In the Arctic Regions. 239 
River, to advance up that stream as far as it was navi- 
gable, and then to construct small canoes out of the 
materials of the larger ones, which could be carried in 
crossing the barren grounds to Fort Enterprize. 
August 19—We were almost beaten out of our 
comfortless abodes by rain during the night, and this 
morning the gale continued without diminution. The 
thermometer fell to 33°. Two men were sent with 
Junius to search for the deer which Augustus had kill- 
ed. Junius returned in the evening bringing part of 
the meat, but owing to the thickness of the weather, 
his companions parted from him and did not make 
their appearance. Divine service was read. On the 
20th we were presented with the most chilling pros- 
pect, the small pools of water being frozen over, the 
ground being covered with snow, and the thermometer 
at the freezing point at mid-day. Flights of geese 
were passing to the southward. The wind however 
was more moderate, having changed to the eastward. 
Considerable anxiety prevailing respecting Belanger 
and Michel, the two men who strayed from Junius 
‘yesterday, the rest were sent out to look for them. 
The search was successful, and they all returned in 
the evening. The stragglers were much fatigued, and 
had suffered severely from the cold, one of them hav- 
ing his thighs frozen, and what under our circumstan- 
ces was most grievous, they had thrown away all the. 
