26 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



rivers to the eastward of the Copper-mine 

 River, which also fall into the Northern 

 Ocean. The Anatessy, which issues from 

 the Contway-to or Rum Lake, and the 

 Thloueea-tessy or Fish River, which rises 

 near the eastern boundary of the Great 

 Slave Lake; but he represented both of 

 them as being shallow, and too much inter- 

 rupted by barriers for being navigated in 

 any other than small Indian canoes. 



Having received this satisfactory intelli- 

 gence, I wrote immediately to Mr. Smith, 

 of the North -West Company, and Mr. 

 M'Vicar, of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 the gentlemen in charge of the posts at the 

 Great Slave Lake, to communicate the ob- 

 ject of the expedition, and our proposed 

 route ; and to solicit any information they 

 possessed, or could collect from the Indians, 

 relative to the countries we had to pass 

 through, and the best manner of proceed- 

 ing. As the Copper Indians frequent the 

 establishment on the north side of the lake, 

 I particularly requested them to explain to 

 that tribe the object of our visit, and to en- 



