like himself
to accompany me, for which, I added, he
should be well remunerated ; though, to say the
truth, the general appearance off the country,
and the increasing altitude of the mountains,

108 DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST LINE.

rendered it evident that no common exertion
would be required to get to either of the large
rivers, and in the decision to which I now
finally came, I considered myself as having
merely chosen the lesser evil of the two.

Still, coasting along the northern shore, and a
continuous link of islands to the right, we came
to a place distinguished, by the Chipewyan
and Yellow Knife Indians, by the emphatic
appellation of "The Mountain." Here it is
their custom to leave their canoes when they
go to hunt the rein-deer on the Barren Lands ;
and few have much acquaintance with the coun-
try beyond it. Three or four of La Prise's
crew, influenced by their old habits, could not
bring themselves to pass the rock at which they
had always landed ; and separated from us here,
under the plea of going to join their fami-
lies. The Mountain rises gradually from the
water's edge into round backed ridges of
gneiss, with intervening valleys rather scantily
wooded ; and its various summits, consisting of
a succession of mounds or elevations of smooth
and naked granite, in the form of obtuse cones,
rarely attain a greater height than from ten to
fourteen hundred feet. The Mountain River
is seen near its base, and precipitates itself, in a
picturesque fall, over a ledge of craggy rocks,
into the lake. Opposite this is the termination

POINT KEITH. 109

of the islands beginning at Tal-thel-leh ; and a
line drawn from thence due south cuts a huge
bluff, forming the western angle of Gãh-houn-
tchella, or Rabbit Point. This indented isth-
mus juts out in a W. N. W. direction from the
eastern main, and, overlapping the immense
island of Peth-the-nueh, or Owl Island, so as
to make the land seem continuous, gives the ap-
pearance of a deep bay, of which, together with
the island, it seems to be the boundary. In
trutfy however, the effect so produced is an
optical illusion, occasioned by the distance and
refraction of the objects ; for although the blue
outline appears perfectly unbroken, yet Gãh-
houn-tchella was subsequently discovered to be
the northern opening to a narrow strait leading
into a magnificent inner bay, at the south
part of which we afterwards established a
fishery. Still farther south than the fishery
is another narrow passage, hemmed in on the
west by the mural precipices of Peth-the-
nueh, and on the east by lofty granitic moun-
tains. This forms the outlet to a part of the
lake which is bounded by the horizon, the
whole space being one sheet of water as far
as Point Keith. The southern shore I have
ventured to lay down, according to the dotted
lines in the chart, after a patient investigation
of various Indian accounts, all of which make

110 CHRISTIE'S BAY.

its distance from Peth-the-nueh rather more
than I have fixed upon. Peth-the-nueh, or
Owl Island, is an accumulation of trap moun-
tains, having their least altitude at Pipe-stone
Point, opposite Rein-deer Island, and their
greatest, at the narrow passage south of Gãh-
houn-tchella. Its whole length east and west is
fifty-four geographical miles, and the breadth
of the lake a little beyond Mountain River, in
a line due south, may be fairly estimated at not
less than thirty-nine miles. It lies between the
two main shores, somewhat nearer to the north :
the rivers to the southward and eastward are of
some magnitude, and are continually resorted to
by the Chipewyans ; yet, though acquainted
with every rapid and turn in them, they were
unable to point out or even afford a guess at
their sources. The one, however, with the
islands at its entrance, which is laid down as
running into Christie's Bay, so called after
Mr. Chief Factor Christie, of the Company's
service, whose prompt and courteous services
I have pleasure in again alluding to, is often
visited by them in the spring, for the purpose of
shooting swans, with which at that season it
abounds.

Continuing our course along the hard and
rocky line of the northern shore, we passed a
picturesque torrent; which, from a thread of

EASTERN EXTREMITY OF GREAT SLAVE LAKE. Ill

shining silver in the distance, came gamboling
down the steep declivities, and then mingled
gently with the broad waters of the lake. Near
it was the Rocky Point River, just beyond
which we encamped, at the close of a beautiful
day, in which the thermometer had stood at 52°.
August 18th.ë¥â started at 4 A.M. under
the impression that a couple of hours would
certainly bring us to the river spoken of by the
Indians ; but at the spot where we hoped to find
a river there was merely another torrent. " That
is not it," said Maufelly, the Indian before
spoken of, who was to be our guide ; so on we
went, paddling along the lake, now contracted
to a width of five or six miles, and apparently
terminating near a blue point in the south-east,
which, however, turned out to be the bend
leading into a deep bay, forming the eastern
portion of Great Slave Lake. As it seemed that
a long circuit might be avoided, by making a
portage in a favourable part, almost in a direct
line before us, I was about to give directions ac-
cordingly, when launching past some rocks, which
had shut out the land in their direction, we
opened suddenly on a small bay, at the bottom of
which was seen a splendid fall, upwards of sixty
feet high, rushing in two white and misty vo-
lumes into the dark gulf below. It was the
object of our search the river which we

112 LA PRISE LEFT IN CHARGE OF THE BAGGAGE.

were to ascend ; so, without noticing the very
significant gestures of my crew, indicating the
impossibility of ascending it, I immediately
landed, and set them about drying and tho-
roughly repairing the small canoe. An addi-
tional blanket or two, with some other requisites,
having been set apart, all the other baggage,
together with the large canoe, was placed under
the charge of La Prise, who undertook to wait
for and deliver them to Mr. M'Leod.

The observations to-day gave the latitude
62° 00' 15" N., longitude 109° 47' 54" W., and
variation 36° 52' E.

CHAP. IV.

Difficult and toilsome Ascent of Hoar Frost River.
Striking Scenery along its Course. Illness of the
Interpreter. Encampment upon Cook's Lake. · As-
cent of another small River full of Rapids. Deser-
tion of two Indians. Perplexity of the Guide as to
the proper Course, and Attempt to desert. Succession
of Streams and Lakes. Indian Account of the The-lew
or Teh-Ion. Clinton-Golden, Aylmer, and Sussex
Lakes. Discovery of the Thleva-ee-choh.

A NEW scene now opened upon us. Instead of
the gentle paddling across the level lake, by
which we had been enabled to penetrate thus
far, we had to toil up the steep and rocky bed
of an unknown stream, on our way to the high
lands, from which the waters take an opposite
course. The labours which had been hitherto
so cheerfully undergone were little more than
those to which voyageurs are accustomed;
but in what was to come, it was evident that
extraordinary efforts and patient perseverance
would be required, to overcome the difficulties
of our route. We now learned from the Indians
that the fall, to which, after my enterprising
friend Beverley, the companion of Sir E. Parry

TOILSOME ASCENT

in his attempt to reach the Pole, I have given
the name of Beverley's Fall, was the com-
mencement of a series of appalling cascades and
rapids, which, according to their account, were
the distinguishing characteristics of Hoar Frost
River ; and, indeed, some fifteen or twenty
small canoes, concealed in the bushes, belonging,
as was conjectured, to my old friend Akaitcho
and his party, who were hunting on the barren
Lands, showed pretty clearly the obstacles we
might expect to encounter. Maufelly, however,
maintained that it was the only practicable route,
and added, that by following its channel we
should shorten the distance, and not improbably
fall in with an old man who could give all the
information I required about the Thlew-ee-
choh.

The greater part of our lading, consisting of
three bags of pemmican, with a little ammunition
tobacco, &c., had been carried up the ascent
the evening before ; and on the morning of the
lyth of August, after emptying a net which had
been set, of a few blue and white fish, the re-
mainder was taken. The principal difficulty con-
sisted in bearing the canoe over a slippery and
uneven acclivity, thickly beset with trees and
underwood. The first ridge, where we rested,
was formed of sand and débris from the sur-
rounding rocks, mostly red felspar and quartz.

OP HOAR FßOST RIVER. 115

Having crossed a swamp, and again ascended,
we got to a point above a second fall, where a
little smooth pool, on which the canoe was
launched, afforded a short respite to the wearied
men. Here I dismissed La Prise, who, with his
two little boys, had assisted in conveying the
things so far. He was intrusted with a letter
for Mr. M^cLeod, in which I directed him to
begin building an establishment, as soon as he
should reach the east end of the lake, which, as
I calculated, could not be more than a day's
march from the river ; informing him at the
same time that I might be expected some time
in September.

A few hundred yards' paddling along the pool
brought us in sight of fresh clouds of spray,
rising from a third and a fourth fall, too danger-
ous to approach ; and though the woods were
extremely thick, and consisted, for the greater
part, of stunted swamp fir, which gave us in-
finite trouble to force through, still there was no
alternative, and clambering over the fallen trees,
through rivulets and across swamps, as well as
our burthens would permit, we at length emerged
into an open space. It was barren and desolate ;
crag was piled upon crag, to a height of two
thousand feet from the base ; and the course of
the contracted river, now far beneath, was
marked by an uninterrupted line" of foam. After

ι 2

116 STRIKING SCENERY.

frequent halts to recover breath, the summit of
the difficult pass was attained ; the blue lake
which we had left, lay as if spread at our feet ;
and such was the beauty of the varied outline,
that we were captivated into a momentary for-
getfulness of our fatigue. But severe toil will tell
on the frame, however resolute the will; and the
interpreter, who had for several days shown symp-
toms of indisposition, became now so exhausted
as to be barely able to proceed. The Indians aided
him by lighteninghis burthen, being themselves in
high spirits, from having seen some fresh tracks of
deer, which, according to their notions, indicated
an early hunting season, as it proved that those
ever shifting animals had begun to migrate from
the north. The descent towards the river was
at first gradual, for the path lay over the even
though rounded surface of the rocks. But moss-
covered swamps soon followed, and then a pre-
cipice so abrupt and deep, that, with no other
incumbrance than my cloak and gun, it re-
quired all my vigilance and exertion to save
myself from falling with the loose masses which
slid away from my feet.

The people with the canoe stood resolutely to
their work, and after a slip or fall, recovered
themselves with such adroitness, that, after an
interval of protracted anxiety, I enjoyed the satis-
faction of beholding her placed safe and sound in

SAND-FLIES AND MOSQUITOS. 117

the stream below. The course of the river could
be traced N.N.E. about three miles, in which,
though there was evidently a strong current,
nothing appeared to break the glassiness of the
surface. It was bounded on each side by steep
shelving rocks, cheerful with vegetation, and
thinly clad with birch, firs, and willows. The
sun was too low, and the crew too wearied to
move on ; and having paddled to the other side,
for the convenience of a level spot on which to
pitch the tent, we gladly halted for the night.

The laborious duty which had been thus satis-
factorily performed, was rendered doubly severe
by the combined attack of myriads of sand-flies
and mosquitos, which made our faces stream with
blood. There is certainly no form of wretched-
ness, among those to which the chequered life
of a voyageur is exposed, at once so great and
so humiliating, as the torture inflicted by these
puny blood-suckers. To avoid them is im-
possible : and as for defending himself, though
for a time he may go on crushing by thousands,
he cannot long maintain the unequal conflict ; so
that at last, subdued by pain and fatigue, he throws
himself in despair with his face to the earth, and,
half suffocated in his blanket, groans away a
few hours of sleepless rest.

August 20.The thermometer had fallen to
36", and at four A. M., as soon as the sunken

é 3

118 ILLNESS OF THE INTERPRETER.

rocks, and other impediments to our progress,
could be distinguished, we got away, and went
on cheerily enough, until interrupted by a
rapid, which was succeeded by so many more,
that for the best part of the morning we did
little else than lighten the canoe and drag it up
with a line : at length a fall of twenty feet
obliged us to carry both canoe and baggage.
This passed, other rapids presented themselves ;
until finally the canoe got so seriously damaged
by the shocks, as to make us hasten on shore to
avoid sinking. The unhappy interpreter had
been unable to take any share in the work, and
was evidently suffering severe pain, which he
begged of me to assuage. I had only a box of
common pills, and some brandy, neither of which
could be prudently applied to a case which
seemed to require the skill and attention of a
professional man. The poor fellow, however,
persisted in his belief that I could relieve him,
not doubting that any thing under the name of
medicine would answer the purpose. I yielded,
therefore, to his importunity, and indulged him,
first with the contents of the box, which made
him worse ; and next with the contents of the
bottle, which made him better.

Scarcely was the canoe repaired, and our la-
bour recommenced, when we were involved in
fresh troubles, by a most intricate channel of

WILD SCENERY. 119

deep water, thickly studded with sharp angular
rocks, sometimes so close together as barely to
allow of a passage. The stream having at this
part a considerable fall, rushed between or bub-
bled over them, with a force that almost swept
the hauling men off their legs ; and no sooner
had they with great resolution surmounted this
difficulty, than a fresh demand was made on their
energy by the appearance of three distinct falls,
rising like huge steps to the height of forty-five
feet. Again, therefore, the whole materiel was
to be carried, much to the annoyance of the
crew, to whom, on such occasions, the sickness
of any of their companions is a matter of serious
importance. One or two more rapids, and a
narrow fall of twenty feet, terminated the ascent
of this turbulent and unfriendly river. No-
thing, however, can be more romantically beau-
tiful than the wild scenery of its course. High
rocks beetling over the rapids like towers, or
rent into the most diversified forms, gay with
various coloured mosses, or shaded by over-
hanging treesnow a tranquil pool, lying like
a sheet of silver now the dash and foam of a
cataract,these are a part only of its picturesque
and striking features.

The canoe having been completely repaired,
we entered on a different scene. An amphi-

i 4

120 ENCAMPMENT UPON

theatre of gently rising hills, interspersed with
rounded and barren rocks, and a few clumps of
gloomy-looking pines, rendered more conspicuous
by the yellow sand on which they grew, em-
braced a calm sheet of water, which, taking a
northerly direction, kept gradually widening to
a distance of three or four miles. Some old ice
still adhered to its banks, and the snow shoes
and bundles affixed to the poles of a recently
deserted encampment, showed that it was a
resort of the Indians.

It was too late to gain the pines, for the sun
had set ; so we encamped on an island where
we had observed that there were shrubs enough
to cook the evening meal ; and had no sooner
landed than we were assailed by swarms of sand-
flies and mosquitos, which for a time irritated
us almost to madness. I do not know that
there is any thing very original in the idea, but
as I contemplated the repose and stillness of the
evening landscape, mellowed by the soft tints
of the western sky, and contrasted it with the
noise, the impetuosity, the intense animation
and bustle of the morning, it seemed to me a
type of that best period of the life of man, when
to the turbulence and energy of youth succeeds
the calm sobriety of ripened age. It brought
to my mind far distant friends,one especially
long known and well esteemed ; in remem-

COOK'S LAKE. 121

brance of whom I gave to the sheet of water be-
fore me the name of Cook's Lake.

