Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/232

202 supported his canine charge on the produce of nets set under the ice; and, from the "little lake" at Fort Franklin, the Indians latterly brought fish every day to the people at the boats. At length they reached that place on the 6th of August. The passage of the lake occupied ten days more. From the Scented-grass Mountain nothing but ice was visible, but after a delay of three days they made their way to the Acanyo Islands in Smith's Bay. There they discovered a narrow opening, leading through heavy ice for some distance; but, when it terminated, they had to force their way with great labour and risk for a whole day and night before they reached the northern shore. At the mouth of Haldane River they found a number of Hare Indians suffering severely from influenza, which had carried off two old people. They followed the party the same evening; and Ritch was shocked to learn that they had abandoned an orphan boy, about six years old. He immediately sent back two of our Chipewyans for the child, whom they brought safely to the establishment, where the little fellow passed the winter. From the extraordinary severity of the season, a journey of two hundred and fifty miles occupied forty-five days, and the ice of Great Bear Lake proved no less formidable than that of the Arctic Ocean.