118 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771, side of Cossed Whole/ or Partridge Lake ; but the day being 

 e ruary. £^^ spent, and the weather excessively cold, we put up for the 

 night. 

 7th. Early in the morning of the seventh, the weather being 

 serene and clear, we set out, and crossed the above mentioned 

 Lake ; which at that part is about fourteen miles wide ; but 

 from the South South West to North North East is much 

 larger. It is impossible to describe the intenseness of the cold 

 which we experienced this day ; and the dispatch we made in 

 crossing the lake is almost incredible, as it was [76] performed 

 by the greatest part of my crew in less than two hours ; 

 though some of the women, who were heavy laden, took 

 a much longer time. Several of the Indians were much 

 frozen, but none of them more disagreeably so than one of 

 Matonabbee's wives, whose thighs and buttocks were in a 

 manner incrusted with frost ; and when thawed, several 

 blisters arose, nearly as large as sheeps' bladders. The pain 

 the poor woman suffered on this occasion was greatly aggra- 

 vated by the laughter and jeering of her companions, who said 

 that she was rightly served for belting her clothes so high. 

 I must acknowledge that I was not in the number of those 

 who pitied her, as I thought she took too much pains to shew 

 a clean heel and good leg ; her garters being always in sight, 

 which, though by no means considered here as bordering 

 on indecency, is by far too airy to withstand the rigorous cold 

 of a severe winter in a high Northern latitude. I doubt not 

 that the laughter of her companions was excited by similar 

 ideas. 



When we got on the West side of Partridge Lake we 



[^ Cossed Whole, spelt Cassad on the Cook map, and Cassed on the Pennant 

 map. This lake lies at the source of the Kazan River, and is now known as 

 Kasba Lake. He crossed it north of the point where the Kazan River flows 

 from its eastern side. My survey of the lake, made in 1894, did not extend 

 north of its outlet, but, judging from what I could see of it, and from the 

 information obtainable from the Chipewyan Indians of the vicinity, the width 

 here given for the lake is much too great.] 



