OF THE POLAR SEA. 



SI 



j soil through which it took its course was 

 I composed of a reddish clay. I was much 

 galled by the strings of the snow-shoes 

 during the day, and once got a severe fall, 

 Dccasioned by the dogs running over one of 

 my feet, and dragging me some distance, 

 my snow-shoe having become entangled 

 with the sledge. In the evening we lost 

 our way, from the great similarity of ap- 

 pearance in the country, and it was dark 

 before we found it again, when we halted in 

 a thick wood, after having come about six- 

 teen miles from the last encampment. Much 

 snow fell during the night. 



" At an early hour on the 27th of De- 

 cember, we continued our journey over the 

 surface of a long but narrow lake, and then 

 through a wood, which brought us to the 

 grand detour on the Slave River. The 

 weather was extremely cloudy, with occa- 

 sional falls of snow, which tended greatly to 

 impede our progress, from its gathering in 

 lumps between the dogs' toes ; and though 

 they did not go very fast, yet my left knee 

 pained me so much, that I found it difficult 



