Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/228

198 for the wrong side of the cape. Had it not been for Mr. Dease's presence, they would assuredly have gone up M'Tavish Bay to look for the establishment; as it was, they had hard work to reach the shore. In the snow around our encampment the tracks of Alpine hares were numerous.

Being joined by our consorts in the forenoon of the 24th, we alternately sailed and rowed among the islands and bays that abound on the east side of this large arm of the lake. A great deal of young ice had formed along the shores; the weather was snowy, squally, and excessiyely cold. A herd of reindeer, and many large flocks of partridges, now perfectly white, were seen in the course of the day. We passed, near the Narrakazzæ Islands, huge lumps of rock, that rise out of the water to the height of a hundred feet. This I ascertained by climbing the highest of them the following spring, whence I had a commanding view of the whole group, and of the frozen lake around.

On the 25th the weather was rather milder. A solitary Canada goose, the very last straggler of the rear-guard, flew past to the southward. Several loons, and some flocks of small diving