es 31 minutes 18 seconds.

Some thundershowers retarded the drying of the meat and our embarkation
was delayed till the next day. The hunters were sent forward to hunt at
the Copper Mountains under the superintendence of Adam the interpreter
who received strict injunctions not to permit them to make any large
fires lest they should alarm straggling parties of the Esquimaux.

The mosquitoes were now very numerous and annoying but we consoled
ourselves with the hope that their season would be short.

VISIT TO THE COPPER MOUNTAIN.

On the 11th we started at three A.M. and, as the guide had represented
the river below our encampment to be full of shoals, some of the men were
directed to walk along the shore, but they were assailed so violently by
the mosquitoes as to be compelled to embark very soon; and we afterwards
passed over the shallow parts by the aid of the poles without
experiencing much interruption. The current ran very rapidly, having been
augmented by the waters of the Mouse River and several small streams. We
rejoined our hunters at the foot of the Copper Mountains and found they
had killed three musk-oxen. This circumstance determined us on encamping
to dry the meat as there was wood at the spot. We availed ourselves of
this delay to visit the Copper Mountains in search of specimens of the
ore, agreeably to my Instructions; and a party of twenty-one persons,
consisting of the officers, some of the voyagers, and all the Indians,
set off on that excursion. We travelled for nine hours over a
considerable space of ground but found only a few small pieces of native
copper. The range we ascended was on the west side of the river extending
West-North-West and East-South-East. The mountains varied in height from
twelve to fifteen hundred feet. The uniformity of the mountains is
interrupted by narrow valleys traversed by small streams. The best
specimens of metal we procured were among the stones in these valleys,
and it was in such situations that our guides desired us to search most
carefully. It would appear that, when the Indians see any sparry
substance projecting above the surface, they dig there, but they have no
other rule to direct them, and have never found the metal in its original
repository. Our guides reported that they had found copper in large
pieces in every part of this range for two days' walk to the north-west,
and that the Esquimaux come hither to search for it. The annual visits
which the Copp