Germain,
of the necessity of our having the deposit of provision made at Fort
Enterprise, and received a renewed assurance of their attending to that
point. They were also desired to put as much meat as they could _en
cache_ on the banks of the Copper-Mine River on their return. We then
furnished them with what ammunition we could spare, and they took their
departure, promising to wait three days for Mr. Wentzel at the Copper
Mountains. We afterwards learned that their fears did not permit them to
do so, and that Mr. Wentzel did not rejoin them until they were a day's
march to the southward of the mountains.

We embarked at five A.M. and proceeded towards the sea, which is about
nine miles beyond the Bloody Fall. After passing a few rapids, the river
became wider, and more navigable for canoes, flowing between banks of
alluvial sand. We encamped at ten on the western bank at its junction
with the sea. The river is here about a mile wide, but very shallow,
being barred nearly across by sand banks, which run out from the main
land on each side to a low alluvial island that lies in the centre, and
forms two channels; of these the westernmost only is navigable even for
canoes, the other being obstructed by a stony bar. The islands to
seaward are high and numerous, and fill the horizon in many points of
the compass; the only open space, seen from an eminence near the
encampment, being from N.bE. to N.E.bN. Towards the east the land was
like a chain of islands, the ice apparently surrounding them in a
compact body, leaving a channel between its edge and the main of about
three miles. The water in this channel was of a clear green colour, and
decidedly salt. Mr. Hearne could have tasted it only at the mouth of the
river, when he pronounced it merely brackish. A rise and fall of four
inches in the water was observed. The shore is strewed with a
considerable quantity of drift timber, principally of the _populus
balsamifera_, but none of it of great size. We also picked up some
decayed wood far out of the reach of the water. A few stunted willows
were growing near the encampment. Some ducks, gulls, and partridges were
seen this day. As I had to make up despatches for England to be sent by
Mr. Wentzel, the nets were set in the interim, and we were rejoiced to
find that they produced sufficient fish for the party. Those caught
were, the Copper-Mine River salmon, white fish, and two species of
pleuronectes. We felt a considerable c