158 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



directed towards the Copper-Mine River, 

 and through a line of country which had 

 not been previously visited by any European. 

 We proceeded to the northward, along the 

 eastern side of a deep bay of the lake, pass- 

 ing through various channels, formed by 

 an assemblage of rocky islands, and at 

 sunset encamped on a projecting point of 

 the north main shore, eight miles from Fort 

 Providence. To the westward of this arm 

 or bay of the lake, there is another deep 

 bay, that receives the waters of a river 

 which communicates with Great Marten 

 Lake, where the North- West Company had 

 once a post established. The eastern 

 shores of the Great Slave Lake are very 

 imperfectly known; none of the traders 

 have visited them, and the Indians give 

 such loose and unsatisfactory accounts, that 

 no estimation can be formed of its extent in 

 that direction. These men say there is a 

 communication from its eastern extremity 

 by a chain of lakes, with a shallow river, 

 which discharges its waters into the sea. 

 This stream they call the Thlouee-tessy, 



