cove, beneath a high ridge lying just to the north-west of it, and
soon we were at anchor. Our intention was to get into the cove, but
the six knot current swept us by the mouth before the failing breeze
enabled us to get in.

After supper the necessary formal call was made on the factor, Mr.
Bell, by the professor, armed with a letter of introduction from the
head of the company in London, and escorted by three or four of the
party. A rather gruff reception, at first met with, became quite
genial, when it appeared that we wanted no assistance save a pilot,
and called only to cultivate the acquaintance of the most important
official in Labrador.

With a promise to renew the acquaintance upon our return, we left, and
after a hard pull and an exciting moment in getting the boat fast
alongside, on account of the terrific current, we reached the deck and
reported.

Our rivals were there, and had hired the only available boat and crew
to transport them to North West River. This threw us back on our
second plan, viz: to take our party right to the mouth of the Grand
River ourselves, which involved a trip inland of one hundred miles to
the head of Lake Melville. This it was decided to do, and after some
delay in securing a pilot, owing to the transfer at the last moment of
the affections of the first man we secured to the other party, John
Blake came aboard and we started on our new experience in inland
navigation. Just as we entered the narrows, after a stop at John's
house to tell his wife where we were taking him, and to give her some
medicine and advice from the doctor, we saw our rivals starting in
the boat they had secured. That was the last we saw of them, till they
reached North West River, two days after our party had started up the
Grand River.

North West River is the name of the Hudson Bay Co.'s post at the mouth
of the river of the same name, flowing into the western extremity of
Lake Melville, about fifteen miles north of the mouth of Grand River.
Hamilton Inlet proper extends about forty miles in from the Atlantic
to the "Narrows," a few miles beyond Rigolette, where Lake Melville
begins. A narrow arm of the lake extends some unexplored distance east
of the Narrows, south of and parallel to the southern shore of the
inlet. The lake varies from five to forty miles in width and is ninety
miles long, allowing room for an extended voyage in its capacious
bosom. The water is fresh enough to drink at the upper en