north, to the low mossy barren, and more woody parts in the south; and we
inferred, that if any of the Red Indians had been at White Bay during the
past summer, they might be at that time stationed about the borders of the
low tract of country before us, at the _deer-passes_, or were employed
somewhere else in the interior, killing deer for winter provision. At
these passes, which are particular places in the migration lines of path,
such as the extreme ends of, and straights in, many of the large lakes--
the foot of valleys between high and rugged mountains--fords in the large
rivers, and the like---the Indians kill great numbers of deer with very
little trouble, during their migrations. We looked out for two days from
the summits of the hills adjacent, trying to discover the smoke from the
camps of the Red Indians; but in vain. These hills command a very
extensive view of the country in every direction.

"We now determined to proceed towards the Red Indians' Lake, sanguine that,
at that known rendezvous, we could find the objects of our search.

"In about ten days we got a glimpse of this beautifully majestic and
splendid sheet of water. The ravages of fire, which we saw in the woods
for the last two days, indicated that man had been near. We looked down on
the lake, from the hills at the northern extremity, with feelings of
anxiety and admiration:--No canoe could be discovered moving on its placid
surface, in the distance. We were the first Europeans who had seen it in
an unfrozen state, for the three former parties who had visited it before,
were here in the winter, when its waters were frozen and covered over with
snow. They had reached it from below, by way of the River Exploits, on the
ice. We approached the lake with hope and caution; but found to our
mortification that the Red Indians had deserted it for some years past. My
party had been so excited, so sanguine, and so determined to obtain an
interview of some kind with these people, that, on discovering from