Augustus and Junius not having returned next morning we were more alarmed respecting them, and determined on proceeding to find out the cause of their detention, but it was eleven A.M. before we could prevail upon the Indians to remain behind, which we wished them to do lest the Esquimaux might be suspicious of our intentions if they were seen in our suite.  We promised to send for them when we had paved the way for their reception, but Akaitcho, ever ready to augur misfortune, expressed his belief that our messengers had been killed and that the Esquimaux, warned of our approach, were lying in wait for us, and “although,” said he, “your party may be sufficiently strong to repulse any hostile attack, my band is too weak to offer effectual resistance when separated from you, and therefore we are determined to go on with you or to return to our lands.”  After much argument however he yielded and agreed to stay behind, provided Mr. Wentzel would remain with him.  This gentleman was accordingly left with a Canadian attendant and they promised not to pass a range of hills then in view to the northward unless we sent notice to them.

The river during the whole of this day’s voyage flowed between alternate cliffs of looses and intermixed with gravel and red sandstone rocks, and was everywhere shallow and rapid.  As its course was very crooked much time was spent in examining the different rapids previous to running them, but the canoes descended, except at a single place, without any difficulty.  Most of the officers and half the men marched along the land to lighten the canoes and reconnoitre the country, each person being armed with a gun and a dagger.  Arriving at a range of mountains which had terminated our view yesterday, we ascended it with much eagerness, expecting to see the rapid that Mr. Hearne visited near its base, and to gain a view of the sea; but our disappointment was proportionably great when we beheld beyond a plain, similar to that we had just left, terminated by another range of trap hills, between whose tops the summits of some distant blue mountains appeared.  Our reliance on the information of the guides, which had been for some time shaken, was now quite at an end, and we feared that the sea was still far distant.  The flat country here is covered with grass and is devoid of the large stones so frequent in the barren grounds, but the ranges of trap hills which seem to intersect it at regular distances are quite barren.  A few decayed stunted pines were standing on the borders of the river.  In the evening we had the gratification of meeting Junius who was hastening back to inform us that they had found four Esquimaux tents at the Fall which we recognised to be the one described by Mr. Hearne.  The inmates were asleep at the time of their arrival but rose soon afterwards, and then Augustus presented himself and had some conversation across the river.  He told them the white people had come, who would make them very useful presents.  The information