84* INQUIRIES AND EMBARRASSMENTS 



of lads in a canoe, to acquaint him of our 

 arrival, and to require his attendance. In the 

 mean time, there being many Indians at the 

 Fort, and among them a half-breed, of the name 

 of La Prise, whom I had seen on a previous 

 occasion, and who had now become a kind of 

 leader of a small party accustomed to hunt to 

 the eastward, I thought it a good opportunity 

 of gaining some information as to the bending 

 of the Great Slave Lake, and the nature of the 

 country at its eastern extremity. La Prise, 

 who had been subjected to similar catechising 

 by my friend Sir John Franklin, in 1820, at 

 once understood me, and pointed to the com- 

 pass, as an instrument with which he was ac- 

 quainted. Having been placed right over it, he 

 pointed his hand in the direction of the places 

 required, while I carefully noted their magnetic 

 bearings ; and it is but justice to state, that the 

 whole of his description was subsequently found 

 to be remarkably correct. He made the lake 

 run nearly north, and estimated the distance at 

 about five days' march, for a light canoe, well 

 manned. A young hunter, however, who had 

 just come from that part, with a message from 

 one of his companions, offering to take me by a 

 new cut to the Teh-Ion, differed from La Prise, 

 and with a bit of charcoal drew a sketch, of 

 which the following is an accurate copy. 



