The temperature of its surface water was 41 deg., that of the air being 43 deg..

Having gained all the information we could collect from our guide and from personal observation, we retraced our steps to the encampment; and on the way back Hepburn and Keskarrah shot several waveys (_anas hyperborea_) which afforded us a seasonable supply, our stock of provision being nearly exhausted.

These birds were feeding in large flocks on the crow-berries, which grew plentifully on the sides of the hills.

We reached the encampment after dark, found a comfortable hut prepared for our reception, made an excellent supper, and slept soundly though it snowed hard the whole night.
The hills in this neighbourhood are higher than those about Fort Enterprise; they stand, however, in the same detached manner, without forming connected ranges; and the bottom of every valley is occupied, either by a small lake or a stony marsh.

On the borders of such of these lakes as communicate with the Copper-Mine River, there are a few groves of spruce-trees, generally growing on accumulations of sand, on the acclivities of the hills.
We did not quit the encampment on the morning of September 13th until nine o'clock, in consequence of a constant fall of snow; but at that hour we set out on our return to Fort Enterprise, and taking a route somewhat different from the one by which we came, kept to the eastward of a chain of lakes.