164 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771- time of our leaving the women on the second instant; it is 

 ■ true, in some places there was a little moss, but the constant 

 sleet and rain made it so wet, as to render it as impossible to 

 set fire to it as it would be to a wet sponge. 



We had no sooner entered our places of retreat, than we 

 regaled ourselves with some raw venison which the Indians 

 had killed that morning ; the small stock of dried provisions 

 we took with us when we left the women being now all 

 expended. 



Agreeably to our expectations, a very sudden and heavy 

 gale of wind came on from the North West, attended with so 

 great a fall of snow, that the oldest Indian in company said, 

 he never saw it exceeded at any time of the year, much less 

 in the middle of Summer. The gale was soon over, and by 

 degrees it became a perfect calm : but the flakes of snow were 

 so large as to surpass all credibility, and fell in such vast 

 quantities, that though the shower only lasted nine hours, 

 we were in danger of being smothered in our caves. 

 7th. [135] On the seventh, we had a fresh breeze at North West, 

 with some flying showers of small rain, and at the same time 

 a constant warm sunshine, which soon dissolved the greatest 

 part of the new-fallen snow. Early in the morning we crawled 

 out of our holes, which were on the North side of the Stony 

 Mountains, and walked about eighteen or twenty miles to the 

 North West by West. In our way we crossed part of a large 

 lake on the ice, which was then far from being broken up. 

 This lake I distinguished by the name of Buffalo, or Musk-Ox 

 Lake,^ from the number of those animals^ that we found 

 grazing on the margin of it ; many of which the Indians 

 killed, but finding them lean, only took some of the bulls* 

 hides for shoe-soals. At night the bad weather returned, 



[* The position of this lake has not since been determined, and as the name 

 Musk-Ox Lake seems to be one given by Hearne himself, and as the Indian 

 name is not given, it will be difficult at any time to identify it.] 



[^ Ovibos moschaius (Zimm.).] 



