OR THE POLAR SEA.. ■ 211 



a house on a piece of bark, which he placed 

 over the canoe and the few things that were 

 left, to point out to the Dog-Ribs that they 

 belonged to white people. 



The party reached the shores of Point 

 Lake, through which the Copper - Mine 

 River runs, on the 1st of September. The 

 next day was too stormy for them to march, 

 but on the 3d, they proceeded along its 

 shores to the westward, round a mountain- 

 ous promontory, and perceiving the course 

 of the lake extending to the W.N.W., they 

 encamped near some pines, and then en- 

 joyed the luxury of a good fire, for the first 

 time since their departure from us. The 

 temperature of the water in the lake was 

 35°, and of the air 32°, but the latter fell to 

 20° in the course of that night. As their 

 principal object was to ascertain whether 

 any arm of the lake branched nearer to 

 Fort Enterprise than the part they had fallen 

 upon, to which the transport of our goods 

 could be more easily made next spring, 

 they returned on its borders to the eastward, 

 being satisfied by the appearance of the 

 p 2 



