CONJECTURES OF AN INDIAN. 345 



would find an immense lake, with such deep 

 bays that no Indian had ever been round them ; 

 these he said, lay to the easward, but they must 

 be careful to keep on its western side, and by 

 so doing would arrive at a steep and heavy fall 

 between high rocks ; this the boat would not be 

 able to pass, but from thence they might easily 

 walk to the " bad water ;" near which, he 

 assured them, they would also certainly find the 

 Esquimaux. It was true that we had consider- 

 ably strayed from the direction thus indicated, 

 and had come more than double the distance at 

 which the Indian placed the sea ; but still, here 

 was a large lake with bays answering to the 

 description, or it might be that we should come 

 to another still larger ; after which, it was their 

 opinion, the remainder would be verified. 



The strong current from the rapid gave us 

 some expectation that the tediousness and un- 

 certainty of winding and groping our way in 

 the lake was at an end ; but, to our chagrin and 

 annoyance, we soon again found ourselves in a 

 wide indefinable space, studded with islands of 

 sand-hills, with, occasionally, a clear horizon to- 

 wards the S. and N. W. The difficulty of finding 

 the river increased as we advanced amid this 

 labyrinth, between the openings of which dis- 

 tant land could sometimes be faintly discovered. 

 The unwelcome glare of ice was also seen. From 



