NORTHERLY BEND OF THE RIVER. 369 



turned so much to the eastward, lay on that side ; 

 a circumstance that I thought augured well for 

 a northerly bend at no great distance. But what 

 most gratified me was the disappearance of the 

 sand-hills, which I beheld as so many enemies to 

 our cause, that were gradually leading us away 

 to the wrong side of our object. My joy, there- 

 fore, may be imagined at seeing, as we advanced, 

 that my hopes were, after all, likely to be realized ; 

 for the late suspicious trending to the eastward, 

 almost in a parallel of latitude, had again created 

 doubts in my mind, and set me speculating whe- 

 ther the river might not yet terminate in Wager 

 Bay. 



Another cache was made, with the addition 

 of a little ammunition and tobacco. Some more 

 rapids led farther to the north ; and the stream, 

 as may be supposed, after the addition of so many 

 tributaries, maintained an imposing breadth, 

 being, in some parts, upwards of a mile. Both 

 sides were hemmed in by mountains, covered as 

 usual with boulders and large fragments of loose 

 splintery rock, the dark and purplish hue of 

 which relieved the green shelving slopes dotted 

 with herds of musk oxen. 



A glimpse of the sun at noon gave the latitude 

 66° 6' 2V N. ; nearly abreast of a picturesque 

 and commanding mountain, with steep sloping 

 sides to the south-west, where cattle were feeding, 



B B 



