Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/225

Rh It continued to blow from the east till near noon on the 15th, when, the wind moderating, we embarked, and it soon afterwards fell calm. The afternoon, though cold, was serenely beautiful. Almost at the moment of sunset the moon appeared, and, while rising, assumed successively the most singular shapes, shewing the great power of the terrestrial refraction.

Next day we made good progress with the oars. The immediate borders of the lake are low; and the face of the country is mossy and barren, or poorly wooded with spruce-fir. I sounded in thirty-four fathoms about half a league from the shore; but there are in Great Bear Lake far greater depths than this—descending below the level of the ocean. When we encamped at dusk, a long rolling swell threatened the approach of a gale.

On the 17th we started at 6; the weather dark and squally, with a short cross sea, and the wind close. At noon, when within two miles of the eastern side of "the Bay of the Deer-pass," we were alarmed by a cry of distress from Mr. Dease's boat, which had sprung a plank, and was rapidly filling. Providentially, one of the bateaux was within reach, with whose aid we took out the people and the drenched cargo, and towed the injured boat to land, which we gained o 2