SO JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



7' 06" N., which was six miles to the south- 

 ward of that part of Point Lake to which 

 our course was directed. By this observa- 

 tion we discovered that we had kept to the 

 eastward of the proper course, which may- 

 be attributed partly to the difficulty of pre- 

 serving a straight line through an unknown 

 country, unassisted by celestial observations, 

 and in such thick weather that our view was 

 often limited to a few hundred yards, but 

 chiefly to our total ignorance of the amount 

 of the variation of the compass. 



We altered the course immediately to 

 west-south-west, and fired guns to apprize 

 the hunters who were out of our view, and 

 ignorant of our having done so. After 

 walking about two miles we waited to col- 

 lect the stragglers. Two partridges were 

 killed, and these, with some tripe de roche, 

 furnished our supper. Notwithstanding a 

 full explanation was given to the men of the 

 reasons for altering the course, and they 

 were assured that the observation had 

 enabled us to discover our exact distance 

 from Fort Enterprise, they could not divest 