As the night drew on, something was perceived
indistinctly on the lake ; it was neither a loon, nora
deer,, but its cautious motions excited that sort of
suspicion which made our invalid look about him.
He and the three Indians with me determined
that it must be either a Chipewyan thief, or the
scout of a party of slave Indians, who were at war
with the Yellow Knives. As it turned out, how-
ever, neither of these conjectures was correct,
for the object of apprehension proved to be one
of those who had left us at the mountain, and who,
having lost the only two charges of powder in his
possession, had been driven to the necessity of
performing this long journey, to obtain the means
of sustaining his family until they could get to
their friends. " Had there been only my wife
with me," he said, in a faint voice, " I would not
have troubled the chief, for we could have lived
upon berries ; but when I looked on my child, arid
heard its cries, my heart failed me, and I sought
for relief." There needed no other appeal; and
having received a liberal supply of provision
and ammunition, the poor fellow went away the
happiest of his tribe.

August ál.Thin ice had been formed during
the night ; though when we started, at 4 A.M.,
the thermometer stood at 88°. A few miles

122 ASCENT OF ANOTHER SMALL RIVER.

northerly brought us to a river, barred by fifteen
rapids, varying in height from three to ten feet.
In any other situation, such a succession of inter-
ruptions would have seriously annoyed me ; but I
now regarded them with complacency, as the
ladder by which I was to mount to the dividing
ridge of land, the attainment of that goal
being all which at that late season I could hope
to accomplish.

I had in De Charloît, the bowman, one of the
most expert men in the country, and in no place
had his astonishing strength and activity been
called more into play than on this occasion. In
the midst of dangers the most imminent from
rapids or falls, he was cool, fearless, and col-
lected ; and often, when the pole or paddle was
no longer available, he would spring into the
curling water, and, with a foot firmly planted,
maintain his position, where others would have
been swept away in an instant. But in spite of all
his careand exertion, our frail vessel was sorely buf-
feted, and the bark hung in shreds along its sides,
ripped and broken in every quarter. We were,
therefore, not a little glad, when, after a difficult
portage, we found another free and open water.

While the necessary patching and gumming
of the canoe was going on, to render her tight,
I climbed to the top of a short range of rocks
about two hundred feet high, and dipping to the

DESERTION OF TWO INDIANS.

eastward. From this elevation Maufelly pointed
to a lake, on which he said we were to go a long
way ; adding, however, that, from the fact of his
having been so snow-blind when he last passed
as to be led with a string, he did not exactly
remember the channel. He requested, therefore,
permission to land at certain elevated placesone
of which he recognised, and pointed out as the
spot where he had formerly killed a deer. Still this
did not enlighten him as to the precise part we
should make for : and whether the two Indian
boys in the canoe differed with or distrusted
him, or whether it was the mere caprice and
unsteadiness of their nature, we knew not ; but
certain it was, that, on landing at a point of the
shore, they began to prepare for a march, with
the intention, as they said, of visiting their re-
lations, who they thought might be somewhere
to the north-west. As there was no indication
of Indians within range of the telescope, we
tried to dissuade them from their purpose, for
their services, just then, were doubly requisite
in order to carry the baggage over the portages ;
and this the rogues well knew, but with invinci-
ble stubbornness they rejected every öfter that
was made. Finding they were determined, I
supplied them with a little ammunition, warn-
ing them at the same time to keep away from
my fort, unless they brought with them a heavy
load of good meat.

124 PERPLEXITY OF THE GUIDE.

We then paddled among islands extending to
a great distance, with an uninterrupted horizon
to the westward. It was evident that Maufelly
was puzzled ; for though he knew the general
direction, he was so little acquainted with the
form of the lake, that we constantly found our-
selves either in a bay, or pulling round an island.
Not liking to be baffled in this way, I landed, and
sent De Charloît and the Indian to reconnoitre ;
and the result was, that they descried a lake in
the line of our intended course. The mosquitos
here tormented us dreadfully ; and the steersman,
for whom they had a particular affection, was so
swollen that he could scarcely see.

At daybreak of the following day (the 22d of
August) we went to an adjoining bay, whence
the canoe and baggage were carried to two small
lakes. Another portage took us to an extensive
sheet of water, which, however^ proved to be
only a branch of the lake we had left. In
this, as in the other part, were many islands,
composed of low rocks with shelving sides,
covered more or less with reindeer-moss and
large stones. Streaks of old ice were still ad-
hering to the shore ; and on some of the hills, al-
ready of a brown tint, were patches of last year's
snow. A few hours brought us to the end of
the lake (which has been called after the Rev.
Dr. Walmsley of Hanwell) ; and scouts were

RETURN OF ONE OF THE DESERTERS. 125

despatched in different quarters to find out the
most favourable route to the large lake of which
we were in search.

A set of observations gave the latitude 63"
23' 4,6" N., longitude 108° 8' 16" W., and vari-
ation 36° O' E___a position a little to the north

of the Cheesadawd Lake of Hearne ; though,
from the concurrent testimony of the Indians, it
would seem that the only one bearing the name
is situated between the Athabasca and Great
Slave Lakes.

Towards evening the men returned; and about
the same time, one of the Indian lads, who for
some trifling cause had separated from his com-
panion, and was now willing to join us again.
The former had succeeded in finding a chain of
small lakes, inclining to the eastward, and had
the good fortune to shoot a young deer: the
latter was unceremoniously dismissed with di-
rections to inform his tribe, that those who were
desirous of profiting by the expedition must pur-
sue a steady and honest course of conduct, and,
according to their own phraseology, abstain from
" speaking with two tongues ;" for by that means
alone could they entitle themselves to any
benefit. He was refused even a particle of pro-
vision,a rigour which I felt assured would be
made known, and produce a wholesome effect
upon the whole tribe ; for, though fickle and un-

126 SUCCESSION OF STREAMS AND LAKES.

grateful, they are yet right-minded enough to
know, and candid enough to acknowledge, their
errors. In the present instance, the lad smiled
as he went away, and observed, that " it was just,
for he did not deserve better treatment."

August 23___The operation of carrying be-
gan with the first dawn of day ; and, though
tormented by the mosquitos from the time that
the sun began to have any power, and drenched
with hail and rain as soon as it declined, yet we
managed to get over fifteen portages before
night compelled us to encamp.

August 24----The thermometer fell to 32^a,

and a cold sheet of vapour rose from innumerable
watercourses, which dispersing as the sun ap-
peared above the grey cloud that walled the
horizon in the east, allowed us to resume our
tedious occupation. A succession of lakes and
portages took us to a small stream, which I was
glad to observe ran easterly ; and at its termin-
ation, in an open space of water, I saw some
sand hills about north-west, which led me to con-
clude that we could not be far off the height of
land. The bark of the canoe, however, had been
split by the frost, and a short delay was necessary
to repair it. This completed, we began to make
a traverse to gain some hills, whose eastern sides,
as Maufelly asserted, were washed by the large
lake ; but a question now arose, as to the pro-

THE INTERPRETER ATTEMPTS TO DESERT. 127

bability of a passage along the base of the sand
hills to the westward ; since, according to my
sight, a wide opening seemed to stretch from
thence far to the right, which, I cannot help
still thinking, was connected with the other large
sheet of water. Be this as it may, the Indian
put his veto on the proposition ; and accordingly
the blue hills were reached, a long portage
made, and I had the satisfaction at last of look-
ing on a wide clear expanse of water to the
southward, bounded only by the horizon. The
latitude was 63° 23' 5?" N.

We now crossed to a jutting bluff point, ap-
parently a continuation of the opposite shore,
but which was stated to be the northern sweep
of a bay, the receptacle of a rapid river, which
Maufelly said we must ascend. It lay precisely
in a straight line with a very distant column of
smoke, to which our Indian wished to go, under
the plausible pretence of procuring information ;
declaring, at the same time, his entire ignorance
of any water communication beyond the one we
were in. This conduct I thought it right to
resent, and with a seasonable severity of manner
gave him to understand that artifice and du-
plicity were not likely to succeed with me at
any time, much less at the present moment,
when, from his own admission, he had been at
another lake, and stood convicted therefore of

128 CHASE OF A REINDEER

falsehood. I told him, that what he really
wanted was to desert ; that if so, his lands were
before him ; _but that by so doing he would
forfeit all claim to whatever benefits I might
otherwise have conferred upon him. The ef-
fect was instantaneous ; he confessed that he
had done wrong, and promised fidelity for the
future, begging that I would not be displeased,
if, from want of memory on his part, we some-
times missed our way ; for that it was a long
time since he was a boy, and from that early
period he had never been beyond the land be-
fore us. The banks of the stream consisted
mostly of sand, heaped here and there into
mounds, the comfortable retreat of many siffleu,
or ground squirrels, some of whose company
were basking in the sun, or sitting up in cu-
rious gaze at each other : on seeing us, they dis-
appeared.

Four rapids, having an aggregate fall of from
sixteen to twenty feet, were the only obstacles
to the navigation of the river, and by five o'clock
we had got up them all, and opened on a mag-
nificent lake. Close by, a reindeer appeared,
running at full speed, chased by a long white
wolf, which, though it seemed to have little
chance in swiftness, was nevertheless resolute in
the pursuit. The deer gradually made for a
pass below the rapid, at the other side of which

BY A WOLF. 129

another wolf was now first perceived, crouching
down, with his eyes fixed on the chase, and
evidently ready to spring upon the poor animal,
if it unhappily took the water.

I have a strong antipathy to wolves, however
speciously attired ; and though these fair-robed
gentlemen were but following a natural instinct
of appetite, I thought fit to interfere with voice
and gesture. The panting deer bounded past
me, as if conscious of safety and protection,
while the wolf stood motionless for a moment,
and then, scenting an enemy, slunk slowly away,
under the shelter of some fragments of rocks.

The country near the margin, and, indeed, for
several miles from the lake, was very low and
level, being only occasionally elevated into
moderately-sized hills. By one of these, to the
eastward, lay the route to the The-lew.* As
we were certain to return by this place, I took
advantage of a detached heap of stones, in the
shape of an island, to make a cache of a bag
of pemmican ; soon after which we encamped,
where there was some good moss for cooking
a consideration of no trifling importance on the
barren lands.

The white partridges kept up a burring call
until near midnight ; and when this had ceased,

* Sometimes called Teli-lon.
K

130 INDIAN ACCOUNT OF

my rest was repeatedly interrupted by the start-
ling and fiendish screams of a score of the largest
sized loons ; so that I was not sorry when the
morning of the 25th of August afforded light
enough for escaping from their harsh and grating
notes.

As we proceeded, the land on each side swelled
insensibly into a different character, attaining
an elevation of one hundred and seventy or
one hundred and ninety feet, with rounded
summits, partially covered with rich lichens,
and strewed with huge boulders, closely resem-
bling those round Point Lake. The valleys af-
forded a luxurious pasturage, and were tenanted
by a few scattered deer.

A weak current was found to oppose us ; and
having passed through a narrow, which produced
a ripple having something of the character of
a rapid, we managed to get embayed. Maufelly
was fairly lost ; and after trying ineffectually half
a dozen openings, I returned to the current, which
became imperceptible as the land fell off; but,
taking the general direction of the last river and
this stream as a guide, I directed the course to a
distant northerly hill, which, luckily enough, hap-
pened to be the western point of another narrow,
well known to the Yellow Knives as a favourite
deer-pass, and which was, in fact, the only
passage for the water. A " band *" of deer was
* Any number above six.

THE THE-LEW, OR TEH-LON. 131

swimming across at the moment. The face of
the country was extremely barren and for-
bidding. When afterwards we encamped, not
a shrub could be found j and the moss being
wet, it required some ingenuity to make a
fire : ultimately, however, it was effected, by
building two parallel walls, within which the
moss was placed, and fanned into flame by
the draft rushing between. This simple no-
tion was the means of saving us much trouble
afterwards. The pass led us to an immense
lake, from which land could be faintly dis-
tinguished to the north, while east and west
it was indented with deep inlets and bays. One
of these, to the right, presenting a clear horizon,
led, as Maufelly believed, to the Thê-lew.

Subsequently, several Indians, who had been
there, informed me that, by making a portage
from the eastern extremity of a deep bay, they
got to a small lake, and from thence by another
portage to a larger one ; that this discharged it-
self by a river into the north-east end of a very
long but narrow lake, the southern termination of
which was about half way between that point
and Slave Lake. To the east, they said it was
connected, by a short line of rapids, with a lake
of singular shape, which, by means of a river
seventeen miles long, communicated with the
Thë-lew, at a mean distance from our position

κ 2

132 INDIAN ACCOUNT OF

of about eighty miles. As to the course of
the principal river itself, little seemed to be
accurately known ; for the Indians never pene-
trated far, perhaps not more than twenty miles,
beyond the part which has been just described.
There it was said to maintain a uniform di-
rection towards the north-east.

Proceeding by the western shore of the lake
which we had entered, we cut across from point
to point, coasting by islands so extensive, that
we not unfrequently mistook them for the main.
The water was of a dark indigo colour, but very
clear; and the occasional and almost noiseless
rising of a fish at a water-fly was the only sound
which broke the stillness and serenity around.
Whether it were owing to continued calms, or to
the limited time during which this lake is liberated
from its icy fetters, I am not prepared to say ;
but certain it is, that I no where observed those
successive banks, or layers of sand, along the
beach, so common in the lakes to the southward,
the joint effect of the action of the waves and of
the rise and fall of the water. Neither were there
any of those horizontal lines on the base of the
rocks, which force themselves on the notice of
the traveller in other parts of this country, and
which indicate, with the nicest precision, the
fluctuations of the level at different seasons.
Being somewhat bewildered among the nú-

THE THE-LEW, OR TEH-LON. 133

merous bays and islands, our Indian, from time
to time, ascended the elevated ground, with a
view of guessing at the best route; and on this
occasion he considered that, to avoid making
detours, equally unprofitable and vexatious, we
ought to keep more to the northward. He be-
gan now also to remark that many winters had
glided "away since he had visited the Thlew-ee-
choh, as a boy, with his old father ; but that he
remembered his saying that there were nu-
merous sand-hills in its vicinity ; and he felt
some confidence now, that we should, sooner or
later, find it. What most comforted him, how-
ever, was a newly entertained idea that we
should not (as he had hitherto dreaded) be
caught by the setting in of winter, before the
object was accomplished.

For a considerable time past, a dazzling white-
ness, which did not seem like the ordinary effect
of the sunlight, had been visible on the western
horizon ; and, as we nearedit, I had the mortifi-
cation to behold a well-defined stream of ice,
decayed, indeed, but compact enough to have
brought up the largest ship in his Majesty's navy.
There needed no stronger proof to convince me of
the tardy disruption of this wintry barrier, and,
by consequence, of the faint chance that existed
of my being able to prosecute the journey by open
water during the early part of summer. The

ê 3

134 TORMENTED BY SAND-FLIES AND MOSQUITOS.

intimation, however, was not without its use ; it
prepared me to expect other obstacles, and oc-
casioned the methodising of various plans, by
which the execution of that part of the service
was at last successfully completed.

