132 JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN 



1771. but little hair, and are, moreover, often discoloured by the 

 ^"'' force of the labour ; so that were the father to see them to 

 such great disadvantage, he might probably take a dislike to 

 them, which never afterward could be removed. 



The names of the children are always given to them by 

 the parents, or some person near of kin. Those of the boys 

 are various, and generally derived from some place, season, or 

 animal ; the names of the girls are chiefly [94] taken from some 

 part or property of a Martin ; such as, the White Martin, the 

 Black Martin, the Summer Martin, the Martin's Head, the 

 Martin's Foot, the Martin's Heart, the Martin's Tail, &c.* 



23d- On the twenty-third, as I hinted above, we began to move 

 forward, and to shape our course nearly North ; but the weather 

 was in general so hot, and so much snow had, in consequence, 

 been melted, as made it bad walking in snow-shoes, and such 



May. exceeding heavy hauling, that it was the third of May before 

 ^ ' we could arrive at Clowey,^ though the distance was not above 

 eighty-five miles from Thelewey-aza-yeth. In our way we 

 crossed part of two small Lakes, called Tittameg Lake and 

 Scartack Lake ; neither of which are of any note, though both 

 abound with fine fish. 



* Matonabbee had eight wives, and they were all called Martins. 



[1 Lake Clowey is marked on the map as discharging by a stream into 

 Great Slave Lake, but its exact position is not known. On the map it is placed 

 in latitude 62° 50', which is probably not very far from its correct position. 

 From the description here given, it would appear to be near the divide between 

 the watershed of Great Slave Lake and Thelon River. L'Abbe Petitot in 

 Geographie de U Athabash aw- Mackenzie identifies the Clowey River, which 

 flows from this lake into Great Slave Lake, with the T'ezus-d^sse or Poudrerie 

 (Snowdrift) River, which flows into Christie Bay of Great Slave Lake.] 



