the
rein-deer, in the way described by Mr. Wentzel in the Narrative of
Captain Franklin's former voyage.

Ooligbuck, who had gone out to hunt, returned in the night. He met an
Indian who had just killed a deer with an arrow, and had tried to
persuade him to come to us; but neither of them understood the other's
language, and the Indian, probably terrified by the sight of an
Esquimaux armed with a gun, presented him with a piece of the deer's
meat, and then made off in an opposite direction. Many of the Hare
Indians abstain from visiting the forts for several years, and it is
possible that this one had not heard of us, or at least had not received
a distinct account of our intention of returning his way, and of our
having an Esquimaux with us. Our Indian friends told us that they did
not know that any of their countrymen were hunting in the direction
which Ooligbuck pointed out.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, 16th.] On the 16th a thick fog prevented us from
quitting our bivouack until seven o'clock, when the Indians led us down
the hill about a mile to the portage road, and we resumed the precise
line of march that we had followed from the Coppermine River, (S. 63
degrees W.) Such of our Highlandmen as had been in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and, consequently knew from experience the
difficulty of travelling through a country without guides, could not
help expressing their surprise at the justness of the course we had
followed. We had not concealed from them, that from want of
observations, or from the difficulty of estimating the distance walked,
we might err a mile or two in our reckoning, so that they were prepared,
on our reaching Bear Lake, to turn a little to the right or left in
search of the river; but they had scarcely hoped to have reached that
point without having to perform a single mile of unnecessary walking.

The portage-road conducted us in a short time to the principal branch of
Dease's River, on the banks of which, at the distance of six miles from
our encampment, we halted to breakfast. The stream there receives
another branch, but it is fordable without difficulty, being nowhere
much above knee-deep. A little way further to the westward, however, it
is less rapid, and forms frequent lake-like expansions. Our march from
last night's encampment was over sandstone rocks, and down a pretty
rapid ascent. The ground was barren in the extreme, except at our
breakfasting place, where there was a conv