we should be obliged to walk round the Lake
to the Fort. The distance exceeding three hundred miles, we could not
expect to accomplish it in less than three weeks, and not without much
fatigue and suffering, for the men's stock of shoes was nearly
exhausted, their clothing ill adapted for the frosty nights that occur
in September, and deer do not frequent, at this season, much of the
country through which our route lay. I naturally looked forward to such
a march with uneasiness, yet, as the season was drawing to a close, I
determined not to delay setting out beyond the 28th, when I intended to
engage some Indians as guides, and to take with us as much dried meat as
we could carry. The wind blew from the south-west this day, and we were
much tormented by sand-flies.

[Sidenote: Thursday, 24th.] On the evening of the 24th, as we were about
to retire to bed, having given up all hopes of Beaulieu's arrival that
day, we heard people talking in the direction of the mouth of the river,
and soon afterwards saw a boat and several canoes. A musket being fired
to show them our position, they steered for the encampment, and landed
opposite to the huts. They proved to be Beaulieu's party, consisting of
four Canadians, four Chipewyan hunters, and ten Dog-Ribs, which, with
their wives and children, amounted to about thirty in all. We learnt
from Beaulieu, that he had been sent off from the Fort by Mr. Dease, on
the 6th, with strict injunctions to proceed to the rendezvous with his
utmost speed; but he pleaded the badness of the weather and the adverse
winds as the cause of his delay. He had not seen the five men I sent off
on the 22d, though he had noticed a fire in a bay near Limestone Point,
which I had no doubt was made by them; I therefore embarked directly to
rejoin them at that place, accompanied by Mr. Kendall and the remainder
of our party, two of the Canadians, and an Indian named the Babillard;
directing Beaulieu to stay at the huts until he heard from us again. We
rowed all night, and soon after day-break reached the spot where the
fire had been made, but found no marks to indicate which way our men had
gone: neither was there any mark at Limestone Point; I therefore caused
a large fire to be made at the latter place, and remained there the
whole day.

[Sidenote: Saturday, 26th.] Our people not appearing on the 26th, I
returned in the boat to Dease River, leaving Mr. Kendall and the
Babillard at Limestone Point. Beaulieu h