OF THE POLAR SEA. 



199 



was taken of the delay to repair effectually the canoe, which had 

 been broken in the Dog Kapid. On the next evening, the men 

 arrived with the meat, and enabled Mr. M'Cleod, of the North- 

 West Company, to furnish us with four hundred pounds of dried 

 provisions. Mr. M'Vicar, of the Hudson's Bay Company, also sup- 

 plied one hundred and fifty pounds. This quantity we considered 

 would be sufficient, until we could join the hunters. We also ob- 

 tained three fishing-nets, a gun, and a pair of pistols, which were all 

 the stores these posts could furnish, although the gentlemen in 

 charge were much disposed to assist us. 



Moose-Deer Island is about a mile in diameter, and rises towards 

 the centre about three hundred feet above the lake. Its soil is in 

 general sandy, in some parts swampy. The varieties of the northern 

 berries grow abundantly on it. The North- West Company's fort is 

 in latitude 61° U' 8" N.; longitude 113° 51' 37" W., being two 

 hundred and sixty statute miles distant from Fort Chipewyan, by 

 the river course. The variation of the compass is 25° 40' 47" E. 

 The houses of the two Companies are small, and have a bleak 

 northern aspect. There are vast accumulations of drift wood, on 

 the shore of the lake, brought down by the river, which afford 

 plenty of fuel. The inhabitants live principally on the fish, which the 

 lake at certain seasons furnishes in great abundance ; of these, the 

 white fish, trout, and poisson inconnu are considered the best. They 

 also procure moose, buffalo, and rein-deer meat occasionally from 

 their hunters ; but these animals are generally found at the distance 

 of several days' walk from the forts. The Indians who trade here 

 are Chipewyans. Beavers, martens, foxes, and musk-rats, are caught 

 in numbers, in the vicinity of this great body of water. The mus- 

 quitoes are still a serious annoyance to us, but they are less nu- 

 merous than before. They are in some degree replaced by a small 

 sandfly, whose bite is succeeded by a copious flow of blood, and 