Having paddled along the edge of the stream
of ice, we made for a remarkable mountainous bluff
to the north-east, between which and some other
high land was a passage leading north. But the
sun had set; and, after a hard day's work, my
weary crew were happy to encamp, notwithstand-
ing the vigorous and unintermitting assaults
of our faithful tormentors, the sand-flies and
mosquitos. Certainly they were pests, and sharply
did they convey to us the moral lesson of man's
helplessness ; since, with all our boasted strength
and skill, we were unable to repel these feeble
atoms of the creation.

August 26th.The temperature had fallen
to 31 °, and coated the lake, for a few hundred
yards from the shore, with a thin sheet of ice;
while the calm surface of the open water was
literally black with dead flies. Slight as the
impediment was, it required the utmost caution
on the part of the bowman to open a lane, by
breaking the ice on each side, so as to allow the
canoe to pass without touching; for the bark be-
ing rendered brittle by the overnight's frost, the
least concussion would have produced serious con-

THE SAND-HILL. 135

sequencesto prevent which, pieces of leather,
&c., were placed over the sides as fenders. The
mountainous appearance of the country to the
northward by no means answered to the character
of the part of which we were in search, and
greatly diminished the hopes that Maufelly had
nourished of finding a portage to the Thlew-ee-
choh in that direction. We therefore veered to
the westward ; and, after paddling from fifteen to
twenty miles, without descrying the faintest symp-
tom of a sand-hill, we ascended a lofty hill, and,
after considerable embarrassment, during which I
was careful to encourage him, the Indian pointed
to the south-east. Arriving at another point, he
again directed us west, through a kind of strait,
where there was an island, consisting of one conical
mount, about two hundred feet high. Some sand
was visible round and near its apex, and it was
distinguished, as I afterwards learnt, by the name
of the Sand-Hill.

From its summit we were surprised to behold
another immense lake, extending with a clear
horizon to the south-west, and abounding in large
islands, and in bays from ten to fifteen miles
deep. How far it might be across, could not
be conjectured, the apparent boundary on the
other side being but dimly marked by narrow
dark lines, which the Indian assured me were
only islands. Resuming our journey, we passed
ê 4<

136 PROGRESS OF OUR JOURNEY.

through the upper end of the strait, in which
the current set to the southward ; and, having
gone half round the compass, and passed an
extensive opening to the right, we directed our
course to the westward.

The wavering uncertainty of Maufelly in-
duced me to abstain from any remarks on the
time lost in rounding bays to look for some near
cut, which he had never seen, but which he
persisted in thinking must exist. Any opposition,
I well knew, would only produce a sulky obsti-
nacy, and put an end to all effective cooperation.
I therefore left him to follow his own plans,
confiding in that instinct which will guide an
Indian through the mazes of the darkest and
most tangled forest. The view to the south-
ward and westward might well be called that of
an inland sea ; for, with the exception of a dark
spot here and there, the range was bounded by
an horizon of sky and water, now gilded with
the brilliant rays of a setting sun.

Holding more to the north, we threaded some
bleak and picturesque islands, apparently of
gneiss; for all were round and naked rocks, with
little or no vegetation, and rose abruptly from
the water's edge to a height varying from eighty
to a hundred and twenty feet. Near the spot
where we encamped was one considerably higher,
with huge boulders on its obtuse and irregular

THE TENT PITCHED. 137

outline, which bore an exact resemblance to the
scenery about Fort Enterprise.

The shelving and moss-covered mainland,
with isolated rocks in situ, formed a pleasing con-
trast to the bold fronting of the neighbouring
islands. The beach where the tent was pitched
was of a shingly gravel, composed of minute
and rounded fragments of mica slate, quartz with
scales of glittering mica, and red and grey fel-
spar. A few geese, one gull, and many loons were
seen ; and mosquitos, like the fourth plague *,
swarmed innumerable, and banished comfort.
When the cool air of night had benumbed them,
and afforded me a respite for contemplation, I
could not help feeling deeply impressed with
the intense stillness of the scene : no living
thing was seen or heard ; the air was calm, the
lake unruffled : it seemed as if nature had fallen
into a trance, for all was silent and motionless as
death.

Our little canoe was afloat at four A.M. of the
27th of August ; and the men, excited by the keen
air of the morning to vigorous action, impelled
her through the calm water with unusual swift-
ness. Several deep bays were traversed and
points rounded, until at last we had the satis-
faction of seeing some sand-hills, which, as we
drew near, Maufelly thought he recognised.

* Swarms of flies.Exodus.

138 CLINTON-COLDEN LAKE.

Twice he went to adjacent heights to discover
some object, which might remove his doubts ;
and the second time he returned with a light
step, and a countenance betokening satisfaction
and triumph. With renewed confidence he
pointed to a bay from whence we might go to
the Thlew-ee-choh, and, on our landing, turned
to the interpreter, and showing him the well-
beaten tracks of the deer, exclaimed, with a
smile, that his old father loved to dwell on the
feats he had performed there; " and though,"
added he, "I was but a child when I accom-
panied him, these places look familiar to me."

The two large lakes by which we had come
were only separated by the strait of the Sand-
Hill ; and, considering the first as extending
from that strait, not to the river, but merely to
the first narrow to the south, it will embrace a
direct distance of twenty-nine miles, and an es-
timated breadth, east and west, of nearly thirty.
This I have named Clinton-Golden Lake, as
a mark of respect to the memory of those dis-
tinguished individuals.

The second, or northern one, is, according to
the concurrent testimony of the Indians, about
sixty miles in extent towards the north-west, with
a breadth not exceeding thirty, nor less than
twenty miles. The eastern shores are broken
into bays, deep and indefinable ; the rest was

LAKE AYLMER. 139

bounded by the horizon. This splendid sheet of
water received the appellation of Lake Aylmer,
in honour of the Governor-General of Canada, to
whose kindness and consideration I felt myself
particularly indebted.

While employed in putting the canoe in a suit-
able place, between two small hillocks, to dry,
a deer was seen coming at full speed towards
us. The Indian and De Charlôit started at the
same moment to cut it off. The trial was well
contested ; but the latter was more active than
his opponent ; and, concealing himself behind a
stone, watched his opportunity, and killed it at
the first shot. After making a hasty repast, I
sent the three men with Maufelly to look for
the river, or the lake whence it was supposed
to take its rise. They were provisioned for three
days; and, in the event of any doubt arising on
the part of the Indian, the bow and steersmen
were to proceed in a due northern, and the
Indian and interpreter in a north-western, direc-
tion, which, I concluded, would take them within
sight of their object.

The observations made here gave the lati-
tude 64° 24/ 13" N. ; longitude, 108° 28' 53" W. ;
variation, 36° 36' E. * As the sun declined,
some dark clouds rose from the westward, and

* For dip, see Appendix.

140 Ë STORM.

spread rapidly over the sky, threatening to break
up the long calm which we had enjoyed across
the two lakes. Before I could reach the tent,
indeed, the storm burst with such violence, as
almost to carry it away ; and but for the support
which, on my arrival, I lent to the poles, it would
assuredly have gone. The canoe was whirled
over and over, and was at last arrested by a
rock. Malley's cooking apparatus was thrown
right and left ; while my sextant and instruments,
scattered about the tent, reminded me most
forcibly of poor Hearne's misfortune on a similar
occasion. Happily, I saved them by throwing
my cloak over them, and then again propped up
the tent, until the squall was over.

August 28th----1 went along a range of sand-
hills with my glass, but could see nothing of the
men. The country was formed of gently un-
dulating hills, whose surfaces were covered with
large fragments of rocks, and a coarse gravelly
soil,'which afforded nutriment to some miserable
dwarf birch. The tea plant, crow, and cran-
berry shrubs also grew there, but were entirely
unproductive. In the swamps, occupying every
valley, the plant of the whortleberry was occa-
sionally found, but, as in the former case, without
fruit.

A chain of sand-hills, embracing two thirds
of a small lake with a pretty rocky island in its

SAND-HILLS.

centre, stretched from the eastward, and, gra-
dually rising to different heights, suddenly ter-
minated in abrupt cliffs ; whence renewing the
line again at the base, it extended to within
a couple of miles of our encampment. Thence,
separated only by a narrow stream which flowed
from the lake, the land ascended by a shelving
hill to a continuation of the chain ; a tongue of
white sand spotted with Arbutus (sac à commis* ),
which jutted out to the southward, completed,
with the hill on which we had taken our posi-
tion, the girdle of a bay, the waters of which
emptied themselves by a narrow channel to the
north-west. To the north, as well as west, were
other hills, detached from the chain, of a rocky
mossy character about the declivities, but end-
ing in rounded cones of sand, from one hundred
and fifty to five or six hundred feet high. Many
ravines and dry watercourses intersected the
hills ; and in one I saw a musk ox, which con-
trived to get away from me. The deer must
have been, at some time, exceedingly numerous ;
for the face of the ground for several miles was
beaten down by them.

August 29th.Becoming anxious about the
men, I took my gun, and, following a N. N.W.
direction, went out to look for them. Having
passed a small sheet of water, between the

* So called by the traders.

DISCOVERY OF

rivulet, or channel, previously mentioned, and
Lake Aylmer, I ascended a hill, from the top
of which I discerned, to my great delight, a
rapid, evidently connected with the stream which
flowed through the narrow channel from the lake.
With a quickened step I proceeded to trace its
course, and, in doing so, was further gratified at
being obliged to wade through the sedgy waters of
springs. Crossing two rivulets, whose lively ripples
ran due north into the rapid, the thought occur-
red to me, that these feeders might be tributaries
to the Thlew-ee-choh ; and, yielding to that pleas-
ing emotion, which discoverers, in the first bound
of their transport, may be pardoned for indulg-
ing, I threw myself down on the bank, and drank
a hearty draught of the limpid water. From a
height a mile forward, the line of stream could be
distinctly traced into an open space, which, as it
contracted, inclined to the north ; and this, with
the appearance of two plovers, exactly resembling
the noisy plover ( Charadrius vociferm) about
Fort Enterprise, convinced me that I stood
on part of the continuous height of land which
extends hither from the borders of the Copper
Mine River. The men not making their appear-
ance, I raised a dense smoke, by firing the moss,
to apprise them of my situation ; and returned
to the tent, passing, on my way, a white wolf,
which was sneaking towards a deer. A smoke

THE THLEW-EE-CHOH. 143

seen to rise from behind the sand-hills anounced,
shortly afterwards, the approach of the men ; and
at a late hour, the Indian first, and afterwards the
others, came in. De Charlôit groaned under the
weight of a musk-ox's head and horns, while his
companions were more usefully laden with the
spoils of some good fat deer.

They had fallen on the river the second day,
and described it as being large enough for boats.
Returning along its banks by a wide lake, and
two tributary streams as large as itself, they
ascertained that it was really the same stream,
the source of which I had thus accidentally dis-
covered in the Sand-hill Lake close to us ; which
was now distinguished by the name of Sussex
Lake, after His Royal Highness the Vice-Patron
of the expedition. I had reserved a little grog
for this occasion, and need hardly say with what
cheerfulness it was shared among the crew,
whose welcome tidings had verified the notion

of Dr. Richardson and myself, and thus placed
beyond doubt the existence of the Thlew-ee-
choh.

CHAP. V.

Digression concerning Hearne's Route.

THE route of the celebrated Hearne intersected
the country which has been just described ; and
there is no person interested in geographical re-
search who will not thank me for interrupting
for a moment the course of my narrative, in
order to introduce the following observations on
that traveller's geographical discoveries, for which
1 am indebted to Dr. Richardson.

" The adventurous journey of Hearne excited
very great public interest at the time it was
made, and will always form an epoch in the an-
nals of northern discovery ; for it gave the first
authentic information of a sea bounding Ame-
rica to the northward, and also overthrew the
numerous vague reports that existed of straits
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific in parallels
south of that to which he attained. Indeed, the
high latitude assigned to the mouth of the
Copper Mine River was so adverse to the opi-
nions previously entertained by the advocates
for the prosecution of a north-west passage, that
Dalrymple was induced closely to^ examine
the courses and distances recorded in Hearne's

HEARNE'S ROUTE. 145

Journal, whereby he discovered so great a dis-
crepancy between the outward and homeward
journeys as caused him to reject the higher lati-
tudes altogether, or greatly to reduce them ; and,
in doing so, he was undoubtedly right, though
Hearne complains bitterly in his preface of the
injustice done to him. The fact is, that, when
we consider the hardships which Hearne had
to endure, the difficult circumstances in which
he was frequently placed, the utter insufficiency
of his old and cumbrous Elton's quadrant as
an instrument for ascertaining the latitude, par-
ticularly in the winter, with a low meridian
sun, and a refraction of the atmosphere greatly
beyond what it was supposed to be by the best
observers of the period, and the want of any
means of estimating the longitude, except by
dead reckoning ; this reckoning requiring an
exact appreciation of distances, as well as cor-
rect courses, circumstances evidently unattain-
able by one accompanying an Indian horde in
a devious march through a wooded and moun-
tainous country; we shall not be inclined to
view with severity the errors committed, but
rather to think that the traveller's credit would
have been strengthened and not impaired by his
acknowledging the uncertainty of the position of
the places most distant from Churchill. Unfor-
tunately, however, Hearne himself thought dif-

146 DIGRESSION CONCERNING

ferently ; and in his published narrative, which
did not appear until twenty years after the com-
pletion of his journey, he attempts to establish
the correctness of his latitudes by various un-
founded assertions; one of which it will be suffi-
cient to notice here. He states that on the 21st
of July, ' though the sun's decimation was then
but 21°, yet it was certainly some height above the
horizon at midnight, at the mouth of the Copper-
mine River.' Now it so happens, that Sir John
Franklin encamped at that very place on the
19th of the same month, when the sun set at
' thirty minutes after eleven apparent time.'
Dalrymple had also remarked, that Hearne sub-
sequent to his celebrated journey committed a
great error in estimating the distance to Cum-
berland House, and therefore questioned his
general correctness ; and this conclusion is par-
ried only by Hearne's giving up his longitudes
as not being corrected by observation, but con-
tinuing to support the truth of his latitudes.
We shall, however, show, that his error in these
was still greater than in his longitudes ; his ob-
servations, if any were actually made, having
miserably deceived him. But we should greatly
mistake, if the detection of various instances
of disingenuousness led us to consider him as
entirely unworthy of credit, and to deny the
reality of his journey. We had an opportunity,
on Sir John Franklin's first expedition, of convers-

HEARNE'S ROUTE. 147

ing with several old men who had belonged to the
party of Copper Indians, that met Hearne atCon-
gecathewachaga. The leading facts of his jour-
ney are still current subjects of tradition among
that tribe, as well as with the Northern Indians ;
and from all that we have been able to collect in
the fur countries, as well as from an attentive
examination of his narrative, we are led to
conclude that he visited the various places
marked in his map, in the order in which they
stand ; that all the rivers and lakes which he
names actually exist ; and that he has correctly
described the general physical features of the
country he traversed. His description of the
lower part of the Coppermine River, in particu-
lar, is evidently that of one who had been on the
spot. Hearne's original journal was very meagre,
but, in common with all the residents in the fur
countries, he seems to have had an excellent
memory, and to have trusted much to it. By its
aid, accordingly, and with the co-operation of
Dr. Douglass, who edited his work, he has given
an exceedingly interesting account of his travels
and sufferings, together with very correct and im-
portant details of the habits of the various ani-
mals he was acquainted with. His printed
work does not, however, quote his courses and
distances so fully as his original journal (a copy
of which we saw at Hudson's Bay) ·, the ani-
L 2

148 DIGRESSION CONCERNING

madversions of Dalrymple having apparently
caused him to leave several important gaps in
the enumeration of his daily journies both out-
ward and homeward.

