OF THE POLAR SEA. 



147 



from both sources was very vague and un- 

 satisfactory. None of his tribe had been 

 more than three days' march along the sea- 

 coast to the eastward of the river's mouth. 



As the water was unusually high this 

 season, the Indian guides recommended our 

 going by a shorter route to the Copper- 

 Mine River than that they had first pro- 

 posed to Mr. Wentzel, and they assigned 

 as a reason for the change, that the rein- 

 deer would be sooner found upon this 

 track. They then drew a chart of the pro- 

 posed route on the floor with charcoal, ex- 

 hibiting a chain of twenty-five small lakes 

 extending towards the north, about one 

 half of them connected by a river which 

 flows into Slave Lake near Fort Provi- 

 dence. One of the guides, named Kes- 

 karrah, drew the Copper-Mine River, run- 

 ning through the Upper Lake, in a westerly 

 direction towards the Great Bear Lake, and 

 then northerly to the sea. The other guide 

 drew the river in a straight line to the sea 

 from the above-mentioned place, but, after 

 some dispute, admitted the correctness of 

 l 2 



