April, 1869.] Off the Old Route. 387 



best ooh-gooh oil, supplied to Hall by Pa-pa the winter before for his 

 night lamp. Expecting" to meet Pelly Bay men before the close of the 

 day, all the party busied themselves in getting their spears, knives, 

 guns, and pistols in order, and at 10 a. m. moved off toward the 

 northwest end of the lake to descend the little river leading from that 

 point to Pelly Bay. The snow was still deep and soft, the thermome- 

 ter indicating 23°, a temperature uncomfortably warm for traveling. 

 At noon, drawing near the end of the lake, highlands were found on 

 each side, closely confining the banks of a river ; and here the first 

 spots of bare ice were crossed, swept clean by the high winds through 

 the gorge. 



Beginning now, as he supposed, to descend Kellett River, in two 

 minutes he was surprised to find himself ascending frozen rapids where 

 the compass-bearings had pointed out the true place of entrance. 

 Continuing up this river, he passed a magnificent pile of rock stnicture 

 200 feet high, looking like the side of a fortress, and having a kind of 

 reddish moss far up on its cliffs ; the land on the other side also was 

 high and bold, presenting a very different scene from the flats over 

 which the party had been for several days passing. The dogs still 

 drew their heavy loads through the deep snow which covered the ice 

 of this river, and when halts were made to discover from neighboring 

 hill tops a route to the bay, the ruggedness of the mountainous land 

 presented a discouraging prospect ; yet Hall consented to follow the 

 advice of Ou-e-la by going forward rather than returning to the route 

 of Rae's chart. Late in the day, detaching the dogs and putting 

 bridles on the sledges, he made a dangerous descent to another lake 

 at the foot of a steep and high hill, estimating this descent to be nearly 

 400 feet in the quarter of a mile passed over. He was a good way off 