" It is a matter of some consequence in the
geographical delineation of the country, to ob-
tain the true route followed by Hearne ; and
notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of do-
ing so, originating in the above-mentioned causes,
Sir John Franklin's first journey supplies us with
data for the correction of part of his course, and
Captain Back's researches enable us to bring
another portion nearer to the truth. From the
former we obtain the correct position of the
mouth of the Coppermine River, of Congeca-
thewachaga, of Point Lake, and of the mouth of
Slave River, by which we can readily ascertain
all the western part of Hearne's route, the prin-
cipal errors of which are shown by the follow-
ing table :

Coppermine River, Congecathewachaga.

Lat. Long. Lat. Long.

Hearne - 71° 55' 120° 30' 68° 46' 118° 15'

Franklin - 67° 48' 115° 37' 66° 14' 111° 26'

4° 07' 4° 53' 2° 32' 6°

Point Lake. Slave River.

Lat. Long. Lat. Long.

Hearne - 65° 45' 119° 00' 60° 48' 123° 55'

Franklin - 65° 00' 112° 16' 61° 30' 113° 24'

0° 45' 6° 44' 0° 42' 10° 31

It will be at once perceived, that while
Hearne's latitude is too great at his most
northern point, by upwards of four degrees, it
is too little by three quarters of a degree at
Slave River ; and there is also a great error in
the course, for the mouth of the Slave River is
actually two degrees to the eastward of that of
the Coppermine, and not to the westward, as
laid down in Hearne's map. This appears to
have originated principally in his not having
attended to the variation of the magnetic needle;
though at the date of his journey it must have
exceeded two points easterly on the Copper-
mine ; and to give the correct course and dis-
tance between the latter place and Congeca-
thewachaga, that amount of variation is required
to be applied to Hearne's courses, while his dis-
tances are diminished to one half. A large re-
duction of the length of his marches, though not
always quite to this extent, must be made dur-
ing his whole journey. When travelling with
the Indians, their wives and children, during
the winter, and when it was necessary to hunt
for subsistence, he averages the daily distances
made good at ten, and even fourteen, or twenty
miles. Now in our journies with the Indians,
under similar circumstances, we found that they
seldom moved the camp above six miles in one
day, more frequently travelling only four, and

L 3

150 DIGHESSION CONCERNING

scarcely ever exceeding eight, excluding the
windings of the route. The power of estimating
the distance walked over can be acquired only by
practice, in conjunction with the daily correction
of errors by celestial observations,allowance
being, of course, made for the easy or difficult
nature of the country ; but Hearne, as we have
seen, was deprived of every means of correction ;
and having once started with an inaccurate no-
tion of the length of a mile, he carried the error
with him to the end of his journey. In correct-
ing his map, therefore, it is necessary to diminish
the size of the lakes in an equal, if not in a
greater degree than the distances. Upon these
principles we have ventured to fix the following
points of Hearne's route, taking, for conveni-
ence, his homeward one.

" He appears to have fallen on the Copper-
mine River first at the Sandstone rapids of
Franklin, and to have traced it to Bloody Fall ;
but, as contrary to his usual practice, he under-
rates the distance from thence to the coast, we
are led to conclude that he did not actually go
down to the sea, but was content to view it from
the top of the hill which overhangs the falls; and,
indeed, it is not very probable that he could have
induced the Indians, over whom he had little in-
fluence, to accompany him on his survey, after
they had completed the massacre which was the

HEARNE'S ROUTE. 151

object of their long and laborious journey ; nor,
had he gone actually to the mouth of the river,
would he have mentioned marks of a tide four-
teen feet high.

" Buffalo or Musk-ox Lake, which he passed in
going and returning, ought to be known by the
latter name exclusively, as it is not frequented
by the buffalo or bison. Cogead Lake is the
Cont-woy-to, or Rum Lake, of Franklin ; and
its waters, agreeably to Indian information ob-
tained by Captain Back, flow by Congecathe-
wachaga into the Thlew-ee-choh ; in which case,
the Anatessy, or Cree River, as it is named by
Franklin, is from its size to be considered as the
main branch of the Thlew-ee-choh. The true
distance from Congecathewachaga to Point Lake
is 78 miles, though by Hearne's map it is 150.
At one time, we were inclined to doubt the
identity of Franklin's Point Lake with the one so
named by Hearne, but we now consider them
to be the same ; and, indeed, the small scrubby
woods, which Hearne mentions as existing on its
banks, were seen by us, this being an advantage
possessed, perhaps, by no other lake so far to the
eastward, and in so high a latitude. Thaye-
chuck-gyed, or large Whitestone Lake lies a
short way to the northward of Point Lake, and
its waters most probably fall into that arm of
Point Lake which Franklin's party crossed on

L 4

152 DIGRESSION CONCERNING

the 23d of September, 1821. No-name Lake is
evidently Providence Lake of Franklin. Hearne
crossed Slave Lake by the usual Indian route,
through the Reindeer Islands to Stony Point,
and the Rivière à Jean, a branch of Slave River;
but his map is inaccurate here, and does not
agree with his text. The next place, whose
position it is very desirable to ascertain, is
Thelew-ey-aze-yeth, or Little Fish Hill ; and we
may be assisted in doing this by our knowledge
of three fixed points, viz. the mouth of Slave
River, the edge of the woods to the north-
ward, and Churchill Fort. The northern ter-
mination of the woods inclines from the east
side of Great Bear Lake considerably to the
southward, as it runs to the eastward, pass-
ing Fort Enterprise in 64^°, Artillery Lake in
63¿°, and continuing nearly in the same direc-
tion until it approaches Hudson's Bay. Hearne
makes it 63° 45' in the longitude he assigns to
Thelew-ey-aze-yeth, but we shall not probably
be far from the truth, if we consider it as in
63¿°. Now if we reduce the distance of one
hundred and fifty miles, at which he places
Thelew-ey-aze-yeth south of the barren grounds,
to between eighty and ninety miles, and allow
27° of variation on his route, we obtain 61° 55'
for the latitude of that place, which is forty miles
north of the position he assigns to it on his

HEAENE'S BOUTE. 153

map.* By a proportionate reduction of the dis-
tance between Slave River and Thelew-ey-aze-
yeth, and from the latter to Churchill, we fix
the required longitude at 106°. The position of
Thelew-ey-aze-yeth is important as forming the
junction of three branches of Hearne's route; and
if we have correctly established it, that traveller
must have passed over or near Artillery Lake in
his journeynorthwards, which is probably his Fee-
shew, or Cat Lake. The Thlew-ee-choh, which
he crossed about midway between that lake and
Congecathewachaga, is evidently not the branch
of that river which originates in Sussex Lake,
but a stream which flows in from the north-
ward, most likely into the Anatessy branch.

" The course of Thelew-ey-aze, or Little Fish
River, is a matter of considerable interest, but
we can derive no positive information respect-
ing its debouchure from Hearne's map. If he cal-
culated his distances on the same scale in his first
journey as he did afterwards, which is likely,
even though he had the assistance of a better
instrument on that occasion, the chain of lakes
which he lays down as far to the northward as
Chesterfield's Inlet, will reach but little beyond
Knap's Bay, and the nature of the country can

* As this reduction applies only to one of the branches of
Hearne's route, it would be safer for the present to let this
place keep the latitude he gives to it, viz. 61° 15' N.

154i DIGRESSION CONCERNING

be considered as known only up to that parallel.
He indicates a Little Fish River as existing at
no great distance from Hudson's Bay, and says
that it is three quarters of a mile wide, which
as he estimates distances may be about five
hundred and seventy yards ; but it can scarcely
be the river of the same name that originates so
far to the westward. If the latter issues in Ches-
terfield inlet, it may hereafter afford a very desir-
able route to Great Slave Lake. Its origin is at
no great distance from the Lake of the Hills, as
the traders travel to it from the establishment at
the Fond du Lac in four days. It is known
to them by the names of Rivière Noire and
Thlewndiaza.

" In conclusion we would remark, that the
names given by Hearne to the various lakes
which he saw are derived sometimes from the
Cree language, at other times from the northern
Indian ; and that his mode of writing the latter
is different from that which we found to be best
adapted to the pronunciation of the Copper
Indians. He spells the term for lake whoie,
while it is written to in Captain Franklin's nar-
rative; and the epithet trarrslated 'great'is spelt
chuck, whereas to us it sounded more like cho
or choh. There are likewise some evident mis-
takes in the names, and English is occasionally
employed in the text, while the map gives only

HEARNE'S BOUTE. 155

Indian, or vice versa. An instance of error
originating in this practice occurs in Hearne's
book, which shows that the author was not
always at the editor's elbow. In page 102.
Peeshew Lake is supposed to be the same with
Partridge Lake. Now Peeshew is the Cree
name for a lynx or cat, and the lake in question is
accordingly marked on the map as Cat Lake,
being, as we suppose, the same with Captain
Back's Artillery Lake. Thoy-noy-kyed Lake,
which Hearne draws correctly enough in his
original map, as discharging its waters into Slave
Lake, is the Lakes Aylmer and Clinton-Golden
of Captain Back. Thä-nä-koie, as the latter
writes it, means " Sand-hill Mount," and is the
name given to the narrows between these two
lakes. Hearne places this spot a degree and
a half too far north, and seven degrees and a
half too far west."

CHAP. VI.

Continue our Progress. Rocks on the Thletso-ee-choh.
Island of singular Appearance. Musk-Ox Lake.
Conjectures on the Course of the Thlew-ee-choh. Icy
River. Appearance of two Indians. Maufelly per-
mitted to visit Ms Wife. Consummate skill of De
Charlôit. Dwarf Pities. Story of the Rat and the
Beaver. Unfitness of the Trees for Planks. Artil-
lery Lake. Force of the Rapids. Accident in out-
Passage. Leave the Ah-hel-dessy. A Bear killed.
Ridiculous Story. March resumed. Desolate
Scenery, A Deer shot. Tormented by Sand-flies,
Anecdote of Sir John Franklin. Meeting with Mr.
M'Leod, by an unexpected Route.

AUGUST 30. Squalls and heavy rain prevailed
most part of the night ; and the morning was so
extremely foggy and raw, that nothing could be
done towards repairing the canoe, which, to my
regret, was found to be much more damaged than
I had supposed. Three or four hundred deer
came within half shot, but soon disappeared on
discovering their mistake. Almost immediately
afterwards a flock of geese flew close past, on
their way to the south ; which circumstance
Maufelly considered to be an indication of the
breaking up of the season.

ROCKS ON THE THLEW-EE-CHOH. 157

At noon the weather cleared, the canoe was
put in order, and having made a cache of
the spare baggage, we began to move to the
river. The portage from Lake Aylmer is short
of a mile, and in that space intervenes the small
sheet of water already referred to. The actual
height of the dividing land is consequently not
more than two feet. We pursued exactly my route
of the previous day, and soon came to another
lake, at the north-eastern extremity of which
the sand-hills dipped into the water. A crooked
rapid, beset with large stones, impeded us so
much, that it was 9 P. M. before we encamped.
Many deer and grayling were seen. The coun-
try became more broken into hills, some of
which exposed inconsiderable masses of rocks,
while the debris thickly strewn over every
part of the vallies formed the bed of numer-
ous "ponds and water-courses, now dry. A
portion of rock having a more compact form,
broke ground near the river, and though not ex-
tending more than thirty yards to the eastward,
terminated in cliffs of twelve feet high. These
were the first rocks on the Thlew-ee-choh, and
were principally gneiss.

The thermometer was 33° when we set out
at 4. A. M. of the 31st of August, and followed a
small lake until it ended in a rapid ; so choked
by immense boulders that small as the canoe

158 ISLAND OF SINGULAR APPEARANCE.

was, a passage could not be effected without
lifting her between the shelving pieces ; though,
if a man slipped, there was quite water enough
in many places to carry him under. The rough
handling, added to the cold nights, had rendered
the canoe so crazy, that the mere action of
paddling now damaged her, and a third of one
day was lost in making her tight.

The stream again widened into what might
be called a lake, and received the waters of Icy
River from the westward, as well as those of
another river from the eastward. The banks of
the first were still cased in ponderous ice far
up the valley, and the confluence was marked by
a sort of curved surface, in the form of a low
arch, from side to side, under which the water
rushed in a yeasty current with a deep and
rumbling noise. Some islands were passed, and
one of the least had a singularly white appear-
ance, which was caused, as I afterwards found,
by large, round, light-coloured stones, which
formed its cone-shaped sides. Situated as it
was, nearly in the centre of a wide current,
and in deep water, it was not easy to conceive
to what this peculiar structure owed its origin ;
for the stones were piled up twenty feet, were
not encrusted with lichens, but, on the contrary,
except in three or four spots, were perfectly
clean, and had evidently obtained their present

MUSK-OX LAKE. 15Q

form from long exposure to attrition. I fancied,
at this time, that it might have been produced
by the combined pressure of the ice and cur-
rent ; but the following spring showed that the
former was level entirely round, and the latter
less powerful than might have been expected.
I was induced to notice more particularly the
formation of this conical island, because the
Indians concurred in describing the phenomenon
of a smoking rock or mountain in a granitic
district, nearly destitute of wood.

For myself, I must say, that I observed no
volcanic appearances along the whole line of our
track, and it is not impossible that the Indians
were mistaken as to this matter ; for having my-
self had occasion to visit a place where one of
my crew had fancied he saw a thick column of
smoke issuing from a rock near the Ah-hel-dessy,
I found that the smoke was nothing more than
the spray rising from Parry's Falls.

A narrow brought us to Musk-ox Lake, about
six miles long, surrounded by tolerably steep
hills, abounding, as Maufelly said, at certain sea-
sons, with those animals ; and now having ar-
rived at the commencement of a series of rapids,
which the canoe was too weak to run, and
too ricketty to be carried over, I had no choice
but to stop, and rest satisfied with what had
been achieved ; which, if not equal to my hopes,
was still sufficient to cheer my companions, and

160 COURSE OF THE RAPIDS.

lure them on to the relief, as we then supposed,
of our long-suffering countrymen.

