OF THE POLAR SEA. 275 
sible, to be sent after usin the summer. Onthe 
30th Dr. Richardson returned from Carlton 
House, and on the 31st the boats arrived belong- 
ing to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Saskatcha- 
wan Department. We obtained acanoe and two 
more volunteers. On the Ist of June the Sas- 
katchawan, swelled by the melting of the snow 
near the Rocky Mountains, rose twelve feet, and 
the current of the little rivers bounding Pine Island 
ran back into the lake, which it filled with mud. 
On the 5th the North-West Company’s peo- 
ple arrived, and Mr. Conolly furnished us 
with a canoe and five Canadians, They were 
engaged to attend us till Mr. Franklin should 
think fit to discharge them, and bound under the 
usual penalties in case of disobedience, or other 
improper conduct. These poor people enter- 
tained such dread of a ship of war, that they sti- 
pulated not to be embarked in Lieutenant Parry’s 
vessels, if we should find them on the coast; a 
condition with which they would gladly have 
dispensed, had that desirable event taken place. 
As we required a Canadian foreman and steers- 
man for the other canoe, we were compelled to 
wait for the appearance of the Isle a la Crosse 
canoes under Mr. Clark. 
- On the 8th Mr. Williams embarked for York 
Fort. He gave us a circular letter addressed to” 
T2 
