OF THE POLAR SEA. 419 



teered, on the departure of Mr. Wentzel, to perform the duty of 

 issuing the provision. This invidious task he had all along per- 

 formed with great impartiality, but seldom without producing some 

 grumbling amongst the Canadians ; and, on the present occasion, 

 the hunters were displeased that the heads, and some other parts, 

 had not been added to their portions. It is proper to remark, that 

 Mr. Hood always took the smallest portion for his own mess, but 

 this weighed little with these men, as long as their own appetites re- 

 mained unsatisfied. We all suffered much inconvenience from eating 

 animal food after our long abstinence, but particularly those men who 

 indulged themselves beyond moderation. We learned, in the evening 

 that the Canadians, with their usual thoughtlessness, had consumed 

 above a third of their portions of meat. 



We set out early on the 26th, and, after walking about three 

 miles along the lake, came to the river, which we at once recog- 

 nised, from its size, to be the Copper-Mine. It flowed to the 

 northward, and after winding about five miles, terminated in Point 

 Lake. Its current was swift, and there were two rapids in this 

 part of its course, but in a canoe we could have crossed with ease 

 and safety. These rapids, as well as every other part of the river, 

 were carefully examined in search of a ford ; but finding none, the ex- 

 pedients occurred, of attempting to cross on a raft made of the willows 

 which were growing there, or in a vessel framed with willows, and co- 

 vered with the canvass of the tents ; but both these schemes were 

 abandoned, through the obstinacy of the interpreters and the most 

 experienced voyagers, who declared that they would prove inadequate 

 to the conveyance of the party, and that much time would be lost in 

 the attempt. The men, in fact, did not believe that this was the 

 Copper-Mine Kiver, and so little confidence had they in our reck- 

 oning, and so much had they bewildered themselves on the march, 

 that some of them asserted it was Hood's Kiver, and others that 

 it was the Bethe-tessy, (a river which rises from a lake to the 



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