Two Young Alpine Hares Were Shot By St. Germain Which With The Small Piece Of Meat Brought In By Junius Furnished The Supper Of The Whole Party.

There was no tripe de roche here.

The country had now become decidedly hilly and was covered with snow. The lake preserved its western direction as far as I could see from the summit of the highest mountain near the encampment. We subsequently learned from the Copper Indians that the part at which we had crossed the river was the Congecathawhachaga of Hearne, of which I had little idea at the time, not only from the difference of latitude, but also from its being so much farther east of the mouth of the Copper-Mine River than his track is laid down, he only making one degree and three-quarters' difference of longitude and we upwards of four. Had I been aware of the fact several days' harassing march and a disastrous accident would have been prevented by keeping on the western side of the lake instead of crossing the river. We were informed also that this river is the Anatessy or River of Strangers and is supposed to fall into Bathurst's Inlet, but although the Indians have visited its mouth their description was not sufficient to identify it with any of the rivers whose mouths we had seen. It probably discharges itself in that part of the coast which was hid from our view by Goulbourn's or Elliott's Islands.

September 10.

We had a cold north wind and the atmosphere was foggy. The thermometer 18 degrees at five A.M. In the course of our march this morning we passed many small lakes and the ground, becoming higher and more hilly as we receded from the river, was covered to a much greater depth with snow. This rendered walking not only extremely laborious but also hazardous in the highest degree, for the sides of the hills, as is usual throughout the barren grounds, abounding in accumulations of large angular stones, it often happened that the men fell into the interstices with their loads on their backs, being deceived by the smooth appearance of the drifted snow. If anyone had broken a limb here his fate would have been melancholy indeed; we could neither have remained with him nor carried him on. We halted at ten to gather tripe de roche but it was so frozen that we were quite benumbed with cold before a sufficiency could be collected even for a scanty meal. On proceeding our men were somewhat cheered by observing on the sandy summit of a hill, from whence the snow had been blown, the summer track of a man, and afterwards by seeing several deer tracks on the snow. About noon the weather cleared up a little and, to our great joy, we saw a herd of musk-oxen grazing in a valley below us. The party instantly halted and the best hunters were sent out; they approached the animals with the utmost caution, no less than two hours being consumed before they got within gunshot.

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