ugh the Indians around Slave Lake are
in a state of great want. About noon we passed a sulphur-stream which ran
into the river; it appeared to come from a plain about fifty yards
distant. There were no rocks near it and the soil through which it took
its course was composed of a reddish clay. I was much galled by the
strings of the snowshoes during the day and once got a severe fall
occasioned by the dogs running over one of my feet and, dragging me some
distance, my snowshoe having become entangled with the sledge. In the
evening we lost our way from the great similarity of appearance in the
country and it was dark before we found it again when we halted in a
thick wood after having come about sixteen miles from the last
encampment. Much snow fell during the night.

At an early hour on the 27th of December we continued our journey over
the surface of a long but narrow lake and then through a wood which
brought us to the grand detour on the Slave River. The weather was
extremely cloudy with occasional falls of snow which tended greatly to
impede our progress from its gathering in lumps between the dogs' toes;
and though they did not go very fast yet my left knee pained me so much
that I found it difficult to keep up with them. At three P.M. we halted
within nine miles of the Salt River and made a hearty meal of mouldy
pemmican.

December 28 and 29.

We had much difficulty in proceeding owing to the poor dogs being quite
worn out and their feet perfectly raw. We endeavoured to tie shoes on
them to afford them some little relief but they continually came off when
amongst deep snow so that it occupied one person entirely to look after
them. In this state they were hardly of any use among the steep ascents
of the portages, when we were obliged to drag the sledges ourselves. We
found a few of the rapids entirely frozen. Those that were not had holes
and large spaces about them from whence issued a thick vapour, and in
passing this we found it particularly cold; but what appeared most
curious was the number of small fountains which rose through the ice and
often rendered it doubtful which way we should take. I was much
disappointed at finding several falls (which I had intended to sketch)
frozen almost even with the upper and lower parts of the stream; the ice
was connected by a thin arch and the rushing of the water underneath
might be heard at a considerable distance. On the banks of these rapids
there was a constant ove