t have drifted down the river: the
lodges themselves are formed by three or more strong sticks about the
size of a man's leg or arm, and twelve feet long, which are attached at
the top by a whith of small willows, and spreading out so as to form at
the base a circle of ten or fourteen feet in diameter: against these are
placed pieces of driftwood and fallen timber, usually in three ranges
one on the other, and the interstices are covered with leaves, bark, and
straw, so as to form a conical figure about ten feet high, with a small
aperture in one side for the door. It is, however, at best a very
imperfect shelter against the inclemencies of the seasons.

Sunday 5. We had a fine morning, and the wind being from the east we
used our sails. At the distance of five miles we came to a small island,
and twelve miles farther encamped on the north, at the distance of
seventeen miles. The country like that of yesterday is beautiful in the
extreme. Among the vast quantities of game around us, we distinguish a
small species of goose differing considerably from the common Canadian
goose; its neck, head, and beak, being much thicker, larger, and shorter
in proportion to its size, which is nearly a third smaller; the noise
too resembling more that of the brant or of a young goose that has not
yet fully acquired its note; in other respects its colour, habits, and
the number of feathers in the tail, the two species correspond; this
species also associates in flocks with the large geese, but we have not
seen it pair off with them. The white brant is about the size of the
common brown brant, or two thirds of the common goose, than which it is
also six inches shorter from the extremity of the wings, though the
beak, head, and neck are larger and stronger: the body and wings are of
a beautiful pure white, except the black feathers of the first and
second joints of the wings; the beak and legs are of a reddish or
flesh-coloured white, the eye of a moderate size, the pupil of a deep
sea-green incircled with a ring of yellowish brown, the tail consists of
sixteen feathers equally long, the flesh is dark and as well as its note
differs but little from those of the common brant, whom in form and
habits it resembles, and with whom it sometimes unites in a common
flock; the white brant also associate by themselves in large flocks, but
as they do not seem to be mated or paired off, it is doubtful whether
they reside here during the summer for the p