OE THE POLAR SEA. 



67 



in consequence of a serious accident having 

 befallen their canoe in the Red Deer River ; 

 when they were in the act of hauling up a 

 strong rapid, the line broke, the canoe was 

 overturned, and two of the party narrowly 

 escaped drowning ; fortunately the women 

 and children happened to be on shore, or, 

 in all probability, they would have perished 

 in the confusion of the scene. Nearly all 

 their stores, their guns, and fishing nets, 

 were lost, and they could not procure any 

 other food for the last four days than some 

 unripe berries. 



Some gentlemen arrived in the evening 

 with a party of Chipewyan Indians, from 

 Hay River, a post between the Peace River, 

 and the Great Slave Lake. These men 

 gave distressing accounts of sickness among 

 their relatives, and the Indians in general 

 along the Peace River, and they said many 

 of them have died. The disease was de- 

 scribed as dysentery. On the 10th and 

 11th we had very sultry weather, and were 

 dreadfully tormented by musquitoes. The 

 highest temperature was 73°. 



f 2 



