EASTERN EXTREMITY OF GREAT SLAVE LAKE. Ill 



shining silver in the distance, came gamboling 

 down the steep declivities, and then mingled 

 gently with the broad waters of the lake. Near 

 it was the Rocky Point River, just beyond 

 which we encamped, at the close of a beautiful 

 day, in which the thermometer had stood at 52°. 

 August 18th. — We started at 4 a.m. under 

 the impression that a couple of hours would 

 certainly bring us to the river spoken of by the 

 Indians; but at the spot where we hoped to find 

 a river there was merely another torrent. " That 

 is not it," said Maufelly, the Indian before 

 spoken of, who was to be our guide ; so on we 

 went, paddling along the lake, now contracted 

 to a width of five or six miles, and apparently 

 terminating near a blue point in the south-east, 

 which, however, turned out to be the bend 

 leading into a deep bay, forming the eastern 

 portion of Great Slave Lake. As it seemed that 

 a long circuit might be avoided, by making a 

 portage in a favourable part, almost in a direct 

 line before us, I was about to give directions ac- 

 cordingly, when launching past some rocks, which 

 had shut out the land in their direction, we 

 opened suddenly on a small bay, at the bottom of 

 which was seen a splendid fall, upwards of sixty 

 feet high, rushing in two white and misty vo- 

 lumes into the dark gulf below. It was the 

 object of our search — the river which we 



