time during the winter, near Fort Enterprise; and he likewise reported that the ice on the lake had scarcely begun to decay. As the time of departure approached, the Indians began to manifest a decided reluctance to proceed; and, on the 22d June, only five of them remained to accompany the expedition, which was then encamped in lat. 65° 12' 40" N., long. 113° 8' 25" W.
The Copper-mine river, like all those which they had hitherto navigated, was found to be full of rocks, rapids, and shoals, and in many places bridged with large masses of ice. The grassy plains on either side, however, abounded with game, particularly with those singular little animals known by the name of the musk-oxen, of which they killed several, but all of them lean, and the flesh by no means palatable; the weight of the largest did not exceed 300 pounds.
On the 7th of July, the expedition reached the most westerly part of that river; and on the 11th, Captain Franklin, with his officers, ascended a range of the Copper Mountains, varying in height from 1200 to 1500 feet, where they travelled for nine hours over a considerable space of ground, but found only a few small pieces of native copper. On the following day, the tents were pitched, under the shelter of a high hill, in lat. 67° 23' 14" N., long. 116° 6' 51" W. Some vestiges of an old Esquimaux encampment were observed near to this spot, and the stumps of the trees bore marks of the stone hatchets used by that people. It was now deemed expedient to send forward the two Esquimaux interpreters (Augustus and Junius), in order, if possible, to tranquillize the minds of their countrymen, with regard to the object of the expedition; and a strict watch was ordered to be kept at night, both by officers and men.
The herds of deer in this part of the country, attract great numbers of wolves, which are so sagacious, as rarely to be caught in any kind of trap. Inferior in speed to the deer, those creatures have recourse to a stratagem which seldom fails to succeed, in places where extensive plains are bounded by precipitous cliffs.
