454 INQUIRIES AND DISAPPOINTMENT. 



some meat brought by the Indians, were dry in 

 the store ; and, after three hours' rest, the men 

 were set to work about the necessary reparations. 



The old Indian who had been, when a young 

 man, at Hood's River, happened to be at the 

 Fort : but he could not afford me the slightest 

 information about the country near Bathurst's 

 Inlet, nor did he know of any other way of 

 getting there with small canoes. " But," said 

 he, " why does the chief ask me, when he is the 

 only one who has been there ?" 



This was a grievous disappointment ; for, could 

 I have obtained the least information to be de- 

 pended upon, I had a strong wish to try if some 

 communication might not be found between 

 Lake Beechey and Back's River, by crossing the 

 mountains in a line towards the latter, and taking 

 with me materials to build canoes there. But, to 

 accomplish this, without any previous knowledge 

 of the route, would have occupied one or proba- 

 bly even two seasons more, and would have 

 required an entirely fresh set of men, and much 

 additional expense. When we had reached 

 Bathurst's Inlet, there would have been the 

 chance of finding it full of ice; and, even on 

 the supposition of its being perfectly free, we 

 could not, in any manner, reckon on more than 

 three weeks for performing the distance between 

 this place and Ross Pillar or Point Richardson, 



