The variation of the compass is 25 degrees 40 minutes 47 seconds East.  The houses of the two Companies are small and have a bleak northern aspect.  There are vast accumulations of driftwood on the shores of the lake, brought down by the river, which afford plenty of fuel.  The inhabitants live principally on the fish, which the lake at certain seasons furnishes in great abundance; of these the white-fish, trout, and poisson inconnu are considered the best.  They also procure moose, buffalo, and reindeer meat occasionally from their hunters; but these animals are generally found at the distance of several days’ walk from the forts.  The Indians who trade here are Chipewyans.  Beavers, martens, foxes, and muskrats are caught in numbers in the vicinity of this great body of water.  The mosquitoes here were still a serious annoyance to us but less numerous than before.  They were in some degree replaced by a small sandfly, whose bite is succeeded by a copious flow of blood and considerable swelling but is attended with incomparably less irritation than the puncture of the mosquito.

On the 27th of July we embarked at four A.M. and proceeded along the south shore of the lake through a narrow channel, formed by some islands, beyond the confluence of the principal branch of the Slave River; and as far as Stony Island, where we breakfasted.  This island is merely a rock of gneiss that rises forty or fifty feet above the lake and is precipitous on the north side.  As the day was fine and the lake smooth we ventured upon paddling across to the Reindeer Islands, which were distant about thirteen miles in a northern direction, instead of pursuing the usual track by keeping farther along the south shore which inclines to the eastward from this point.  These islands are numerous and consist of granite, rising from one hundred to two hundred feet above the water.  They are for the most part naked; but towards the centres of the larger ones there is a little soil and a few groves of pines.  At seven in the evening we landed upon one of them and encamped.  On the following morning we ran before a strong breeze and a heavy swell for some hours, but at length were obliged to seek shelter on a large island adjoining to Isle a la Cache of Mackenzie, where the following observations were obtained:  latitude 61 degrees 50 minutes 18 seconds North, longitude 113 degrees 21 minutes 40 seconds West, and variation 31 degrees 2 minutes 06 seconds East.

The wind and swell having subsided in the afternoon we reembarked and steered towards the western point of the Big Island of Mackenzie and, when four miles distant from it, had forty-two fathoms soundings.  Passing between this island and a promontory of the main shore, termed Big Cape, we entered into a deep bay which receives the waters from several rivers that come from the northward; and we immediately perceived a decrease in the temperature of the waters from 59 to 48 degrees.  We coasted along the eastern side