76 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1770- lake, the shores of which abounded with wood of different 

 ■ kinds, such as pine, larch, birch, and poplar ; and in many 

 places was beautifully contrasted with a variety of high hills, 

 that shewed their snowy summits above the tallest woods. 

 About two hundred yards from the tent was a fall, or rapid, 

 which the swiftness of the current prevents from freezing 

 in the coldest winters. At the bottom of this fall, which 

 empties itself into the above lake, was a fine sheet of open 

 water near a mile in length, and at least half a mile in 

 breadth ; by the margin of which we had our fishing nets set, 

 all in open view from the tent. 



[21] The remaining part of this month passed on without 

 any interruption, or material occurrence, to disturb our repose, 

 worth relating : our fishing nets provided us with daily food, 

 and the Indians had too much philosophy about them to give 

 themselves much additional trouble ; for during the whole 

 time not one of them offered to look for a partridge, or any- 

 thing else which could yield a change of diet. 



As the time may now be supposed to have lain heavy on 

 my hands, it may not be improper to inform the reader how 

 I employed it. In the first place, I embraced every favourable 

 opportunity of observing the latitude of the place, the mean 

 of which was 58° 46' 30" North ; and the longitude by account 

 was 5° 57' West, from Prince of Wales's Fort. I then cor- 

 rected my reckoning from my last observation ; brought up 

 my journal, and filled up my chart, to the place of our 

 residence. I built also some traps, and caught a few martins ; 

 and by way of saving my ammunition, set some snares for 

 partridges. The former is performed by means of a few logs, 

 so arranged that when the martin attempts to take away the 

 bait laid for him, he with very little struggle pulls down a 

 small post that supports the whole weight of the trap ; when, 

 if the animal be not killed by the weight of the logs, he is 

 confined till he be frozen to death, or killed by the hunter 

 going his rounds. 



