“How can I possibly give an idea of the torment we endured from the sand-flies? As we dived into the confined and suffocating chasms, they rose in clouds, actually darkening the air; to see or to speak was equally difficult, for they rushed at every undefended part, and fixed their poisonous fangs in an instant. Our faces streamed with blood, as if leeches had been applied, and there was a burning and irritating pain, followed by immediate inflammation, and producing giddiness, which almost drove us mad, and caused us to moan with pain and agony.” After securing all possible information from the Indians and others, relative to the course of the northern rivers of which he was in search, Captain Back divided his party. Leaving several under the escort of Mr. McLeod, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, he proceeded with four men in search of the Great Fish River, later named after Back himself. On August 19, Captain Back began the ascent of the Hoar Frost River, and made his laborious way through woods, swamps, cascades, and rapids. From the summit of a high hill, Back discovered a beautiful lake, studded with islands, to which he gave the name of Aylmer Lake, after the governor-general of Canada at that time. Some of his men were despatched to investigate this lake, and in their absence Back accidentally discovered the source of the river which they had ascended, in Sand Hill Lake. “For this occasion,” he writes, “I had reserved a little grog, and need hardly say with what cheerfulness it was shared among the crew, whose welcome tidings had verified the notion of Dr. Richardson and myself, and thus placed beyond doubt the existence of the Thleu-ee-choh, or Great Fish River.” Moving on, they found it was impossible to navigate Musk-Ox Lake in their frail canoes, owing to the force of the rapids. Reaching Clinton Golden Lake, they met with some friendly Indians. At Cat or Artillery Lake the canoes were abandoned, and the rest of their return journey was made on foot over gorges, ravines, and precipitous rocks, where a false step would have proved fatal. Upon reaching Fort Reliance, they found Mr. McLeod had erected the framework of their winter quarters. All hands immediately turned to, and by the 5th of November they exchanged their cold tents for the more hospitable abode. The winter now set in with unusual severity. The unfortunate Indians of this locality came daily to the camp and implored food for themselves and their starving families. “Famine with her gaunt and bony arm,” writes Back, “pursued them at every turn, withered their energies, and strewed them lifeless on the cold bosom of the snow.