The rapids ran in a meandering course for an
estimated distance of four miles, and then ex-
panded into a wider part, the last bearing of
which was north-east, where it was lost in a
transverse range of mountains. According to
the Indians, there was a large river not far off,
that issued from the Cont-woy-to, or Rum Lake
of Hearne, and fell into the Thlew-ee-choh. The
distance of the lake was considered to be five
days'march for a good hunter; and as they walk
with little rest, I think this estimate not unlikely
to be correct ; though it is difficult to imagine
an outlet at each extreme, running in opposite
directions. The Indians, however, were unani-
mous on this head, and would not admit of there
being a swampy ¿marsh or narrow neck of land
dividing the two waters ; indeed, they one and all
laughed at the idea, and said that I had crossed
the western river myself, meaning Bellenger's
Rapid, where my friend Franklin had so narrow
an escape. But without dwelling longer on the
subject, as to which I had always my doubts, I
was now easy as regarded the magnitude of the
Thlew-ee-choh, but very far from being so with
respect to its course. The river, it was evident,
would go on increasing by successive contribu-
tions from every valley throughout its descent,
and would probably become a noble and ex-

1
COURSE OF THE THLEW-EE-CHOH. 161

pansive stream ; but, slavishly subject to the
trending and declination of the land, it might
possibly lead to some part unfavourable to our
object; and whatever its direction, the appear-
ance of the blue Mountains in the distance
afforded abundant reason for supposing that we
should have no lack of rapids and falls.

The observations gave the latitude 64· ° 40'51"
N. ; longitude 108° 08' 10" W. ; variation 44°
24' E. It appeared, therefore, that we were
only 109 miles south of the lower extremity of
Bathurst's Inlet ; and as the two Indians, who
had been any distance down the Thlew-ee-choh,
agreed in stating that it took a turn to the left,
and then went due north, there was a remote
chance of its being identical with Back's River
there, though its present N.E. trending was not
favourable to that hypothesis.

The Yellow Knives, who travel across the
country in the spring to spear the deer as they
pass the rapid, were not accustomed to go be-
yond two days' march farther, through fear, as
they said, of falling in with Esquimaux : little
reliance, therefore, could be placed on their in-
formation respecting a river known to them
only by report. Neither they, nor the Chipewy-
ans, evinced the least desire to extend their
knowledge by offering to accompany us. We
embarked towards evening, on our return; and

162 APPEARANCE OF TWO INDIANS.

on passing Icy River, I observed that it had
two channels, occasioned by an island at its
mouth : the ice had undergone no perceptible
alteration. Having made the portages of the
upper rapids with some inconvenience, owing
to the fragments of rocks, and innumerable large
stones, which slipped from under our feet, we
reached the cache at Sand-hill Bay. It had
not been touched by the wolves ; and, with the
exception of a solitary raven, busily occupied in
devouring a piece of refuse deer's flesh, not a
living creature was to be seen.

The canoe being repaired, we coasted along
the eastern shore of Lake Aylmer, occasionally
passing sand-banks of unequal height, and dip-
ping to the south, whereas those on the Thlew-
ee-choh dipped to the north.

As we neared the narrows of Clinton-Golden
Lake, on the 4th of September, a smoke was ob-
served far south ; and, towards the evening, two
Indians made their appearance on the bank of
a hill, and, in obedience to our signs, came to
the canoe. They informed us that, in a dispute
between a Chipewyan and their countrymen,
the Yellow Knives, the former had been killed ;
but, as he was an orphan, no one would revenge
his death. The Indians generally, they said,
had been distressed for provision, though, from
the distant smokes they had seen in the day, it

MAUFELLY STRIVES TO GET AWAY. 103

might be inferred that they had been successful
in their hunts, and would soon have the means
of bringing us a liberal supply. Maufelly now
told me that, as he understood his old father
was with some Indians to the westward, and,
from his infirmities, was unable himself to hunt,
he was anxious to go and support him ; adding,
that the poor old man had no other dependence,
and might be left to starve by the young men,
who always followed the deer, regardless of
the laggers behind. Knowing that so unna-
tural an act was altogether improbable, and
feeling the necessity of retaining him as a guide
to the east end of Great Slave Lake, I refused
my permission, unless he were content to sa-
crifice what his labours had already earneda
condition which, I well knew, would not be pa-
latable to him : and the difficulty was finally got
over by his persuading one of the other Indians to
become his companion, so as to enable him to
return to his father at the earliest moment that
I might find it practicable to release him and
trust to his substitute. Accordingly, we made
room for our new-comer, and, having picked up
the bag of pemmican left in cache, encamped, at
sunset, near the first rapid in the little river.

Two Indians soon arrived from Akaitcho,
whose party had that afternoon found a seasonable
relief to the long privation, which their squalid

M 2

164 MAUFELLY VISITS HIS WIFE.

and emaciated appearance too painfully indicated.
I knew them both : one, indeed, had been with
me to the Copper-mine River, on Sir J. Frank-
lin's first expedition. With the usual apathy of
their nature, they evinced no marks of satisfac-
tion or surprise at seeing me ; but received
their tobacco, and smoked it as coolly as if it had
been given by some gentleman of the country
in the regular routine of a trading expedition.
Their silence and seriousness soon, however, un-
derwent an extraordinary change, when they
heard some half dozen expressions which I had
been accustomed to use on the former occasion.
They laughed immoderately; kept repeating the
words ; talked quickly among themselves, and
seemed greatly delighted. They were supplied
with presents for my old friends Akaitcho and
his brother Humpy ; and as they were going,
the interpreter came with a request on behalf of
Maufelly, who was afraid, he said, to ask me in
person lest I should be displeased, that I would
give him leave only to go and see his wife, who
had favoured him with a child in his absence,
undertaking faithfully to return before we should
be ready in the morning. To this there could
be no objection ; and I shall not easily forget
the poor fellow's transports as he leapt into the
canoe with his countrymen, and began to sing
and shout in imitation of the Canadians.

CONSUMMATE SKILL OF DE CHARLOIT. 105

September 5th. Maufelly was as good as
his word; for by 4 A.M. he arrived, accompanied
by another of my Fort Enterprise acquaintances,
who, actuated by curiosity, or the prospect of a
smoke, was thus early in his attention. I had
this day another opportunity of admiring the
consummate skill of De Charlôit, who ran our
ricketty and shattered canoe down four suc-
cessive rapids, which, under less able manage-
ment, would have whirled it, and every body in
it, to certain destruction. Nothing could exceed
the self-possession and nicety of judgment with
which he guided the frail thing along the narrow
line between the high waves of the torrent, and
the returning eddy : a foot in either direction
would have been fatal ; but, with the most
perfect ease, and, I may add, elegant and
graceful action, his keen eyes fixed upon the
run*, he kept her true to her course through
all its rapid windings. The rapids brought us
to the same lake which had been found with so
much trouble, and crossed on the 25th of August.
Our Indian preferred the western shore, which
differed in nothing from its opposite, except that
the rocks were higher, though, like the others,
quite barren. A group of islands appeared in a
S.S. W. direction ; and, as we proceeded, the hills

* Lead of the water.
M 3

166 FIRST DWARF PINES.

became more sloping and less craggy, with a
light covering of moss upon them. Still farther
south, in latitude 63° 15' 00" N., we saw the
first dwarf pines, from fourteen inches to two
feet high, which my bowman humourously
called des petits vieux. In many of these the
head of the stem was dead, and blanched with
age ; while a progeny of branches shot out
from the foot, with just so much of green on their
stunted limbs as sufficed to show that they were
alive. Nevertheless, such as they were, they
were welcome to us, who had not seen any since
the 20th of August ; and, as all enjoyment is
comparative, we looked forward with delight to
the comfort of a good fire. Men's notions of
happiness vary with their circumstances and
condition ; and in the seemingly trifling change
from one kind of food to another, the voyageur
has as keen a sense of pleasure, and is, per-
haps, as grateful to the bountiful Giver, as
more favoured mortals amid their boasted refine-
ments.

The eastern shore, though dimmed by a blue
mist or haze, was occasionally visible, and the
country began to assume a more wooded and
inhabitable look. When we got to a long and
rounded mound, about half a mile from the
western side, I observed that both the Indians
assumed a look of superstitious awe, and main-

STORY OF THE RAT AND BEAVER. 167

tained a determined silence. I inquired the
reason of this reverential demeanour ; when
Maufelly, after some hesitation, with a face of
great seriousness, informed us, that the small
island we were passing was called the Rat's
Lodge, from an enormous musk rat which once
inhabited it. " But what you see there," said
he, pointing to a rock on the opposite shore,
with a conical summit, " that is the Beaver's
Lodge ; and lucky shall we be if we are not
visited with a gale of wind, or something worse.
The chief would perhaps laugh at the story
which our old men tell, and we believe, about
that spot." He then proceeded to narrate, with
great earnestness and solemnity of manner, a
traditionary tale, which, as illustrative of Indian
notions, may not be uninteresting to the reader.
It was in substance as follows : "In that lodge
there dwelt, in ancient times, a beaver as large as a
buffalo ; and, as it committed great depredations,
sometimes alone, and sometimes with the aid of
its neighbour the rat, whom it had enticed into
a league, the bordering tribes, who suffered from
these marauding expeditions, resolved upon its
destruction. Accordingly, having consulted to-
gether on the best mode of executing their
design, and arranged a combined attack ; not
however, unknown to the wary beaver, which, it
seems, had a spy in the enemy's quarters. They
M 4

168 STORY OF

set out one morning before the sun rose, and,
under cover of a dense vapour which hung upon
the lake, approached, with noiseless paddle, the
shore of the solitary lodge. Not a whisper was
heard, as each Indian cautiously took his station,
and stood with bow or spear in act to strike.
One, the ' Eagle of his tribe/ advanced before
the rest, and with light steps drew near a
cavern in the rock ; where, placing his head to
the ground, he listened anxiously for some
moments, scarcely seeming to breathe ; then,
with a slight motion of his hand, he gave the
welcome sign that the enemy was within.

" A shower of arrows was poured into the
chasm ; and the long shrill whoop that accom-
panied the volley had just died away in its caverns,
when a heavy splash was heard, which, for a time,
suspended further operations. The attacking
party gazed on one another in mute and vacant
surprise ; for they had not suspected the subter-
ranean passage, and felt that they were bafïïed.
The chief, after creeping into the cavern to
explore, directed them to embark ; and, having
formed a crescent with their canoes at intervals
of a hundred yards from each other, they paddled
towards the Rat's Lodge, under the idea that
the enemy might have retreated thither : if not,
it was agreed, that the rat, though, upon the

THE RAT AND BEAVER. 109

whole, comparatively harmless, should pay the
penalty of his untoward alliance, and suffer a
vicarious punishment, for the sins of his friend
and the gratification of the disappointed pursuers.
The rat, however, fortunately for himself, had
that instinctive foresight of approaching ruin
which proverbially belongs to his race ; and,
however ready to assist his neighbour when
matters went well with him, and something was
to be gained by the cooperation, he watched with
a prudent jealousy the conduct and fortunes of
one so obnoxious to hatred, and was ready, on
the first appearance of danger, to stand aloof and
disclaim him. Accordingly, when the beaver
presented himself at the lodge of his friend, to
crave a temporary asylum from his pursuers, the
rat, with many protestations of esteem and
regret, civilly declined to admit him, and recom-
mended him to make the most of his time by
swimming to some rocks to the south, where he
would be safe from his enemies.

"The beaver, though stunned for a time by this
unexpected repulse, soon recovered his wonted
spirit, and, feeling his situation to be hopeless,
threw himself on the rat, and began a desperate
struggle. How the contest might have ended,
it was difficult to conjecture ; but the whoop of
the Indians arrested the combatants ; and, darting

170 STORY OP THE RAT AND BEAVER.

a look of vengeance at the rat, the beaver
plunged once more into the water. The chase
was long, and many were the hair-breadth
escapes of the resolute beaver : but the ar-
dour of the hunters was not to be quenched j
and tracked to the end of the lake, and thence
down the cataracts and rapids which mark its
course to the next, the exhausted animal yielded
its life, just as its feet touched the distant rocks
oftheTal-thel-leh.

" But its spirit," said Maufelly in a low and
subdued tone, " still lingers about its old haunt,
the waters of which obey its will ; and ill fares
the Indian who attempts to pass it in his canoe,
without muttering a prayer for safety : many
have perished ; some bold men have escaped ;
tut none have been found so rash as to venture
a second time within its power."

Whatever may be thought of this strange
story, Maufelly related it with so serious an air,
as to leave no doubt of his own entire and un-
qualified faith ; and the minute circumstantiality
of the detail showed with what a religious care
he had treasured every particular.

The woods afforded us a cheerful fire at our
encampment. The night was calm, and beauti-
fully lit up by the flitting coruscations of a bright
aurora ; nevertheless, impending storms were

UNFITNESS OF THE TREES FOR PLANKS.

threatened by the cackling of hundreds of geese,
which, at an immense height, were winging
their flight to the southward. Ranged accord-
ing to their families, the Grey, or Bustard,
the White, and the Laughing Geese, came
past in quick succession, vying in swiftness, as
if' anxious to escape from the wintry horrors of
the north. Nothing could be more conclusive
of the breaking up of the season ; and we had
reason to be grateful for being so near home.

September 6th. The lake gradually con-
tracted; and I was sorry to remark that the trees
were generally small, and unfit for sawing into
planks for the construction of my boats. A bay,
edged by sand-banks, seemed at first sight to offer
a better kind ; but this also, on inspection, was
found knotty, full of branches, and consequently
unsuitable to the purpose. It was this spot that
the Indians had recommended, as possessing all
the requisites for building and supporting a new
establishment ; and a stronger example of their
incapacity for judging, and of the necessity
of receiving their suggestions with caution,
could scarcely be brought forward. The aspect
was unsheltered and forbidding ; the waters were
without fish; and there was hardly wood enough
in the immediate vicinity to raise a temporary
hut, far less to supply it with fuel.

Accustomed to their exaggerations, I was not

172 FORCE OP THE RAPIDS.

myself much disappointed ; but it bore hard
upon the men, whose utmost exertions would
thus be required in making the necessary prepar-
ations, at a time when they should rather have
been husbanding their strength for the ensuing
summer. We soon got to the southern extremity
of the lake, which is about forty miles long, and
twelve broad at the widest part ; and, out of
respect to the distinguished corps to which some
of my crew belonged, and from a grateful remem-
brance of the deep interest manifested by its
officers* for the success of the expedition, and
of their friendly courtesies to myself, I called it
Artillery Lake.

The liver, by which it discharges itself into
Great Slave Lake, began its descent by an ugly
rapid, too hazardous to run, and yet scarcely so
dangerous as to induce us to make a portage of.
We compromised, therefore, by lowering half the
way, and carrying the rest. A second rapid was
run ; but we had not calculated on the amazing
force of so confined a torrent; and, just as we
gained the eddy, the old canoe got a twist which
nearly broke it in two. Another clump of pines
induced me to land; and, while the men examined
the quality of the timber, I obtained a set of

t Col. Godby, Capt. Anderson, Lieuts. Tylden, Crau-
furd, &c.

