14 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



performed a circuitous route, frequently 

 crossing high hills to avoid those lakes 

 which were not frozen. During the day 

 one of the women made a hole through the 

 ice, and caught a fine pike, which she gave 

 to us : the Indians would not partake of it, 

 from the idea (as we afterwards learnt,) that 

 we should not have sufficient for ourselves : 

 4 We are accustomed to starvation,' said 

 they, * but you are not.' In the evening we 

 halted near Rocky Lake. I accompanied 

 one of the Indians to the summit of a hill, 

 where he shewed me a dark horizontal 

 cloud, extending to a considerable distance 

 along the mountains in the perspective, 

 which he said was occasioned by the Great 

 Slave Lake, and was considered as a good 

 guide to all the hunters in the vicinity. On 

 our return we saw two untenanted bears' 

 dens. 



" The night was cloudy with heavy snow, 

 yet the following morning we continued our 

 tedious march ; many of the lakes remained 

 still open, and the rocks were high and 

 covered with snow, which continued to fall 



