welve
miles. A few dwarf birches afforded us but a scanty fire yet, being
sheltered from the wind by a sandy bank, we passed the night comfortably
though the temperature was 30 degrees. A number of geese passed over us
to the southward. We set off early next morning and marched at a
tolerably quick pace. The atmosphere was quite foggy and our view was
limited to a short distance. At noon the sun shone forth for a few
minutes and the latitude 64 degrees 57 minutes 7 seconds was observed.
The small streams that we had hitherto crossed run uniformly to the
southward.

At the end of sixteen miles and a half we encamped amongst a few dwarf
pines and were much rejoiced at having a good fire as the night was very
stormy and cold. The thermometer fluctuated this day between 31 and 35
degrees. Though the following morning was foggy and rainy we were not
sorry to quit the cold and uncomfortable beds of rock upon which we had
slept and commence our journey at an early hour. After walking about
three miles we passed over a steep sandy ridge and found the course of
the rivulets running towards the north and north-west. Our progress was
slow in the early part of the morning and we were detained for two hours
on the summit of a hill exposed to a very cold wind whilst our guide went
in an unsuccessful pursuit of some reindeer. After walking a few miles
farther the fog cleared away and Keskarrah pointed out the Copper-Mine
River at a distance and we pushed towards it with all the speed we could
put forth. At noon we arrived at an arm of Point Lake, an extensive
expansion of the river, and observed the latitude 65 degrees 9 minutes 06
seconds North. We continued our walk along the south end of this arm for
about a mile farther and then halted to breakfast amidst a cluster of
pines. Here the longitude 112 degrees 57 minutes 25 seconds was observed.
After breakfast we set out and walked along the east side of the arm
towards the main body of the lake, leaving Samandre to prepare an
encampment amongst the pines against our return. We found the main
channel deep, its banks high and rocky, and the valleys on its borders
interspersed with clusters of spruce-trees. The latter circumstance was a
source of much gratification to us. The temperature of its surface water
was 41 degrees, that of the air being 43 degrees. Having gained all the
information we could collect from our guide and from personal observation
we retraced our steps to the encamp