﻿116 CLEAR-WATER RIVER. July, 



CHAP. IV. 



CLEAR- WATER RIVER. — VALLEY OF THE WASHAKUMMOW. — 

 PORTAGES. LIMESTONE CLIFFS. — SHALE ELK OR ATHA- 

 BASCA RIVER. WAPITI. DEVONIAN STRATA. GEOLOGICAL 



STRUCTURE OF THE BANKS OF THE RIVER. ATHABASCA 



LAKE, OR LAKE OF THE HILLS. MEET MR. M'PHERSON 



WITH THE MACKENZIE RIVER BRIGADE. SEND HOME LETTERS. 



l'eSPERANCe's BRIGADE. FORT CHEPEWTAN. HEIGHT 



OF LAKE ATHABASCA ABOVE THE SEA. ROCKS. — PLUMBAGO. 



— FOREST SCENERY. SLAVE RIVER. — REIN-DEER ISLANDS. 



PORTAGES. — NATIVE REMEDIES. SEPARATE FROM MR. BELL 



AND HIS PARTY. 



It is probable that the sands of this district and 

 the adjacent limestones belong to the Erie division 

 of the New York system of rocks, considered by 

 the United States geologists to be an upper member 

 of the Silurian system, but, by various English 

 naturalists, to be rather part of the Devonian, or of 

 the carboniferous series. 



The valley of the Clear-water River, or Washa- 

 kummow, as it is termed by the Crees, is not ex- 

 celled, or indeed equalled, by any that I have seen 

 in America for beauty ; and the reader may obtain 

 a correct notion of its general character by turning 

 to an engraving in the narrative of Sir John 

 Franklin's second Overland Journey, executed from 

 a drawing of Sir George Back's. The view from 



