apid progress. The length of the march
was seventeen miles, being, exclusive of the half hourly halts and the
time occupied by breakfast, at the rate of two miles and a half an hour.
In the course of the day we crossed several ridges of the Copper
Mountains to avoid a bend of the river. The Whisky-John (_corvus
Canadensis_) visited our encampment in the evening for the first time
since we left the Mackenzie.

[Sidenote: Sunday, 13th.] On the 13th, commencing the day's march at
five A.M., we walked along the banks of the river until nine, when we
halted to prepare breakfast, at the place where Captain Franklin
encamped on the 11th of July 1821. After breakfast we forded the small
stream, on the banks of which several pieces of native copper and some
copper ore were found on the former Expedition. A quantity of ice formed
by snow, consolidated by the oozing of the stream, still remained in the
bed of this rivulet.

At noon the latitude was observed in 67 degrees 13 minutes N., and as we
were now on the spot where the Coppermine makes the nearest approach to
the north-east arm of Bear Lake, we decided on striking directly from
this place to the mouth of Dease's River, and the course and distance
were accordingly calculated. Our route lay over rocks of old red
sandstone, clay-slate, and greenstone disposed in ridges, which had a
direction from E.S.E. to W.N.W. The sides of many of the ridges were
precipitous, and their uneven and stony summits were two hundred or two
hundred and fifty feet high. The valleys were generally swampy and
abounded in small lakes. A few scattered and thin clumps of pines
existed in the more sheltered spots, but the country was, in general,
naked. Several burrows of wolves were seen in the mountains. We crossed
two small streams in the course of the day, flowing towards the
Coppermine, and encamped at four P.M. on the banks of a small lake.
Sand-flies, the first we had seen this season, were numerous and
troublesome in the evening, the temperature then being 53 degrees.

[Sidenote: Monday, 14th.] Setting out at five A.M. on the 14th, we
halted to breakfast at nine, after a pretty brisk walk through a country
entirely destitute of wood. Some partridges, which were so tame as to be
easily killed with stones, furnished us with an agreeable variety of
diet. A meridional observation was obtained in latitude 67 degrees 10
minutes N. In endeavouring to get round the south end of a small chain
of lakes,