DOWN TO THE SEA 



river. We had then made fouBteen miles. Here we waited, 

 hoping that toward evening the wind might moderate ; but on 

 the contrary it grew worse, so on the lee side of a bluff point 

 camp was pitched to afford us shelter from the cold, piercing 

 blast. A high wind continued all night and during the fol- 

 lowing day, when it was accompanied by snow and sleet. 

 The temperature was so low that the fresh-water ponds were 

 now frozen over. Such a condition of climate, together with 

 a small and rapidly diminishing stock of provisions, made us 

 chafe at the delay; but on the morning of the 5th we were 

 enabled to launch, and during the day made a good run of 

 about forty miles. The shore of the lake consisted chiefly of 

 Laurentian rock, from 150 to 300 feet in height, but at some 

 places broad, low flats and long points of sand and boulders 

 separated the hills from the water. 



During the afternoon of the 6th, the northerly of the two 

 rivers discharging the waters of Baker Lake was discovered. 

 The approach to it is well marked on the north bank by a 

 round bluff some two hundred feet in height. At first no 

 current could be observed in the river, which, in reality, is 

 a deep, narrow fiord, but when we had advanced a distance 

 of about two miles a stiff current, almost approaching a rapid, 

 was met ; but instead of moving with us, as would naturally 

 be expected, it was flowing to the westward. At first sight 

 it caused some doubts as to whether we were on the right 

 road. The canoemen were all persuaded that we were ascend- 

 ing some big river and would have turned back at once, but 

 concluding that we had already reached tide water, though 

 sooner than we had expected, we pulled on, and before long 

 witnessed the seemingly strange phenomenon of a river 

 changing its direction of flow. 



So smooth and bare were its glaciated shores that we had 

 some difficulty in effecting a landing. One night was spent 

 on this rocky bank, and the day following, being fair and 

 bright, saw us on the waters of Chesterfield Inlet. The mag- 



163 



