THE INTERPRETER ATTEMPTS TO DESERT. 127 



bability of a passage along the base of the sand 

 hills to the westward ; since, according to my 

 sight, a wide opening seemed to stretch from 

 thence far to the right, which, I cannot help 

 still thinking, was connected with the other large 

 sheet of water. Be this as it may, the Indian 

 put his veto on the proposition ; and accordingly 

 the blue hills were reached, a long portage 

 made, and I had the satisfaction at last of look- 

 ing on a wide clear expanse of water to the 

 southward, bounded only by the horizon. — The 

 latitude was 63° 23' 57" N. 



We now crossed to a jutting bluff point, ap- 

 parently a continuation of the opposite shore, 

 but which was stated to be the northern sweep 

 of a bay, the receptacle of a rapid river, which 

 Maufelly said we must ascend. It lay precisely 

 in a straight line with a very distant column of 

 smoke, to which our Indian wished to go, under 

 the plausible pretence of procuring information ; 

 declaring, at the same time, his entire ignorance 

 of any water communication beyond the one we 

 were in. This conduct I thought it right to 

 resent, and with a seasonable severity of manner 

 gave him to understand that artifice and du- 

 plicity were not likely to succeed with me at 

 any time, much less at the present moment, 

 when, from his own admission, he had been at 

 another lake, and stood convicted therefore of 