ACCIDENT IN OUR PASSAGE. 173

sights, which gave the latitude 62° 53' 26" N. ;
longitude, 108° 28' 24" W. ; and variation, 38°
42'E.

The wood was no way better than that seen
in the early part of the morning; and we pushed
from the bank, with the intention of going care-
fully down the stream ; though a look of inde-
cision, if not of positive apprehension, betokened
some inward working in the steersman's mind,
for which I was utterly unable to account, until
informed, that for days past Maufelly had been
talking about the dangers he did know, and the
dangers he did not know, in the Ah-hel-dessy.
The Indians, he said, never attempted it in any
manner, either up or down ; and, as he was not in
a hurry to die, though he was willing to walk on
the rocks, he would not, on any account, run it
in the canoe. I shamed him out of this unmanly
resolution ; and when he and his companion had
indulged in a laugh among themselves, we slipt
down another rapid. However, on trying the
fourth, the steersman became so unnerved, as to
lose all self-command ; and, by not cooperating
with De Charlôit, fixed us against a sharp rock,
that cut the canoe. Happily, it twirled round,
and floated till we reached the shore. The man's
confidence was gone ; and, rather than incur any
more such risks in the foaming rapids before us,
I abandoned an attempt which the Indian per-

174 LEAVE THE AH-HEL-DESSY.

sisted in declaring was impossible ; and the trusty
and battered canoe being left, with a few other
things in cache, each man was laden with a
weight of one hundred and twenty pounds, and
began to pick his way up the steep and irregular
sides of the hills. On gaining the summit,
Maufelly pointed out to me the spot where
Sanpere turned back when he was sent to look
for the Thlew-ee-choh ; so that he had never left
the woods, and, consequently, had not been more
than half the distance. *

At first, we walked with tolerable speed over
the broken rocks, and through the intersecting
gullies ; but the kind of ladder exercise which this
imposed taxed the muscles so severely, that the
strongest was fain to slacken his pace, as the
same interruptions and impediments multiplied
upon us. We had every disadvantage in follow-
ing the stream ; and, as I could now trace it in a
westerly direction as far as a range of mountains
that cut it at right angles, and along the base of
which it would necessarily flow, there could be no
reason to impose upon my crew the fatigue of
going there, when, by following a straight line
to the east end of Slave Lake, the distance and
labour might be so materially lessened.

I took leave, therefore, of the Ah-hel-dessy,

* See page 87.

A BEAR KILLED. 17-5

and had abundant cause to rejoice at having
done so ; for the whole distance to the mountains
appeared to be an unbroken succession of rapids,
which must have stopped us; for, whether pass-
able or not in a boat, they were evidently imprac-
ticable for a canoe. The mosquitos, and their
confederates the sand-flies, had of late nearly
disappeared, or, if a few still buzzed about, they
were too torpid to give much annoyance, while
the memory of their past injuries, with the pre-
sent sense of security, had given occasion to
many ajest: but our merriment was now inter-
rupted by the unrelenting attacks of increased
swarms of the latter, whose more southerly abode
had preserved them in the enjoyment of robust
and vigorous health. The persecution of these
venomous insects, and the badness of the route,
occasioned frequent halts ; in one of which a
solitary bear caught the ever-watchful sight of
the Indian ; and, instantly seizing a gun, he went
with De Charlôit in pursuit.

The rock and valley favoured their approach ;
and, though Bruin was on the look out, and,
raising himself on his hind legs, stretched out
his neck, with a sort of waltzing motion, sniffing
the wind suspiciously, all his care was ineffec-
tual in ten minutes he was lying dead, at
the foot of the precipice over which he rolled
as he fell. Maufelly immediately ran to some

176 RIDICULOUS STORY.

willows ; and, having cut a branch and trimmed
it into a skewer, he fixed it into the bear's mouth,
in such a manner as to keep the jaws fully ex-
tended ; which, he assured me, with much gravity,
would prevent its biting, as many of its kind had
been known to do, and as his own father had
found to his cost. To that hour, he said, he
bore the marks of one, which he thought had
been dead, and was deliberately preparing to cut
up ; when, to his great horror, it seized him by
the leg. Aware of their obstinacy of belief on
all matters connected with hunting, or relating
to the animals with which they were familiar, I
made no vain attempts to convince them of their
errors, however ridiculous, but listened patiently,
and without comment, to their stories ; but my
steersman was so much diverted at the gaping
countenance of Bruin, that he gave loose to his
mirth ; which so annoyed the Indian, that, with
a glance of ineffable contempt, not unmixed
with anger, he muttered in his guttural language,
" The white man did not laugh in the rapid/'
He then sat down and smoked his pipe, while
his companion expertly stripped off the skin, and
placed the meat in cache, to be sent for at a
future opportunity. I could not avoid remark-
ing the minute curiosity with which the operator
inspected the entrails, the haste with which he
threw over his shoulders a portion that he had

RESUME OUR MARCH. 177

lopped off, carefully refraining to look in that
direction, and the smile which played over his
features at beholding the stomach filled with
berries. " C'est leur façon," said the interpreter
to my inquiry, who, notwithstanding the philo-
sophic tenor of his answer, was evidently as
interested in the scrutiny as the Indian himself.
By the same " façon, " I learned that the rein-
deer had no gall-bladder in the region of the
liver, nor any where else, that they could dis-
cover ; a fact of which I have no hesitation in
confessing my previous ignorance, but which
was subsequently verified by the anatomical
examination of Mr, King.

The march was resumed, sometimes in valleys
heaped with confused masses of debris from the
surrounding granite, at others along narrow
shelves of perpendicular rocks, not unlike some
of the passes of the Alps, and threatening the
same disastrous consequences from a false step.
Our route seemed even perilous ; and thinking
the Indian had purposely led us into it by way
of revenge for the late laugh, I hastened forward
to remonstrate; but he kept his lead, and when I
reached the summit of the mountain, the sun was
setting, and it was time to encamp. "Let not the
sun go down on thy wrath," admonished me to
be silent; and when Maufelly pointed to Artillery

178 DESOLATE SCENERY.

Lake on the far horizon, and to another at the
extreme south, I rejoiced that, whatever the mo-
tive might have been, he had chosen that steep
and weary track. It was a sight altogether novel
to me ; I had seen nothing in the Old World at
all resembling it. There was not the stern beauty
of Alpine scenery, and still less the fair variety
of hill and dale, forest and glade, which makes the
charm of a European landscape. There was
nothing to catch or detain the lingering eye,
which wandered on, without a check, over endless
lines of round backed rocks, whose sides were
rent into indescribably eccentric forms. It was
like a stormy ocean suddenly petrified. Except
a few tawny and pale green lichens, there was
nothing to relieve the horror of the scene ; for
the fire had scathed it, and the grey and black
stems of the mountain pine, which lay prostrate
in mournful confusion, seemed like the blackened
corpses of departed vegetation. It was a picture
of " hideous ruin and combustion."

Our encampment was broken up, and we were
on our way very early on the morning of the 7th
of September, but every one was too busily en-
gaged in picking his way to speak ; not a word
was audible until about eight o 'clock, when a
fine buck deer, betrayed by its branching antlers,
was espied feeding behind a point thirty paces
from us. It was brought down ; and the haunch,



UNCERTAIN FATE OF AUGUSTUS. blessing of communication with their friends but once through a long twelvemonth. Yet so true is it that " Man never is but always to be blest," that before we had time to congratulate each other, our joy was almost turned into sorrow. The bearer, on delivering the packet, added, that he believed he had brought only half; that the remainder had been sent from Fort Reso- lution upwards of a month ago, under the charge of two men, a Canadian and an Iroquois; that these had been accompanied by my old com- panion Augustus, the Esquimaux interpreter, who no sooner heard that I was in the country than he expressed his determination to join me, and had actually walked from Hudson's Bay with that affectionate intention; that the three men, having no language in common, were unable to convey their sentiments to each other ; and that having lost their way, two of them, after an absence of eighteen days, found their way back to the fort ; but without Augustus, who they declared persisted, in spite of their en- treaties, in his forlorn search. On opening my letters I found this account but too true, and moreover that the brave little fellow had with him, when they parted, only ten pounds of

	pemmican, and neither	.->' u	n nor bow and arrows.
	pemmican, and neither



510 APPENDIX. tips of the wing coverts also exhibit various degrees of white. Tertiaries mostly like the back; but their tips are darker, and their extreme edges soiled white. Outer tail feathers entirely white ; the next pair white at both extremities, the others show- ing successively less white, and the central ones, as has been men- tioned, entirely brown. FORM. Outer web of the feet notched, including only the first joint of the outer toe ; and merely two thirds of the corresponding phalanx of the middle toe. Inner web scarcely perceptible. Inch. lin. Inch. lin.

			Length of middle toe and "I nail Length of bill above - 0 ------------bill to rictus 0
		Length from tip of bill 1 to end of tail - - J Length of tail - -23 ------------folded wing - 4 8£

	------------tarsus - - 0 10\| THE MALLARD. (Anas boschas AUCT.) F. B. A. 2. p. 442. This duck is stated by Mr. Audubon to be rare on the Atlantic coast of the United States, but to be more numerous in the interior, and to breed as far south as Kentucky and Indiana. It is very generally diffused through the fur countries up to the northern extremity of the woods, and is the weightiest and best duck that resorts thither. Of the true ducks (the anatin of Swainson), the shoveller passes through the fur coun- tries in about equal numbers with the mallard, but breeds farther north, on the barren grounds. The gadwall and widgeon breed in all parts of the woody country, though in smaller numbers than the preced- ing ones ; while the green-winged teal, on the other hand, is much more numerous, and breeds on the banks of every river and lake, both in the woody and barren districts. The blue-winged teal is also numerous, to the southward of the Athabasca country; and the summer-duck is rare on the Saskatchewan, and does not travel farther north. These ducks arrive from the south as soon as the snow melts, and



		516
		516		APPENDIX.
				APPENDIX.

		67th parallel of latitude. Its call is much like the pro- longed laugh of a man. Captain James Ross did not see this goose on the peninsula of Boothia, and it does not appear to be common on the coast of Hudson's Bay. The autumn migration southwards of the laughing goose commences early in September ; and its re- turn at that season to the fur districts is often the first indication of winter having begun within the arctic circle. It passes on towards the United States, in advance of the Canada goose; and Mr. Audubon says that it arrives before the latter in Kentucky, where many of the species winter ; but many also, he is con- vinced, go entirely to the southward of the United States' boundary. The same gentleman informs us that this species leaves its winter quarters a fortnight sooner than the Canada goose, which is different from the order of their appearance on the banks of the Saskatchewan. Its flesh is superior to that of the Canada goose. SNOW GOOSE. (Anser hiperbóreas.) F. B. A. "2. p. 467. This beautiful goose has exactly the gait and form of the preceding; and is very little larger, when full grown. The two species, according to Audubon, quit their winter quarters, in the United States, at the same time ; but the snow goose generally makes its first appearance in the fur countries a few days later than the laughing goose, though the main flocks of both pass at the same time. The snow goose breeds in vast numbers on the borders of the small lakes near the coasts of the Arctic Sea, on the islands of the same, and also on Melville Peninsula. In its journey northwards,



			597
		APPENDIX.


aurora ceasing, and the coruscations becoming faint, it settled at 0° 30' E. October 28th. At 8^h A. M. the needle was at 1° 20' E. At 9^h I found it at 2° 20' E. : saw it move to 2° 50' E., and being something surprised, I went out to endeavour to trace some cause for such a deviation. There was not, however, the least vestige of a cloud, the sky being of an indigo colour at the zenith, and becoming fainter in tone till it mingled in a pale yellow near the horizon. The sun was very bright, about 10° high, and bore E. ¿ S. (m.) * The thermometer on the north side of the observatory was 4g°, that on the south, exposed to the sun's rays, was +4·\|° : the weather calm. At 10^h A.M. the needle was agitated at 1° 30' E. ; at ll^h I found it also at 1° 30' E., but in motion, which took it to 2° 0' E., then to 0° 20' E., to 0° 20 W., where it remained ten seconds, and repassed to 0 40 E., to 0° 0, 0° 10 E., to 0° 30' E., 0° 20' E., to 1° 0' E., 1° -10' E., and 0° 25' E. : when, seeming to be stationary, I went out, and placing myself in the shade of a fir tree of thirty feet high, looked directly to the zenith and to the westward (the sun being too bright to look to the eastward), when there appeared a very faint and filmy arch of pale white, that issued from a mass of white cloud precisely similar in shape to the horse-shoe mass of aurora of last night in the same place ; and on watch-



	All the bearings are magnetic. Q Q 3



		603
	APPENDIX.	603

blue colour, and studded with twinkling stars. The thermometer in the air was 22¿°, and in the observ- atory 16°, and there was a light breeze from W.N.W. At 1 l^h there was no aurora. January 14th. At 9^h A. M. mean of thermometers 59° ; the sky clear in the zenith, but misty about the horizon. Needle 0° 58' E., slightly vibrating. As the sun rose above the adjacent mountain, it began to move between 1° 40' and 50' E. At 10^h P.M. thermometer 55°, sky deep blue, weather calm. The aurora was generally diffused from rays at N.W.b.N., and E.b.S. to an attenuated arch across the zenith, emanating from N. E. b. E., and extending to W. But from the same point, and as far as due east, rose a clear serpentine beam which took a southerly direction at an angle of 25°, and terminated in an obtuse point at W.S.W., 3° high. Some wreaths, and four very singularly shaped beams, were for a time apparently stationary at E. N. E. and E., the latter were almost at right angles to the arch, as



		********

	* V ^<

LONDON : Printed by A. SPOTTISWOOBE, New-Street-Square.



		TO

	THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF RIPON.

MY LORD, Yoiui Lordship was Secretary of State for the Colonies wh.u the Expedition of which the following is the Narrative was organised : and to your good Offices, and liberal Subscription in its favour, the success of the project was at that time mainly due. I have ventured, in conse- quence, to dedicate to you the Volume : and am most happy in being thus enabled to express some part of the sincere respect with which I have the honour to be, MY LORD, Your Lordship's most obedient and very humble Servant, GEORGE BACK.



			CONTENTS.

		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER Page 1 CHAPTER I. Departure from England. Arrival at Montreal. Pre- parations for the Expedition.-Fire at the Hotel, De- parture from La Chine. The St. Lawrence. The Ottawa. Lake Huron. The Sault de Ste. Marie---- Arrival at Fort William. Distribution of the Loadings. The Mountain Fall. Lac de la Pluie. Arrival at Fort Alexander. Magnetic Observations. Arrival of Governor Simpson, and Arrangements made by him. Arrival at Norway House. Difficulty of procuring Men for the Service. Departure from Norway House 27 CHAP. II. Commencement of the Expedition. Interview with Mr. Charles. Wind-bound by a Land Gale. A Receipt for the Cure of " Blue Devils." Description of a Voyageur's Tent. A Land Storm. The Grand Rapid. Advance of Cultivation. Arrival at Cumberland House. De- parture of the Bateaux under Mr. King. Embark in a Canoe. Working of the Boats in the Rapids- Isle à la Crosse.Buffalo Lake. A Squall.A Skunk.Portage la Loche. Effect of the Scenery. Interview with Mr. Stuart and Mr. A. M^cLeod. The latter volunteers to accompany the Expedition. Arrive at Fort Chipewyan. Information as to the supposed Route by the Fond du Lac. Journey resumed. Salt River. Sketch of a Party of Indians. Description of the Salt Springs.



