258 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



two miles regained our hunters, who w^ere halting 

 on the borders of a lake amidst a clump of stunted 

 willows. This lake stretched to the w^estward as 

 far as we could see, and its waters were discharg- 

 ed by a rapid stream one hundred and fifty yards 

 wide. Being entirely ignorant where we might 

 be led by pursuing the course of the lake, and 

 dreading the idea of going a mile unnecessarily 

 out of the way, we determined on crossing the 

 river if possible ; and the canoe was gummed for 

 the purpose, the willows furnishing us with fire. 

 But we had to await the return of Junius before 

 we could make the traverse. In the mean time 

 we gathered a little tripe de roche, and breakfast- 

 ed upon it and a few partridges that were killed 

 in the morning. St. Germain and Adam were 

 sent upon some recent tracks of deer. Junius 

 arrived in the afternoon, and informed us that he 

 had seen a large herd of musk-oxen on the banks 

 of Cracroft's River, and had wounded one of them, 

 but it had escaped. He brought about four 

 pounds of meat, the remains of a deer that had 

 been devoured by the wolves. The poor fellow 

 was much fatigued, having walked throughout 

 the night, but as the weather was particularly 

 favourable for our crossing the river, we could 

 not allow him to rest. After he had taken some 

 refreshment we proceeded to the river. The 



