two men can do; they pitch our tents, make and
mend our clothing, and in fact there is no such thing as travelling in
this country for any length of {54} time without their assistance.
Women,' he added, 'though they do everything are maintained at a
trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of
their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence.'
Acting on these salutary opinions, the chief was a man of eight wives,
and Hearne was shocked later on to find the Indian willing to add to
his little flock by force without the slightest compunction.

The two opening months of the year 1771 were spent in travelling
westward towards Wholdaia Lake. The country was wooded, though here
and there, the observer, standing on the higher levels, could see the
barren grounds to the northward. The cold was intense, especially when
a frozen lake or river exposed the travellers to the full force of the
wind. But game was plentiful. At intervals the party halted and
killed caribou in such quantities that three and four days were
sometimes spent in camp in a vain attempt to eat the spoils of the
chase. The Indians, Hearne remarked, slaughtered the game recklessly,
with no thought of the morrow.

Wholdaia Lake was reached on March 2. This is a long sheet of water
lying some thirty miles north of the parallel of sixty degrees. At
{55} the point where Hearne crossed it on the ice, it was twenty-seven
miles broad; its length appears to be four or five times as great. It
is still almost unknown, for it lies far beyond the confines of present
settlement and has been seen only by explorers.

From Wholdaia Lake the course was continued westward. The weather was
moderate. There was abundant game, the skies overhead were bright, and
the journey assumed a more agreeable aspect. Here and there bands of
roving Indians were seen, as also were encampments of hunters engaged
in snaring deer in the forest. In the middle of April, the party
rested for ten days in camp beside a little lake which marked the
westward limit of their march. From here on, the course was to lie
northward again. The Indians were therefore employed in gathering
staves and birch-bark to be used for tent poles and canoes when the
party should again reach the barren grounds on their northern route.

The opening of May found the party at Lake Clowey, whose waters run
westward to the Great Slave Lake. Here they again halted, and the