248 APPEARANCE OF BIRDS. 



ground for apprehension that we should be unable 

 to surmount the obstacles of the voyage, though 

 cooped within the narrow space of a solitary 

 boat on the inhospitable waters of the Arctic 

 sea. The people were regularly employed in 

 dragging the pemmican and baggage to Artillery 

 Lake, where the carpenters had already finished 

 one and half completed the other boat ; for 

 though the original plan was relinquished, the 

 second boat, it was thought, would be highly 

 serviceable in enabling Mr. M c Leod to fulfil the 

 instructions which it -was my intention to leave 

 for his guidance during our absence, And I now 

 wrote to him, to engage as many young Indians 

 as would undertake to carry a bag (or 90 lbs.) of 

 pemmican each to the Thlew-ee-choh, in direct 

 distance one hundred and fifteen miles. 



On the 13th of May, a single goose, the har- 

 binger of summer, flew past the house; and 

 during the day it was followed by five more, all 

 of which took a northerly direction. This was 

 six days later than they had been seen in 1826 

 at Fort Franklin, though a higher northern lati- 

 tude. A fly and a flock of small birds appeared 

 in the evening ; and during the three succeed- 

 ing days we had gulls, orioles, grossbeaks, yellow 

 legs, robins, and butterflies. 



A small swamp behind the house was the 

 resort of two or three kinds of ducks, some of 



