Note AE — {95} CHAP. V.

I have observed, during my several journies in those parts, that all the way to the North of Seal River the edge of the wood is faced with old withered stumps, and trees which have been blown down by the wind. They are mostly of the sort which is called here Juniper, but were seldom of any considerable size. Those blasted trees are found in some parts to extend to the distance of twenty miles from the living woods, and detached patches of them are much farther off; which is a proof that the cold has been increasing in those parts for some ages. Indeed, some of the older Northern Indians have assured me, that they have heard their fathers and grandfathers say, they remembered the greatest part of those places where the trees are now blasted and dead, in a flourishing state; and that they were remarkable for abounding with deer. It is a well-known fact, that many deer are fond of frequenting those plains where the juniper trees abound near barren grounds, particularly in fine weather during the Winter; but in heavy gales of wind they either take shelter in the thick woods, or go out on the open plains. The Indians, who never want a reason for any thing, say, that the deer quit the thin straggling woods during the high winds, because the nodding of the trees, when at a considerable distance from each other, frightens them; but in the midst of a thick forest, the constant rustling of the branches lulls them into security, and renders them an easy prey to a skilful hunter.

[This appears to have been the last wood seen before reaching the Coppermine River.

The wood known as juniper on Hudson Bay is the American larch, Larix laricina (Du Roi) which extends to the edge of the barren grounds.]