330 A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



leaving the meat, which we so much wanted. They expressed their 

 regret, and being ashamed of their panic, proposed to remedy the 

 evil as much as possible by going forward, without stopping until 

 they came to a favourable spot for hunting, which they expected to 

 do about thirty or forty miles below our present encampment. 

 Akaitcho accompanied them, but previous to setting off he renewed 

 his charge that we should be on our guard against the bears, which 

 was occasioned by the hunters having fired at one this morning as 

 they were descending a rapid in their canoe. As their small canoes 

 would only carry five persons, two of the hunters had to walk in 

 turns along the banks. 



In our rambles round the encampment, we witnessed with plea- 

 sure the progress which the vegetation had made within the few 

 last warm days ; most of the trees had put forth their leaves, and 

 several flowers ornamented the moss-covered ground ; many of the 

 smaller summer birds were observed in the woods, and a variety of 

 ducks, gulls, and plovers, were seen on the banks of the river. The 

 river is about three hundred yards wide at this part, is deep and 

 flows over a bed of alluvial sand. We caught some trout of con- 

 siderable size with our lines, and a few white fish in the nets, which 

 maintained us, with a little assistance from the pemmican. The 

 repair of our canoes was completed this evening. Previous to em- 

 barking I issued an order that no rapid should in future be de- 

 scended until the bowmen had examined it, and decided upon its 

 being safe to run. Wherever the least danger was to be appre- 

 hended, or the crew had to disembark for the purpose of lightening 

 the canoe, the ammunition, guns and instruments, were always to 

 be put out and carried along the bank ; that we might be provided 

 with the means of subsisting ourselves, in case of any accident 

 befalling the canoes. 



The situation of our encampment was ascertained to be 65° 43' 

 28" N., longitude 1 14° 26' 45" W., and the variation 42° 17' 22" E. 



