Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/429

Rh Fort Simpson were chiefly musical; and, as Mr. Mcpherson's cook excelled on that martial but decried instrument the bagpipes, the people were frequently entertained with a dance in the hall. My own time was fully occupied in completing the calculations, and drawing the map of our eastern discoveries.

Winter travelling with dogs being impracticable through the dense and fallen woods which cover the face of the country, I was obliged to wait till the river-ice was considered safe, and sufficiently covered with snow.

On Monday the 2nd of December I took leave of my kind friends, and set out for Great Slave Lake with a party of ten men, partly belonging to the expedition, partly to Fort Simpson. We found the ice terribly rough, tossed up like the waves of the sea; proving the struggle made by the mighty stream against the all-conquering power of the frost. It often required a couple of men, walking ahead with axes, to hew a way for their companions and the dog-sledges; and on one occasion we had to mount the steep bank of the river, and cut a lane through the woods. Some of my men lagged very much, through fatigue; but on the eighth morning the whole party, with one exception, reached "Big Island," which divides into two