248 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



as the least moisture causes the skin to spoil, and lose its hair. It 

 requires the skins of seven deer to make one robe. The finest are 

 made of the skins of young fawns. 



The fishing, having failed as the weather became more severe, was 

 given up on the 5th. It had procured us about one thousand two 

 hundred white fish, from two to three pounds each. There are two 

 other species of salmo in Winter Lake ; Back's grayling and the round 

 fish, and a few trout, pike, methye f and red carp, were also occasionally 

 obtained from the nets. It may be worthy of notice here, that the 

 fish froze as they were taken out of the nets, in a short time became 

 a solid mass of ice, and by a blow or two of the hatchet were easily 

 split open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. If in 

 this completely frozen state they were thawed before the fire, they re- 

 covered their animation. This was particularly the case with the carp, 

 and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson occu- 

 pied himself in examining the structure of the different species of fish, 

 and was always, in the winter, under the necessity of thawing them be- 

 fore he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap 

 about with much vigour, after it had been frozen for thirty-six hours. 



From the 12th to the 16th we had fine, and for the season warm, 

 weather, and the deer, which had not been seen since the 26th of 

 October, re-appeared in the neighbourhood of the house, to the 

 surprise of the Indians, who attributed their return to the barren 

 grounds, to the unusual mildness of the season. On this occasion, 

 by melting some of our pewter cups, we managed to furnish five 

 balls to each of the hunters, but they were all expended unsuccess- 

 fully, except by Akaitcho, who killed two deer. 



By the middle of the month Winter River was firmly frozen over, 

 except the small rapid at its commencement, which remained open all 

 the winter. The ice on the lake was now nearly two feet thick. 

 After the 16th we had a succession of cold, snowy, and windy wea- 

 ther. We had become anxious to hear of the arrival of Mr. Back 

 and his party at Fort Providence. The Indians, who had calculated 



