place, and collect some provision against our arrival. He also
requested that we would allow him to be absent ten days to provide
his family with clothing, as the skin of the rein-deer is unfit for that
purpose after the month of September. We could not refuse to
grant such a reasonable request, but caused St. Germain to accompany
him, that his absence might not exceed the appointed time.
Previous to his departure the chief warned us to be constantly on
our guard against the grizzly bears, which he described as being
numerous in this vicinity, and very ferocious ; one had been seen
this day by an Indian, to which circumstance the lake owes it
appellation. We afterwards learned that the only bear in this part
of the country is the brown bear, and that this by no means
possesses thé ferocity which the Indians, with their usual lové of
exaggeration, ascribe to it. The fierce grizzly bear, which frequents
the sources of the Missouri, is not found on the barren grounds.
The shores of this lake and the neighbouring hills are principally
composed of sand and gravel; they are much varied in théir outline;
and present some picturesque scenery.
The following observations were taken here: latitude 64° 15 It'
N , longitude 113° 2'39" W.?: variation of the compass 36° 50' 47'
E.; and dip of the needle 87° 20' 35".
On August the 17th, having finished drying the meat, which had
been retarded by the heavy showers of rain that fell in the morning,
we embarked at one P.M. and crossed two lakes and two portages:
The last of these was two thousand and sixty-six paces
long, and very rugged, so that the men were much fatigued.
On the next day we received the flesh of four rein-deer by the
small canoe which had been sent for it, and heard that the
hunters had killed several more deer on our route. We saw many
of these animals as we passed along; and our Companions, delighted
with the prospect of having food in abundance, now began to accompany
their paddling with singing, which they had discontinued
ever since our provisions became scarce. We passed from one
small lake to another over four portages, then crossed a lake about
six-miles in diameter, and encamped on its border, where, finding
pines, we enjoyed the luxury of a good fire, which we had not done
for some days. At ten P.M. the Aurora Borealis appeared very
brilliant in an arch across the zenith, from north-west to south-east,
which afterwards gave place to a beautiful corona borealis.
August 19.—After crossing a portage of five hundred and ninety-
five paces, a small lake and another portage of two thousand paces,
which occupied the crews seven hours, we embarked on a small
stream, running towards the north-west, which carried us to the
lake, where Akaitcho proposed that we should pass the winter.
The officers ascended several of the loftiest hills in the course of the
day, prompted by a natural anxiety to examine the spot which was
to be their residence for many months. The prospect, however, was
not then the most agreeable, as the borders of the lake seemed to
be scantily furnished with wood, and that of a kind too small for the
purposes of building.
We perceived the smoke of a distant fire which the Indians
suppose had been made by some of the Dog-Bibbed tribe, who occasionally
visit this part of the country.
Embarking at seven next morning, we paddled to the western
extremity of the lake, and there found a small river, which flows out
of it to the S.W. To avoid a strong rapid at its commencement, we
made a portage, and then crossed to the north bank of the river,
where the Indians recommended that the winter establishment
should be erected, and we soon found that the situation they had
chosen possessed all the advantages we could desire. The trees
were numerous, and of a far greater size than we had supposed them
to be in a distant view, some of the pines being thirty or forty feet
high, and two feet in diameter at the root. We determined on
placing the house on the summit of the bank, which commands a