now giving place to a more
barren and hilly country; so that we could but just collect sufficient
brushwood{37} to cook our suppers. The part of the river we skirted this
day was shallow, and flowed over a bed of sand; its width about one
hundred and twenty yards. About midnight our tent was blown down by a
squall, and we were completely drenched with rain before it could be
re-pitched.

On the morning of the 1st of September a fall of snow took place; the
canoes became a cause of delay, from the difficulty of carrying them in
a high wind, and they sustained much damage through the falls of those
who had charge of them. The face of the country was broken by hills of
moderate elevation, but the ground was plentifully strewed with small
stones, which, to men bearing heavy burdens, and whose feet were
protected only by soft moose skin shoes, occasioned great pain. At the
end of eleven miles we encamped, and sent for a musk-ox and a deer,
which St. Germain and Augustus had killed. The day was extremely cold,
the thermometer varying between 34 deg. and 36 deg.. In the afternoon a heavy
fall of snow took place, on the wind changing from north-west to
south-west. We found no wood at the encampment, but made a fire of moss
to cook the supper, and crept under our blankets for warmth. At sunrise
the thermometer was at 31 deg., and the wind fresh from north-west; but the
weather became mild in the course of the forenoon, and the snow
disappeared from the gravel. The afternoon was remarkably fine, and the
thermometer rose to 50 deg.. One of the hunters killed a musk-ox. The hills
in this part are lower, and more round-backed than those we passed
yesterday, exhibiting but little naked rock; they were covered with
lichens.

Having ascertained from the summit of the highest hill near the tents,
that the river continued to preserve a west course; and fearing that by
pursuing it further we might lose much time, and unnecessarily walk over
a great deal of ground, I determined on quitting its banks the next day,
and making as directly as we could for Point Lake. We accordingly
followed the river on the 3d, only to the place where the musk-ox had
been killed last evening, and after the meat was procured, crossed the
river in our two canoes lashed together. We now emerged from the valley
of the river, and entered a level, but very barren, country, varied only
by small lakes and marshes, the ground being covered with small stones.
Many old