NORTHERN OCEAN 139 



snow and thick drifting sleet, that we did not move; but the 1771. 

 next morning proving fine and pleasant, we dried our things, ^-j^^, 

 and walked about twelve miles to the Northward ; most of the 

 way on the ice of a small river which runs into Peshew Lake.* ^ 

 We then saw a smoke to the Southward, which we judged to 

 be made by Keelshies, so we put up for the night by the side 

 of the above-mentioned Lake, where I expected we should 

 have waited for his arrival ; but, to my great surprise, on the 

 morrow we again set forward, and walked twenty-two miles to 28th. 

 the Northward on Peshew Lake, and in the afternoon pitched 

 our tents on an island, where, by my desire, the Indians made 

 a large smoke, and proposed to stay a day or two for Captain 

 Keelshies. 



In the night, one of Matonabbee's wives and another 

 woman eloped : it was supposed they went off to the Eastward, 



the high winds, because the nodding of the trees, when at a considerable 

 distance from each other, frightens them ; but in the midst of a thick forest, the 

 constant rustling of the branches lulls them into security, and renders them an 

 easy prey to a skilful hunter. 



[This appears to have been the last wood seen before reaching the 

 Coppermine River. 



The wood known as juniper on Hudson Bay is the American larch, 

 Larix laricina (Du Roi) which extends to the edge of the barren grounds.] 



* Probably the same with Partridge Lake in the Map. 



[^ Between Clowey and Peshew or Cat Lake, the map shows that their 

 course was across Partridge Lake. The exact position of this lake was made 

 known by Mr. Warburton Pike and afterwards by James W. Tyrrell, who crossed 

 from Great Slave Lake to Hudson Bay in 1900. It is a small lake on the 

 river between Artillery and Clinton-Colden Lakes, and lies just a little north of 

 the southern edge of the barren lands. The name given to it on the Cook map is 

 Cossadgath and on the Mackenzie map Cassandgath Lake, which are evidently 

 modifications of the Chipewyan word for Ptarmigan or " White Partridge." 

 With regard to the limits of Hearne's course in an east and west direction, it is 

 quite clear that he passed to the east of Great Slave Lake and to the west of 

 the belt of timber on Hanbury River, so that he must have passed in the 

 vicinity of this lake if he did not pass over it. 



Peshew is the Cree word for Wild Cat or Lynx, and therefore Peshew 

 Lake should be the Cat Lake of the map, and not Partridge Lake as 

 stated in the note, which was evidently inserted by Dr. Douglas after the 

 author's death. Peshew or Cat Lake has been identified by Sir George Back, 

 and following him by Sir John Richardson, as Artillery Lake, but this identi- 



