f
any accident befalling the canoes.

The situation of our encampment was ascertained to be 65 deg. 43' 28" N.,
longitude 114 deg. 26' 45" W., and the variation 42 deg. 17' 22" E.

At four in the morning of July 4th we embarked and descended a
succession of very agitated rapids, but took the precaution of landing
the articles mentioned yesterday, wherever there appeared any hazard;
notwithstanding all our precautions the leading canoe struck with great
force against a stone, and the bark was split, but this injury was
easily repaired, and we regretted only the loss of time. At eleven we
came to an expansion of the river where the current ran with less force,
and an accumulation of drift ice had, in consequence, barred the
channel; over this the canoes and cargoes were carried. The ice in many
places adhered to the banks, and projected in wide ledges several feet
thick over the stream, which had hollowed them out beneath. On one
occasion as the people were embarking from one of these ledges, it
suddenly gave way, and three men were precipitated into the water, but
were rescued without further damage than a sound ducking, and the canoe
fortunately (and narrowly) escaped being crushed. Perceiving one of the
Indians sitting on the east bank of the river, we landed, and having
learned from him that Akaitcho and the hunters had gone in pursuit of a
herd of musk oxen, we encamped, having come twenty-four miles and a
half.

In the afternoon they brought us the agreeable intelligence of having
killed eight cows, of which four were full grown. All the party were
immediately despatched to bring in this seasonable supply. A young cow,
irritated by the firing of the hunters, ran down to the river, and
passed close to me when walking at a short distance from the tents. I
fired and wounded it, when the animal instantly turned, and ran at me,
but I avoided its fury by jumping aside and getting upon an elevated
piece of ground. In the mean time some people came from the tents, and
it took to flight.

The musk oxen, like the buffalo, herd together in bands, and generally
frequent the barren grounds during the summer months, keeping near the
rivers, but retire to the woods in winter. They seem to be less watchful
than most other wild animals, and when grazing are not difficult to
approach, provided the hunters go against the wind; when two or three
men get so near a herd as to fire at them from different points, these
animals instead