	VI CONTENTS.

		Indian Encampment. Information of the Natives as to the Rivers Thlew-ee-choh and Tĉh-lon. Arrival at Fort Resolution - - Page 57

CHAP. III. Inquiries and Embarrassments about the Route___Prepar- ations for Departure----Embark in search of the Thlew- ee-choh. Indian Encampment and Indian Politeness---- \| Point of Honour among Indian Hunters. Description of the Country through which the Route lay. A small Ice- berg seen. A Bear Hunt----Indian Inconsistency. Description of the Coast Line. Point Keith and Chris- tie's Bay. Eastern Extremity of Great Slave Lake---- Discovery of the River supposed to lead towards the Thlew-ee-choh----Preparations to ascend it 83 CHAP. IV. Difficult and toilsome Ascent of Hoar Frost River. Striking Scenery along its Course. Illness of the Interpreter. Encampment upon Cook's Lake. Ascent of another small River full of Rapids. Desertion of Two Indians. Per- plexity of the Guide as to the proper Course, and Attempt to desert. Succession of Streams and Lakes. Indian Account of the The-lew or Teh-Ion. Clinton-Golden, Aylmer, and Sussex Lakes. Discovery of the Thlew- ee-choh - 113 CHAP. V. Digression concerning Hearne's Route 144 CHAP. VI. Continue our Progress. Rocks on the Thlew-ee-choh. Island of singular Appearance. Musk-Ox Lake----Con- jectures on the Course of the Thlevv.ee-choh. Icy



		CONTENTS. VU River. Appearance of Iwo Indians. Maufelly per- milled lo visil his Wife. Consummale Skill of De Char- loil----Dwarf Pines. Slory of lhe Ral and lhe Beaver. Unfitness of lhe Trees for Planks. Artillery Lake---- Force of lhe Rapids. Accidenl in our Passage. Leave the Ah-hel-dessy. A Bear killed. Ridiculous Slory. March resumed.Desolate Scenery. A Deer shol. Tormenled by Sand-flies. Anecdole of Sir John Franklin. Meeting wilh Mr. M^cLeod, by an unexpecled Route - - Page 156 CHAP. VII. " Le grand jeune Homme." Trade wilh lhe Indians. Sunday. Mr. King arrives, wilh Iwo Baleaux. Per- formed a Surgical Operalion. Discomforts of an Indian Canoe. Conduct of lhe Parly. Erection of new Dwell- ing. Arrival of Indians. Their Policy. Aged In- dian Woman. Slarving Visitors. Case of Revenge for Inhospitality. The Thlew-ee-choh described. Observ- atory. Strange Appearance of the Aurora. Pouring in of the Indians. Superstitious Fancies. Shortness of Food. Domiciled in the new Building, named Fort Re- liance. Supplies again fail. Akaitcho. Discharge of De Charlôit and Two Iroquois ; also, of La Charité. Gloom of the Indians. Story of a young Hunier. Breach of Indian Law. Death of the old Woman. Christmas-day__Short Allowance. Experimenls. Ex- cessive Cold. Arrival of Mr. M^cLeod. Barbarous Atrocity. Revolting Slory of an Indian - - 183 CHAP. VIIL Exemplary Conduct of Akaitcho. Mr. M^Leod and his Family leave us. Arrival of Maufelly. Supply of Deer- flesh. Misunderstanding between Akaitcho and the In- terpreter. Preparation for building Two Boats. Mr. M^cLeod'sill Success. Strange Conducl of'Two Indians.



			VIH CONTENTS. Supply of Food. Distressing Condition of Mr. M^cLeod. Return of Mr. King's Party. News from York Fac- tory. Uncertain Fate of Augustus. Presence of Two Ravens. Ravens shot by an Iroquois. News from England. Discharge of Three Men. Alteration of Plans. Appearance of Birds. Adventures by Mr. King. Arrival of Mr. M^cLeod----Anxiety about Wil- liamson. Sultry Weather. Melancholy Fate of Au- gustus Page 231 CHAP. IX. Renections. Halt for the Night. March resumed. Obstacles encountered. The Boats finished. Eastern Shore of Artillery Lake. Pursue the Track of Mr. M^cLeod. Two Deer shot. Stunted Pines. Encamp- ment. Difficulty in tracing our Route. News from Mr. M^cLeod.A Snow Storm. Fires lighted on the Hills. Accident to Peter Taylor. Deviate from our Course. Accident to James Spence. Boisterous Weather. Plunder of a Cache. Find the runaway Guides----The Ice unsafe. Enter upon Lake Aylmer. A dense Fog. Sand-hill Bay. Judicial Investigation. Animals. Musk-ox Rapid----Join Mr. M^cLeod. Survey of the River. Indians return with the Pemmican. Stock of Provisions----An Indian Belle. A Reindeer Hunt 256

		CHAP. X. Instructions to Mr. M^cLeod upon our Separation. Meet with Akaitcho. His Lodge. Imminent Danger to the Boat. Akaitcho's friendly Caution. Embarkation. Heavy Storms. Our Crew. Geological Features of the Country. Obstructions from the Ice. Perils from a Series of Rapids. Plunder of a Bag of Pemmican. Obstacles on our Passage. Boisterous Weather. Deer hunting. Observations. Deviation of the River.



		CONTENTS. IX Desolate Scenery. Detained by the Ice. Cascades. · Land-marks. Contraction of' the River. Baillie's River. Flocks of Geese. Tact requisite in Command. Precipitous Rocks. A Fox. Esquimaux Marks. Bullen River. A Storm.Lake Pelly.Conjectures of an Indian. Encampment. View of the Country. Further Obstructions. Observations. Lake Garry Page 309 CHAP. XI. Gigantic Boulders. Danger from the Rapids. Course oí' the River. Lake Macdougall. Hazardous Passage. Sinclair's Falls. Northerly Bend of the River. Mount Meadowbank. Altitude of the Rocks. The Trap Form- ation. M^cKay's Peak. Lake Franklin. Extrica- tion from Peril. Sluggishness of the Compass. Esqui- maux. Portrait of a Female. Victoria Headland. Mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh. Cockburn Bay. Point Backhouse. Irby and Mangles' Bay. Point Beaufort. Our Progress arrested. Montreal Island. A Musk Ox killed. Birds on the Island. Elliot Bay. M^cKay, etc. sent along the Coast. Esquimaux Encampment. Cape Hay. Point Ogle. Progress obstructed by the Ice A Piece of Drift-wood found. Ross Island. Dis- coveries by Mr. King. Magnetic Observations. Point Richardson. Point Hardy. Conjectures as to a N. W. Passage and Channel to Regent's Inlet - - 353 CHAP. XII. Exhilarating Influence of a Hunting Excursion. Removal of the Esquimaux. Leave them a Bag of Pemmican. Accident to the Boat. Inundation of the Country. Discovery of Esquimaux. Wise Man of the Tribe. Critical Position in the Rapids. A Storm. Ad- venture of a Lemming. Encamp at Musk-ox Rapid. Meeting with Mr. M^(lLeod. Fate of Williamson. The a



		X CONTENTS. Yellow Knives. Encamp on Artillery Lake. Reach the Ah-hel-dessy. Depart for Montreal. The Sau- teaux Indians. Success of a Missionary at Sault Ste. Marie. Return to England. Conclusion - Page 428 APPENDIX. No. I. Zoological Remarks, by Dr. John Richardson 475 II. List of Plants collected by Mr. Richard King, during the Progress of the Expedition - 523 III. Articúlala. Catalogue of Arachnida and Insects collected by Mr. King - 532 IV. Geological Notice of the New Country passed over in Captain Back's Expedition, by Dr. W. K. Fitton - ... 54,3 V. Meteorological Table, arranged from the Registers kept at Fort Reliance, by Captain Back and Mr. King - - - - 563 VI. Table of the Temperature of Animals, Birds, Fish, Trees, and Earth, at different Times and Placesi arranged by Mr. King - - 590 VII. On the Aurora Borealis ... 595 VIII. Magnetical Observations - - 625 IX. Table of Latitudes, Longitudes, and Variations 634 X. Letter from W. Smith, Esq., Secretary to the Hudson's Bay Company, to Angus Bethune, Esq., Chief Factor at Sault St. Mary's - - 635 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ARCTIC LAND EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN RoSS ... 638



		Directions for placing the Plates. Page Salt Plains - - -80 North Shore of Great Slave Lake - 98 Beverley's Falls, Mouth of'Hoar Frost River - 112 Portage in Hoar Frost River - - - 116 Sussex Lake, Source of the Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth - 142 Crossing Lake Aylmer ... - 292 Interview with the Esquimaux of' the Thlew-cc-choh- dezeth - 378 Esquimaux of' the Thlew-ee-ehoh-dezeth - - 384 Victoria Headland, Mouth of the Thlew-ee-choh-dezeth 890 Montreal Island, View to seaward - - 398 Thunder Storm near Point Ogle - 4-08 Western View from near Mount Barrow - - 4-22 Anderson's Falls - 4-50 Fish - 518 Map of' the Route, &c. at the end.



			NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES OF THE ARCTIC SEA.

		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. EARLY in the year 1832 the protracted absence of Captain (now Sir John) Ross, who had sailed in 1829 to the Polar regions, and had not after- wards been heard of, became the subject of general and anxious conversation. A report even reached Italy, where I happened to be, that he and his adventurous companions had perished ; but, having ascertained that there was no other ground for this rumour than the uncertainty of their fate, I shortly afterwards hastened to England, with the intention of offer- ing to Government my services to conduct an expedition in search of them. On my arrival, in June 1832, I was informed B



		2 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. that my friend and former companion, Doctor Richardson, had already made an application to the same effect ; but that his offer, for various reasons, not having been accepted, he had, in consequence, as I was given to under- stand, relinquished the idea. I was further in- formed, however, by Mr. Beverly, who had been the companion of Sir E. Parry in his perilous journey over the ice from Spitzbergen towards the Pole, that Mr. Ross (brother of Sir John, and father of Captain James Ross) was anxious to find an officer properly qualified to undertake the conduct of a party through America, on the plan proposed by Doctor Richardson ; which, not having been adopted by the Government, had been presented for consideration to other quarters. I proceeded, therefore, without loss of time to Mr. Ross, who read to me a petition which he was about to send to the King, praying his Majesty's gracious sanction to the immediate despatch of an expedition for rescuing, or at least ascertaining the fate of, his son and brother ; and my name being forthwith inserted as the proposed leader of the expedition, this petition was for- warded through Lord Goderich, then Secretary for the Colonies. The interval before an answer could be returned was employed in collecting



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 3 information, and organising the necessary co- operation. In this I was warmly seconded and efficiently aided by many gentlemen whose opinions and assistance were most valuable, and more especially by Nicholas Garry, Esq., the Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, Captains Beaufort and Maconochie, Doc- tor Richardson, and George Baillie, Esq. I addressed, moreover, on the 21st of August, a letter to the Geographical Society, explaining my views, and requesting that they might be recom- mended to the favourable consideration of Mr. Hay, Under Secretary for the Colonies, and a member of that Society. I/ It is gratifying to add, that the support of Mr. Hay was zealously afforded ; and, shortly afterwards, the following letter was sent to Mr. Ross : " Downing Street, 30th August, 1832. « SIR, " I am directed by Viscount Goderich to ac- quaint you, that, his Majesty having been pleased to refer your petition to his Lordship's consi- deration, Lord Goderich has felt himself justified in recommending to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to grant the sum of 2000/. in aid of the expenses of the expedition, provided



		4 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. that it is commanded by Captain Back ; it being understood that the Hudson's Bay Company will furnish the supplies and canoes free of charge, and that the remainder of the expense, which is estimated at 30QOL, will be contributed by Cap- tain Ross's friends. On receiving an answer from the Treasury, the result will be duly com- municated to you. "I am, Sir, " Your most obedient servant, " Geo. Ross, Esq." " HOWICK. This was announced to me as follows : « No. 267. Strand, 7th Sept. 1832. " SIR, " I have the pleasure to inclose you the copy of a letter which I have received from Lord Howick, by the directions of Lord Goderich, in reply to my application to his Majesty, on the subject of an expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea, with the view to ascertain, if possible, the fate of my brother, Captain Ross, and of my son, Captain James Clarke Ross. " I have only to add my earnest request, that you will, in compliance with what appears also to be the wish of Government, undertake the command and direction of this humane and dif- ficult enterprise, certainly a most arduous task,



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 5 but one, for the effectual accomplishment of which none is more eminently qualified. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your very obedient servant, " CapL Geo. Back." " GEO. Ross. My answer was, of course, a ready acceptance of the proposed trust. The interest and sym- pathy of the public began now to manifest them- selves more strongly. On November 1. 1832, a meeting was accordingly held at the rooms of the Horticultural Society (kindly lent for the occasion), in order to bring the humane object of the expedition formally before it ; and in Vice Admiral the Right Hon. Sir George Cockburn, who presided, the cause found so powerful an ad- vocate, that a subscription of SOOl. was made on the spot. A standing Committee was also now formed for the management of the expedition, consisting of the following persons : Sir G. Cockburn, G. C. B., Chairman. John Barrow, Esq., F. R. S. Robt. Hay, Esq. F. R. S. Vice Admiral Sir W. Hotham, K. C. B. Vice Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, Bart. Rear Admiral W. H. Gage. Felix Booth, Esq. The Hon. Capt. H. Duncan, R. N. B 3



		6 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. Capt. Bowles, R. N. Capt. Beaufort, R. N. F. R. S. J. H. PellyJ Esq. Governor H. B. Company. Nich. Garry, Esq. Dep. Gov. do. W. P. Craufurd, Esq. Capt. Beechey, R. N. F. R. S. Dr. Richardson, F. R. S. Capt. Hoppner, R. N. Capt. Maconochie, R. N. C. Beverly, Esq. F. R. S. Robert M'Culloch, Esq. J. Spence, Esq. George Ross, Esq., Honorary Secretary. Of these, Mr. Booth, Captain Duncan, and Captain Bowles were appointed Trustees. The services and influence of Sir George Cockburn, which had been so beneficially employed in aid of the expedition, were soon lost to the Com- mittee, in consequence of his appointment to the command on the West India station. But his place was condescendingly supplied by ins Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex, who was pleased to become Vice Patron and Chair- man. Mr. George Ross also having resigned his situation as honorary secretary, and turned his attention to the object of getting up an expedition by sea for the same benevolent pur- pose, his place was taken by Robert M'Culloch,



