78 ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS. OF \CANAYE: 
bosomed his trouble. He said that if he were a single 
man he would not feel so badly, but having a family de- 
pendent on him he could not run into such destruction 
as he now learned awaited us. Most of the men, ex- 
cepting, perhaps, Francois, who cared for nothing, were 
equally affected, and it was with some difficulty we 
managed to reassure them. We told them that these 
Indians were a set of miserable liars, and were only try- 
ing to prevent us from going into their hunting grounds; 
that I had lived with the Eskimos for nearly two years, 
and had found them to be far better people than these 
Indians who were trying to deceive them. We referred 
them to Moberly, the untrustworthy and false, as a 
sample of their tribe, and at length persuaded them into 
disbelieving the stories. 
On the morning of the 18th, accompanied by five 
native Indians, we arrived at our portage near the 
northern extremity of the lake, and about fifty miles 
from the rapids where we had entered it. The portage 
led, as we had been informed by the Indians, over the 
Height of Land to the northward. It was found to be a 
mile and a quarter long. Its northern end terminated on 
the shore of another large lake, the level of which was 
ascertained to be about fifty feet lower than Selwyn 
Lake. Separating the two lakes, rocky hills rose -to 
elevations of two or three hundred feet (fourteen or 
fifteen hundred feet above sea level), and between them 
wound the trail, which was comparatively level and 
easy. With the help of the natives, our stuff, already 
considerably reduced, was soon portaged, and the canoes 
again launched and loaded. JBefore these operations 
