198 



unwelcome intelligence, that the hunter with whom I had spent 



1 



the winter, and whom I had engaged to accompany me to 

 the Rocky Mountains in the summer, had, with that fickle- 

 ness which is characteristic of most Indians, changed his 

 mind, and refused to go to the mountains this season. This 

 circumstance caused me much uneasiness, and I had no other 

 remedy but to remain with the old Canadian who had 

 charge of the Company's horses for the Portage; and as he 

 had only stated places where his animals could find pastur- 

 age, I was much more confined in my range than I should 

 otherwise have been. Although I might possibly have killed 

 as much game as was necessary for my own use and that oi 

 the person who kept the horses, yet the time which this 

 would have occupied would have left me but little leisure for 

 any other employment. 



We remained in the vicinity of Jasper's House, until the 

 15th of June, making collections of all that the country 

 afforded. The species o^ Potentilla and Ranunculus, which are 

 numerous among the Kocky Mountains, were now coming 

 into flower. Arbutus alpina^ Dryas tenella, &c. were also in 

 bloom, and the beautiful Calypso borealis ornamented the 

 pine woods. On leaving Jasper's House, we skirted along 

 the mountains to the north, halting occasionally for a day ot 

 two, until we reached the Lac-la-Pierre, a distance of per- 

 haps 60 miles in a straight line. This lake is surrounded by 

 what I have called secondary rocks, covered with vegetation, 

 which was advancing rapidly, so that I had my hands com- 

 pletely full of employment, but I had now to encounter a 

 formidable obstacle, and one of which I had formed very 

 inadequate ideas, in the rise of the waters, caused by 

 melting of the snows. The smallest ravine, that had been 

 dry for nine months of the year, becomes, under these cir- 

 cumstances, an impassable torrent. The larger rivers are 





the 



flooded in proportion. A Ml of the temperature certainly 

 occasions a corresponding diminution of the waters, but these 

 transitions are so sudden, that it is dangerous to trust to 

 them, as I experienced more than once, when having suc- 

 ceeded in crossing a stream in the morning, I found it so 



