THROUGH WHICH THE ROUTE LAY. 97 



Following the small canoe through a labyrinth 

 of islands, more or less wooded, some steep, 

 round, and bare, others broken or shelving, co- 

 vered with low pine and birch, we made a short 

 turn to N. N. E., and opened into a fine long 

 reach, bounded on each side by rocks, varying 

 in height from two hundred to a thousand feet ; 

 which resembled in some parts those to the 

 westward, about the Gros Cap, and in others 

 still more closely the red granite of Chipewyan. 

 The necessity of despatch forbade my landing, 

 to ascertain the difference in these respects. The 

 character of the scenery, so different from that 

 which we had quitted in the morning, together 

 with the northerly trending of the land, was the 

 more gratifying, as it coincided with the Indian 

 accounts, and led me to expect a long extent of 

 navigation. The drift wood, found in such piles 

 from the Slave River to the M'Kenzie, and 

 far alone; the east and west shores of the lake, 

 had now disappeared, and the water, no longer 

 turbid and yellow, was of a pellucid green. Its 

 temperature was 52°, while that of the sur- 

 rounding air was 58°, having increased 12° 

 since the morning. The extensive islands as- 

 sumed a more mountainous character as we ad- 

 vanced ; and it was observable that the western 

 ones were more thickly wooded than those to 

 the eastward. Through occasional vistas, the 



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