great delight of the voyageurs, who had been so tormented by the mosquitoes that they longed to get to the cool breezes of Lake Winnipeg, and indulge in the luxury of an undisturbed nap. My companion Mr. King, among others, was severely punished, to his no little disappointment, as, being indifferent to the attacks of English insects of every description, he had fondly imagined he should be invulnerable to those of America. But a dipping in the Styx itself would not have saved him from the darts of the indefatigable searchers after blood to which he was now exposed; and he rose in the morning with features so changed that it was difficult to recognise the friend of the preceding night.

At 4 A. M. of the 11th of June, we left the establishment; but the wind blew so hard, that we had not proceeded more than three miles before the height of the waves, which broke freely over both sides of the canoes, obliged us to encamp. But few birds of any kind were seen; and though I remembered that on a former occasion the wild pigeons were very numerous, yet none were now found near the fort, though the cleared land around the Red River colony, not more than a day's march off, was said to swarm with them. On the 12th and following day we made considerable progress. The weather afterwards

became unsettled and stormy. Geese, ducks, plover, gulls, and tern, were seen sparingly scattered along the east shore of the lake, which, unlike the mountains to the north, which are limestone*, is composed of smooth and rounded granitic rocks of little altitude, intervening between low banks, with sand, and skirted by a swampy country behind. From the different ridges of sand in the bays between the rocks, and the increase of vegetation on them, I concluded that the shore was gradually gaining on the water; and this opinion seems confirmed by the fact that the Company has been obliged to change the situation of Old Norway House, on the opposite side, owing to the rapidly progressive advance of the water there. fact, it has so undermined and washed away the banks, as to have arrived within a few feet of a building, the distance of which from the edge of the lake in 1819 was upwards of three hundred yards. Few pelicans were noticed; and as these birds are faithful attendants at good fishing places, for which the lake is remarkable, the Canadians augured an indifferent

season.

In

On the 17th of June, having hoisted the Company's flag, we arrived at the depôt called

Richardson, Appendix to Franklin.

Norway House, situated on Jack River. Our reception was most cordial. Messrs. Christie, Rowand, Lewis, and Donald Ross, for most of whom I had letters from my excellent friend Mr. Garry, lost not a moment in tendering all the assistance in their power. But notwithstanding the good feeling on their part, some trouble was experienced from the exorbitant terms proposed by the men who seemed disposed to volunteer. The bulk of the people from the more remote stations had already passed the depôt; and those who remained, either reluctant to expose themselves to the hazard of what was justly considered an enterprise of danger, or influenced by the strong desire of gain, demanded the same privileges and emoluments which had been granted to the men employed on the two Government expeditions under Sir J. Franklin. Unreasonable as this seemed to us, we had no choice but to yield in part to their demands; and even then, it was not until I had taken infinite pains, by pointing out on the map the whole line of my operations, by lessening the danger and magnifying our resources, and, finally, by arousing the slumbering spirit of the Highlander, that James M'Kay, to whom I first addressed myself, — a powerful fellow, and one of the best steersmen in the

country, at length consented to be my follower. The example once set was soon imitated, and others, more or less qualified, completed my list to within two of the complement. Two days sufficed to equip them; and as a large supply of stores, together with sixty bags of pemmican and two new boats, or batteaux, were already at Cumberland House, I despatched Mr. King, with written instructions and fifteen men, to precede me to that post. I remained behind to secure, if possible, another steersman, and a middleman for a canoe, with which it was my intention to push on, by the Athabasca, to Great Slave Lake; whence I hoped a route might be found to the Thlew-ee-choh, and where at all events an eligible place might be selected for our winter residence. About the same time Mr. Christie and several other gentlemen took their departure for York factory, with a promise to provide me, if possible, with an Esquimaux interpreter, either in the person of my old friend Augustus, who was expected from the Labrador coast, or in that of a lad of the name of Dunning, then at Churchill, and represented by Governor Simpson as equal to the task.

Messrs. Cameron, Lewis, Ross, and myself, were now the only persons left at the depôt; and I may conscientiously say that I almost counted the hours, in my anxiety for the arrival of the

parties, from either of which it was supposed I might get the men required. They came at last; and two Canadians, former acquaintances of mine, presented themselves, almost breathless with haste, as candidates for the service. Their merits being known to me, I made no scruple about receiving them, and directed their agreements to be made out. In the meantime, however, returning to the camp, they were met by their wives, who were no sooner made acquainted with the transaction than they resorted to dif ferent, though as it seems equally efficacious, methods of diverting them from their purpose. The one, a good strapping dame, cuffed her husband's ears with such dexterity and good will, that he was fain to cry peccavi, and seek shelter in a friendly tent; the other, an interesting girl of seventeen, burst into tears, and with piteous sobs clung to the husband of her love, as if she would hold him prisoner in her arms. I had therefore to look elsewhere; and it was not until the 26th, that George Sinclair (born in the country, and an admirable steersman) engaged on similar terms with M'Kay. There now wanted but one; and this deficiency was with great kindness supplied by Mr. Cameron's allowing me to take an Iroquois belonging to the Company, on condition that if he went