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 7 Esq., a cousin of Captain Ross, and thus not less interested in the success of the scheme than Mr. Ross himself. It was gratifying to observe, in the rapid ac- cumulation of our funds, the liveliness of the public sympathy in this disinterested project. No obstacle, therefore, was to be anticipated from want of means, and the preparations went on with increased confidence. In furtherance of the communications which were made by Dr. Richardson, the Governor and Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company had already despatched directions to their agents in America, apprising them that such an expedition might be expected in the following spring, and directing the neces- sary preparations to be made for it ; and now, besides generously placing at our disposal 120 bags of pemmican, two boats and two canoes, these gentlemen suggested, with equal liberality and considerateness, the expediency of taking it under the especial protection of the Company, by issuing a commission under their seal to me as its Commander. Gladly, as may be supposed, did I avail myself of so important an offer, well know- ing, from past experience, that the co-operation of all parties throughout their extensive territory would by this means be effectually secured. The expedition was to consist of two officers and eighteen men ; part of whom, including two



		8 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. good boat carpenters, were to be engaged in this country,and part in Canada,men who should be inured to fatigue, and well accustomed to the duties they would have to perform. From Montreal it was proposed that the ordinary route of the fur traders should be followed by the Ottawa, French River, the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, &c. to Great Slave Lake ; from whence Indians were to be employed as guides and hunters to accompany the party to the banks of the Thlew-ee-choh-desseth, or Great Fish River, which, according to the testimony of the Indians, lay to the eastward of the Lake, and might be approached by an intervening chain of smaller lakes and portages. The winter resi- dence, for which, from a reference to Hearne's Journey, it seemed so well adapted, was to be there established ; and in the mean while a de- tachment of eight men, well armed, was to pro- ceed in advance with me, without loss of time, to explore the river in a light canoe. As it neces- sarily flowed through the barren lands which are of nearly equal elevation with the country north of Fort Enterprise, it was to be expected that its course, like the descent of the Coppermine river, would be interrupted by rapids or cascades ; and these the canoe excursion would enable me to survey, so that, on my return to the winter establishment, we might construct boats com- bining the qualities requisite for both the river



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 9 and sea navigation. As far, also, as the season would permit, my visit to the sea might give me an opportunity of communicating with the Esquimaux, and obtaining, if not intelligence of Captain Ross, at least much information for the direction of my course the following sum- mer. Having passed the first winter, it was pro- posed that we should start for the sea the moment the ice broke up ; and, if an opinion should prove correct, which I had been led to entertain from an inspection of the maps traced by the Indians, that the mouth of the river lay between the 68th and 69th parallels of latitude, and the 90th and 100th meridians of longitude, we should then be less than three hundred miles from the wreck of the Fury in Regent Inlet. It had formed part of Captain Ross's plan to visit the wreck of the Fury in the first instance, that he might supply himself with coals and such provisions and stores as were available ; and to return and winter beside it, if in the course of the summer he should be unable to penetrate to the westward. It was therefore in Regent Inlet that the search for him was most likely to be successful. If, contrary to our hope, no traces of Captain Ross should be discovered on arriving at the wreck of the Fury, and the season should be far ad- vanced, it would be necessary for us to retrace our way to winter quarters ; and, in so doing, we should embrace every opportunity of erecting



		10 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER, land-marks and signal posts, to arrest the atten- tion of the wanderers to the notes deposited beneath, detailing the position of our abode, and the means adopted for their relief. On the disruption of the ice in the following spring, the expedition would again be on the shores of the Polar Sea, and its researches would be resumed in a different direction from that previously taken. Every Esquimaux hut would then be minutely inspected, in the hope of finding some token of the fate of our countrymen ; and the gratification which the promoters of the expedition would experience, should even a single British seaman be rescued from his melancholy fate by their means, every one felt would amply repay our utmost exertions. While, even if no such happy fortune should attend our researches, the geographical know- ledge that must be obtained, and the scientific information resulting from a course leading nearly over one of the Magnetic Poles, would, it was hoped, tend to console them. Such was the outline of the plan to be fol- lowed, as regarded the humane and principal object of our search ; and in the event of that being rendered nugatory by the almost un- locked for return of Captain Ross and his gallant companions, or by any obstacle pre- venting the progress of the expedition in the



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 11 exact direction of its course to the wreck of the Fury, it was still thought, in our uncertainty of the precise place where the Thlew-ee-choh- desseth might fall into the sea, that the coast line between Point Turnagain and the known land to the eastward might be satisfactorily ascer- tained, and thus another step made towards the determination of that interesting problem the northern limits of America. For all these purposes, I was provided with a variety of astronomical instruments, including a dipping needle by Dollond, and a diurnal variation instrument by Jones ; which latter was also to be used to obtain the effect produced on the needle by the aurora borealis. I had also one of Professor Han- steen's instruments, besides three chronometers lent by the Admiralty. Guns and other neces- sary materials were furnished by the Committee ; who, that nothing might be omitted which could at all contribute to our comfort, ordered also a plentiful provision of cocoa and macaroni, than which few things are better suited to such undertakings, and of which such was our eco- nomical expenditure, that some portion even returned with us to Montreal. His most gracious Majesty, the patron of the expedition, having commanded my attendance at Brighton, I had the honour to explain the



		12 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. plans and prospects of the service, with the means adopted to guard against privation, and to secure the party from those disasters to which they might otherwise be subject; and I had the high gratification of receiving the royal approbation of these plans, and a gracious ex- pression of sincere desire for the safety of my party. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria also received a deputa- tion, consisting of Vice Admiral Sir George Cockburn, Captains Beechey and Maconochie, with myself, for the purpose of pointing out on the chart the line of the proposed route, sub- mitting, at the same time, a sketch of the intended proceedings ; on which occasion their Royal Highnesses evinced a truly benevolent interest in the expedition.* Nor was the Duke of Sussex less solicitous to forward the undertaking, as I had the honour to receive a letter from his Royal * Besides being liberal subscribers to the expedition, their Royal Highnesses sent me, some days afterwards, a pocket compass and a case of mathematical instruments, as a con- tribution to its scientific equipment; and I shall not attempt to describe the enthusiasm which these tokens of the interest taken by them in our benevolent mission afterwards created, not only in British North America, but also in the United States. It will be seen in a future part of my Narrative, that this compass, from its extreme delicacy, became after- wards of essential service.



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 13 Highness, recommending me to the attentions of Doctor Hossack, a scientific gentleman at New York. Finally, it was deemed expedient, on many accounts, but more especially to give me ad- ditional authority over the men whom I might engage for the service, that my mission should be taken under the direction of his Majesty's Government ; and accordingly I received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies the follow- ing instructions : " Colonial Office, Downing Street, 4th February, 1833. " SIR, " The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having been pleased to lend your services to this office, that you may conduct an expedition now preparing to proceed to the Polar Sea in search of Captain Ross, you are hereby required and directed to undertake this service, placing your- self for the purpose at the disposition of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, who have undertaken to furnish you with the requisite resources and supplies. " You are to leave Liverpool early in the present month, and proceed with your party by way of New York to Montreal, and thence along the usual route pursued by the north-west



		14 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. traders to Great Slave Lake, which it is hoped you will reach by the 20th of July. You are then to strike off to the north-eastward, or in such other direction as you may ascertain to be most expedient, in order to gain the Thlew- ee-choh-desseth, or Great Fish River, which is be- lieved either to issue from Slave Lake, or to rise in its vicinity, and thence to flow with a navigable course to the northward, till it reaches the sea. On arriving on the banks of this river, you are to select a convenient situation for a winter residence, and immediately appoint a portion of your force to erect a house thereon ; but, if possible, you are to proceed yourself, with an adequate party, and explore the river to the coast the same season, erecting a conspicuous land-mark at its mouth, and leaving notice of your intention to return the ensuing spring, in case Captain Ross should be making progress along this part of the shore. " You are to take care, however, to return before the commencement of the winter, to avoid any undue exposure of your men. Dur- ing the winter you are to construct two boats, capable, in your opinion, of navigating the Polar Sea ; and as early as possible in the en- suing spring you are to descend again to its shores. " Your proceedings afterwards must be much



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 15 guided by your own judgment. The first ob- ject will be to reach Cape Garry, where his Majesty's late ship Fury was wrecked; on the remaining stores of which it is known that Captain Ross in some measure relied : but in making for this, whether by the east or west, you must be governed by the position of the mouth of the river, and other local circum- stances, as you progressively ascertain them. " While passing along the coast, you are to keep a vigilant look-out upon the shore for any signal or indication of the party of which you are in search (particularly at the entrance of the Hecla and Fury Strait, should you take the eastern passage) ; and in the event of your meeting them, previous to your arrival at Cape Garry, you are to offer to return immediately, and bring them with you to the Hudson's Bay settlements. Or should you find any indication of their having been on any part of the coast before your arrival, you are to search minutely for some memorial which may lead to the dis- covery of their intentions ; and to proceed, in the event of success, in whatever practicable direction may seem best calculated to lead you to them. " Devoting the summer, then, to the interest- ing search in contemplation, it is unnecessary to recommend to you to make it as effectual as



		16 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. possible, consistently with a due regard for the health and preservation of your party. But, whatever may be its prospects or success, you are on no account to prolong it beyond such a period of the year (varying from the 12th to the 20th of August, according to the distance which you may have attained) as will insure your return to your winter quarters before the severe weather sets in. On your acting in this particular with due caution may depend the eventual success of the whole expedition. On your return to your temporary establishment, you are carefully to examine the state of your supplies ; if possible, also, communicating with Great Slave Lake, to ascertain whether additional stores are there collected for you. And if you find that you can, with reasonable prudence, devote a second summer to the service on which you are engaged, you are hereby required and directed to do so ; but if not, you are to return to England in the following spring. " Subordinate to your object of finding Captain Ross, or any survivors or survivor of his party, you are to direct your attention to mapping what yet remains unknown of the coasts which you will visit, and making such other scientific ob- servations as your leisure will admit ; for which purposes the requisite instruments will be supplied to you. But you are not for such objects to deviate



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 17 from your principal pursuit, until you shall have either succeeded in its accomplishment, or satis- factorily ascertained that its success is impossible. " You are, during your absence, to embrace any opportunities that may offer of corresponding with this Office, and report your arrival here on your return, " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your obedient servant, " GODERICH." " Captain George Back, R. N. 21. Regent Street." Strengthened by this authority, as well as by the commission from the Hudson's Bay Company, which ordered every assistance to be rendered me by the different officers in their territories, there now wanted only an efficient medical man to take care of the health of the party. This was found in Mr. Richard King, who, having in the first instance volunteered his services, was subse- quently engaged, at a salary, as surgeon and naturalist to the expedition. Three men only (two of whom were carpenters and shipwrights) were taken from England : the remainder, as will hereafter be seen, were selected either from Montreal or from the Company's posts in the interior, To present at one view the objects, purpose, c



		18 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. and direction of the service, the execution of which is narrated in the following pages, it will be proper to mention here, that exactly one year after our departure from Canada, by a despatch which had been forwarded with the most praise- worthy diligence by the Hudson's Bay Company , I received the happy intelligence of Captain Ross's providential return, communicated in the following letter from Sir Charles Ogle, Ba- ronet : " Arctic Land Expedition.* " 21. Regent Street, 22d Oct. 1833. « SIR, " I have much pleasure in acquainting you, on the part of the Committee for managing your expedition, that Captain Ross and the survivors of his party returned to England a few days ago, in a whaler, which picked them up in Barrow Straits ; and that thus one object of your expedition is happily attained. " In concert, therefore, with his Majesty's Government (though the signature of the Se- cretary of State for the Colonies cannot be * The extraordinary expedition with which this despatch was transmitted is worthy of being recorded ; and I have, therefore, in the Appendix, given a few particulars which will be interesting to the reader.



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 19 immediately procured, in consequence of his absence from town), you are hereby directed to turn your whole attention to your second object, viz. completing the coast line of the north- eastern extremity of America. You will observe, from the enclosed abstract of Captain Ross's pro- ceedings, that this, also, is become an object of comparatively easy acquisition. By proceeding first to Point Turnagain, and thence eastward to an obelisk in about 69° 37' N. and 98° 40'W., which marks the termination of Captain Ross's progress, or, vice versa, by proceeding first to this obelisk, and thence westward, it is believed that you may accomplish all that is now wanting in one season. But even should this prove im- possible, and you find that a second season on the coast is desirable, I believe that I may confi- dently assure you that the means will be ob- tained for that purpose. " Your choice of routes will of course depend on the point where the Thlew-ee-choh joins the sea ; on which head, therefore, the Committee has few or no observations to offer. If, as Governor Simpson imagines, it falls into Ba- thurst's Inlet, and is identical with Back's River there, you will of course proceed thence to the eastward; or if any brancii of it, or any other river you may meet with, turn decidedly to the westward or eastward, the Committee would c 2



		20 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. rather recommend your endeavouring in this case to start from one or other extremity. But beyond this it can offer no hints. " I cannot conclude, however, without ear- nestly recommending to you, in its name and that of all the subscribers to and promoters of your expedition, to be careful not to expose yourself and men to unnecessary hazard. The satisfaction which we all experience in receiving Captain Ross again is very great ; but it will be much impaired by any casualties in your expedition. " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your obedient humble servant, " CHARLES OGLE, Chairman. " P. S. As we are not yet quite certain of obtaining funds for a third year (although rea- sonably confident that his Majesty's Govern- ment will, if necessary, supply them), you will be entirely guided, with regard to it, by further in- structions which will be forwarded to you in the course of next season, and which you will receive on your return to your winter quarters. " C. O." The instructions alluded to were never sent, and, had they been so, would have been unavail- able. For, first, the difficulties already encoun- tered had by that time proved, that any further



		PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 21 attempt by the Thlew-ee-choh would be as rash as its result would be fruitless ; secondly, the hope of crossing the country direct to Bathurst's Inlet, or in any other direction lead- ing towards Point Turnagain, had long been relinquished, in consequence of the unanimous testimony of the Indians, as to the insurmount- able obstacles that would oppose the transport of canoes, and even the requisite provision for so long and arduous a journey. The whole of the streams west of the Thlew-ee-choh, within the knowledge of the Indians, are its tributaries, and are too shallow and rapid, and too much inter- rupted with rocks and other dangerous obstruc- tions, to be navigable in any thing larger than a small canoe. There remained, therefore, but one way of penetrating to the sea, viz. by travers- ing the intervening mountains ; and this, with such boats or canoes as would carry even the very limited number of men that composed my party, was totally impracticable. Had I not been fully convinced of this, I should, in the hope of accomplishing one of the great objects of my mission, have undoubtedly ventured to remain out another season, even though such an act had not received the sanction of the Com- mittee. The other points of my instructions were followed up to the best of my ability, as, it is c 3