[66] The position of this lake has not since been determined, and as the name Musk-Ox Lake seems to be one given by Hearne himself, and as the Indian name is not given, it will be difficult at any time to identify it.
[67] Ovibos moschatus (Zimm.).
[AJ] Mr. Dragge says, in his Voyage ["An Account of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage," by the Clerk of the California, London, 1748], vol. ii. p. 260, that the musk-ox is lower than a deer, but larger as to belly and quarters; which is very far from the truth; they are of the size I have here described them, and the Indians always estimate the flesh of a full-grown cow to be equal in quantity to three deer. I am sorry also to be obliged to contradict my friend Mr. Graham, who says that the flesh of this animal is carried on sledges to Prince of Wales's Fort, to the amount of three or four thousand pounds annually. To the amount of near one thousand pounds may have been purchased from the natives in some particular years, but it more frequently happens that not an ounce is brought one year out of five. In fact, it is by no means esteemed by the Company's servants, and of course no great encouragement is given to introduce it; but if it had been otherwise, their general situation is so remote from the settlement, that it would not be worth the Indians while to haul it to the Fort. So that, in fact, all that has ever been carried to Prince of Wales's Fort, has most assuredly been killed out of a herd that has been accidentally found within a moderate distance of the settlement; perhaps an hundred miles, which is only thought a step by an Indian.
[AK] Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 232.
[68] Gulo luscus Linn. See p. 346.
[69] Citellus parryi Richardson.—E. A. P.
[AL] This river runs nearly North East, and in all probability empties itself into the Northern Ocean, not far from the Copper River.
[70] He reached the Coppermine River at Sandstone Rapids, having travelled one hundred and forty-five miles north-westward from Congecathawhachaga in thirteen days, making an average of eleven miles a day, or, omitting the two days on which the party did not travel, an average of thirteen miles a day. The distance stated in the text is one hundred and eighty-eight miles. Considering the very rough nature of the country over which he was travelling, this is not a very extravagant estimate nor a very unreasonable error. While his estimate of distance is not very bad, his direction should have been N. 58° W. instead of N. 23° W., as shown on his map. Mr. Frank Russell, who crossed the Coppermine River in the spring of 1894 while on a hunt for musk oxen, says that its present Chipewyan name is Tson Te ("Explorations in the Far North," p. 112).
In 1821 Sir John Franklin explored and surveyed this river from Point Lake to the Arctic Ocean, a distance of about two hundred and seventy-five miles. Its length above Point Lake is not known, but it is probably about two hundred miles. A short distance below Point Lake Franklin says that it "is about two hundred yards wide and ten feet deep, and flows very rapidly over a rocky bottom" ("First Journey," p. 327).
Sir John Richardson writes of the river farther north as follows: "The river contracting to a width of a hundred and twenty yards at length forces itself through the Rocky Defile, a narrow channel which it has cut during a lapse of ages in the shelving foot of a hill" ("First Journey," p. 527).