We made about twelve miles this day. The night was fine and the
Aurora Borealis so vivid that we imagined more than once that we heard a
rustling noise like that of autumnal leaves stirred by the wind; but
after two hours of attentive listening we were not entirely convinced of
the fact. The coruscations were not so bright nor the transition from one
shape and colour to another so rapid as they sometimes are, otherwise I
have no doubt from the midnight silence which prevailed that we should
have ascertained this yet undecided point.
The morning of the 20th was so extremely hazy that we could not see ten
yards before us; it was therefore late when we started and during our
journey the hunters complained of the weather and feared they should lose
the track of our route. Towards the evening it became so thick that we
could not proceed, consequently we halted in a small wood situated in a
valley, having only completed a distance of six miles.
The scenery consisted of high hills which were almost destitute of trees,
and lakes appeared in the valleys. The cracking of the ice was so loud
during the night as to resemble thunder and the wolves howled around us.
We were now at the commencement of the woods and at an early hour on the
21st continued our journey over high hills for three miles, when the
appearance of some deer caused us to halt and nearly the remainder of the
day was passed in hunting them. In the evening we stopped within sight of
Prospect Hill having killed and concealed six deer. A considerable
quantity of snow fell during the night.
The surrounding country was extremely rugged, the hills divided by deep
ravines and the valleys covered with broken masses of rocks and stones;
yet the deer fly (as it were) over these impediments with apparent ease,
seldom making a false step, and springing from crag to crag with all the
confidence of the mountain goat. After passing Reindeer Lake (where the
ice was so thin as to bend at every step for nine miles) we halted,
perfectly satisfied with our escape from sinking into the water. While
some of the party were forming the encampment one of the hunters killed a
deer, a part of which was concealed to be ready for use on our return.
This evening we halted in a wood near the canoe track after having
travelled a distance of nine miles. The wind was South-East and the night
cloudy with wind and rain.
On the 24th and 25th we underwent some fatigue from being obliged to go
round the lakes which lay across our route and were not sufficiently
frozen to bear us.
