orning, and as the weather was unusually warm,
the thermometer, at noon, being 77 deg., we remained stationary all day,
that the women might prepare the meat for keeping, by stripping the
flesh from the bones and drying it in the sun over a slow fire. The
hunters were again successful, and by the evening we had collected the
carcases of seventeen deer. As this was a sufficient store to serve us
until we arrived at Winter Lake, the chief proposed that he and his
hunters should proceed to that place and collect some provision against
our arrival. He also requested that we would allow him to be absent ten
days to provide his family with clothing, as the skin of the rein-deer
is unfit for that purpose after the month of September. We could not
refuse to grant such a reasonable request, but caused St. Germain to
accompany him, that his absence might not exceed the appointed time.
Previous to his departure the chief warned us to be constantly on our
guard against the grizzly bears, which he described as being numerous in
this vicinity, and very ferocious; one had been seen this day by an
Indian, to which circumstance the lake owes its appellation. We
afterwards learned that the only bear in this part of the country is the
brown bear, and that this by no means possesses the ferocity which the
Indians, with their usual love of exaggeration, ascribe to it. The
fierce grizzly bear, which frequents the sources of the Missouri, is not
found on the barren grounds.

The shores of this lake and the neighbouring hills are principally
composed of sand and gravel; they are much varied in their outline and
present some picturesque scenery.

The following observations were taken here: latitude 64 deg. 15' 17" N.,
longitude 113 deg. 2' 39" W.; variation of the compass 36 deg. 50' 47" E.; and
dip of the needle 87 deg. 20' 35".

On August the 17th, having finished drying the meat, which had been
retarded by the heavy showers of rain that fell in the morning, we
embarked at one P.M. and crossed two lakes and two portages. The last of
these was two thousand and sixty-six paces long, and very rugged, so
that the men were much fatigued. On the next day we received the flesh
of four rein-deer by the small canoe which had been sent for it, and
heard that the hunters had killed several more deer on our route. We saw
many of these animals as we passed along; and our companions, delighted
with the prospect of having food in abundance, now began to a