Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/117

 on the morning of the 10th we entered Great Slave Lake. Every eye was directed across that inland sea, and great was our mortification when, with the glass, we discerned an unbroken line of ice embracing the land beyond Moose-deer Island. We advanced to the edge of that unwelcome barrier; but it was firm and immoveable, threatening us with a long detention. Turning within the islands, a portage, performed with the aid of canoes, brought our provisions and other property, in the course of the day, to Fort Resolution; the boats crossing the shallows light.

From the 10th to the 21st of June the ice kept us prisoners at Fort Resolution, occasionally retreating a mile or two, as if to tantalize us, then closing and driving the fishermen and their nets ashore.

On the 12th we indulged our people with a dance, though the constant daylight was rather unfavourable to the dark complexions of the ladies. It was concluded by a general supper, at which tea was the beverage, all intoxicating liquors being, as already noticed, excluded from this sober land.

The 13th was marked by a thunderstorm of a terrible violence, unusual in these high latitudes; to which succeeded a week of beautiful