beautiful prospect of the surrounding country. The view in the
front is bounded at the distance of three miles, by round-backed
hills; to the eastward and westward lie the Winter and Round-rock
Lakes, which are connected by the Winter River, whose banks are
well clothed with pines, and ornamented with a profusion of mosses,
lichens, and shruhs.
In the afternoon we read divine service, and offered our thanksgiving
to the Almighty for his goodness in having brought us thus
far on our journey; a duty which we never neglected, when stationary
on the sabhath.
The united length of the portages we had crossed, since leaving
Fort Providence, is twenty-one statute miles and a half; and as.our
men had to traverse each portage four times, with a load of one-
hundred and eighty pounds, and return three times light, they
walked in the whole upwards of one hundred and fifty miles. The
total length of our voyage from Chipewyan is five hundred and fifty-
three miles*.
A fire was made on the south side of the river to inform the chief
of our arrival, which spreading before a strong wind, caught the
whole wood, and we were completely enveloped in a cloud of smoke
for the three following days.
On the next morning our voyagers were divided into two parties,
the one to cut the wood for the building of a store-house, and the
other to fetch the meat as the hunters procured it. An interpreter
was sent with Keskarrah, the guide, to search for the Indians who
had made the fire seen on Saturday, from whom we might obtain
Statute Miles. * Stony and Slave Rivers . . . . . 264
Slave Lake1' . . • • * * lpK|
Yellow-Knife River - . - . ■ ■ * 156.5
Barren country between the source of the Yellow-Knife
River and Fort Enterprise . . . . 29.5
some supplies of provision. An Indian was also despatched to
Akaitcho, with directions for him to come to this place directly, and
bring whatever provision he had as we were desirous of proceeding
without delay, to the Copper-Mine River. In the evening our men
brought in the carcasses of seven rein-deer, which two hunters had
shot yesterday, and the women commenced drying the meat for our
journey. We also obtained a good supply of fish from our nets
to-day.
A heavy rain, on the 23d, prevented the men from working, either
at the building, or going for meat; but on the next day the weather
was fine, and they renewed their labours, The thermometer, that
day did not rise higher than 42°, and it fell to 31° before midnight.
On the morning of the 25th, we were surprised by some early symptoms
of the approach of winter; the small pools were frozen over,
and a flock of geese passed to the southward. In the afternoon,
however, a fog came on, which afterwards changed into rain, and the
ice quickly disappeared. We suffered great anxiety all the next day
respecting John Hepburn, who had gone to hunt before sunrise on
the 25th, and had been absent ever since. About four hours after
his departure the wind changed, and a dense fog obscured every
mark by which his course to the tents could be directed, and we
thought it probable he had been wandering in an opposite direction
to our situation, as the two hunters, who had been sent to look for
him, returned at sunset without having seen him. Akaitcho arrived
with his party, and we were greatly disappointed at finding they
had stored up only fifteen rein-deer for us. St. Germain informed
us, that having heard of the death of the chief’s brother-in-law, they
had spent several days in bewailing his loss, instead of hunting.
We learned also, that the decease of this man had caused another
party of the tribe, who had been sent by Mr. Wentzel to prepare
provision for us on the banks of the Copper-Mine River, to remove
to the shores of the Great Bear Lake, distant from our proposed