Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/295

Rh one night that a troop of six wolves pursued them to our tents, where they instinctively took refuge. In order to save these useful animals, and, if possible, restore them to their owners, we carried them with us on our quitting the river a fortnight afterwards.

The weather in the early part of the month was, for the most part, dark and stormy. The northerly or ice winds were piercingly cold, and charged with fog, snow, and deluges of rain, against which our tent, made of light inferior sheeting, formed a wretched defence: our men were rather better lodged.

On the 7th, Sinclair was sent along the coast to examine anew the condition of the ice. He returned from the mouth of an unfordable river, nine miles to the eastward, probably the same that Hearne ascended on his return, and which passes through a branch of the Coppermine. The ice everywhere lay solid and unbroken upon the very sand, affording no hope of a speedy liberation. Tracing up the stream, which inclined towards the Coppermine, he perceived on its opposite bank five tents of the natives; but when we made an attempt, two days afterwards, to open a communication with them, they and their habitations had disappeared.

The 8th being a calm mild day, the