162 APPEARANCE OF TWO INDIANS. 



on passing Icy River, I observed that it had 

 two channels, occasioned by an island at its 

 mouth : the ice had undergone no perceptible 

 alteration. Having made the portages of the 

 upper rapids with some inconvenience, owing 

 to the fragments of rocks, and innumerable large 

 stones, which slipped from under our feet, we 

 reached the cache at Sand-hill Bay. It had 

 not been touched by the wolves ; and, with the 

 exception of a solitary raven, busily occupied in 

 devouring a piece of refuse deer's flesh, not a 

 living; creature was to be seen. 



The canoe being repaired, we coasted along 

 the eastern shore of Lake Aylmer, occasionally 

 passing sand-banks of unequal height, and dip- 

 ping to the south, whereas those on the Thlew- 

 ee-choh dipped to the north. 



As we neared the narrows of Clinton-Colden 

 Lake, on the 4th of September, a smoke was ob- 

 served far south ; and, towards the evening, two 

 Indians made their appearance on the bank of 

 a hill, and, in obedience to our signs, came to 

 the canoe. They informed us that, in a dispute 

 between a Chipewyan and their countrymen, 

 the Yellow Knives, the former had been killed ; 

 but, as he was an orphan, no one would revenge 

 his death. The Indians generally, they said, 

 had been distressed for provision, though, from 

 the distant smokes they had seen in the day, it 



