At two P.M.

we passed the mouth of the Hay River, running from the westward, and the ridge above its confluence takes the name of the Great River, which rises at the height of land called Frog Portage.
The thermometer was this day 100 degrees in the sun and the heat was extremely oppressive from our constant exposure to it.

We crossed three portages in the Great River and encamped at the last; here we met the director of the North-West Company's affairs in the north, Mr.Stuart, on his way to Fort William in a light canoe.

He had left the Athabasca Lake only thirteen days and brought letters from Mr.Franklin who desired that we would endeavour to collect stores of every kind at Isle a la Crosse and added a favourable account of the country to the northward of the Slave Lake.
On the 16th at three A.M.we continued our course, the river increasing to the breadth of half a mile with many rapids between the rocky islands.
The banks were luxuriantly clothed with pines, poplars, and birch trees, of the largest size, but the different shades of green were undistinguishable at a distance and the glow of autumnal colours was wanting to render the variety beautiful.
Having crossed two portages at the different extremities of the Island Lake we ran under sail through two extensive sheets of water called the Heron and Pelican Lakes, the former of which is fifteen miles in length and the latter five; but its extent to the southward has not been explored.

An intricate channel with four small portages conducted us to the Woody Lake.