having removed to their
hunting-grounds, Dr. Richardson and I determined on taking a pedestrian
excursion to the Copper-Mine River, leaving Mr. Wentzel in charge of the
men, and to superintend the buildings. On the morning of September the
9th we commenced our journey, under the guidance of old Keskarrah, and
accompanied by John Hepburn and Samandre, who carried our blankets,
cooking utensils, hatchets, and a small supply of dried meat. Our guide
led us from the top of one hill to the top of another, making as
straight a course to the northward as the numerous lakes, with which the
country is intersected, would permit. At noon we reached a remarkable
hill, with precipitous sides, named by the Copper Indians the Dog-rib
Rock, and its latitude, 64 deg. 34' 52" S.{58}, was obtained. The
canoe-track passes to the eastward of this rock, but we kept to the
westward, as being the more direct course. From the time we quitted the
banks of Winter River we saw only a few detached clumps of trees; but
after we passed Dog-rib Rock even these disappeared, and we travelled
through a naked country. In the course of the afternoon Keskarrah killed
a rein-deer, and loaded himself with its head and skin, and our men
also carried off a few pounds of its flesh for supper; but their loads
were altogether too great to permit them to take much additional weight.
Keskarrah offered to us as a great treat the raw marrow from the hind
legs of the animal, of which all the party ate except myself, and
thought it very good. I was also of the same opinion, when I
subsequently conquered my then too fastidious taste. We halted for the
night on the borders of a small lake, which washed the base of a ridge
of sand-hills, about three hundred feet high, having walked in direct
distance sixteen miles.

There were four ancient pine-trees here which did not exceed six or
seven feet in height, but whose branches spread themselves out for
several yards, and we gladly cropped a few twigs to make a bed and to
protect us from the frozen ground, still white from a fall of snow which
took place in the afternoon. We were about to cut down one of these
trees for firewood, but our guide solicited us to spare them, and made
us understand by signs that they had been long serviceable to his
nation, and that we ought to content ourselves with a few of the smaller
branches. As soon as we comprehended his request we complied with it,
and our attendants having, with some troub