OF THE POLAR SEA. 



135 



withstanding the continuance of the wind. 

 The course of the river is very winding, 

 making in one place a circuit of seven or 

 eight miles round a peninsula, which is 

 joined to the west bank by a narrow isth- 

 mus. Near the foot of this elbow, a long 

 island occupies the centre of the river, 

 which it divides into two channels. The lon- 

 gitude was obtained near to it 113° 25' 36", 

 and variation 27° 25' 14" N., and the lati- 

 tude 60° 54' 52" N., about four miles far- 

 ther down. We passed the mouth of a 

 broad channel leading to the north-east, 

 termed La Grande Riviere de Jean, one of 

 the two large branches by which the river 

 pours its waters into the Great Slave Lake ; 

 the flooded delta at the mouth of the river 

 is intersected by several smaller channels, 

 through one of which, called the Channel 

 of the Scaffold, we pursued our voyage on 

 the following morning, and by eight A.M. 

 reached the establishment of the North- 

 West Company on Moose-Deer Island. 

 We found letters from Mr. Wentzel, dated 

 Fort Providence, a station on the north side 



