﻿lis PINE PORTAGE. July, 



islands and flats, the limestone stands up in mural 

 precipices and thin partitions, like the walls of a 

 ruined city ; and the beholder cannot help believing 

 that the rock once formed a barrier at this strait, 

 when the upper part of the river must have been 

 one long lake. The steep sandy slopes, as they 

 project from the high sides of the valley, appear as 

 if they had not only been sculptured by torrents of 

 melted snow pouring down from the plateau above 

 in more recent times, but that they had been pre- 

 viously subject to the currents and eddies of a 

 lake. If such was the case, we must admit that 

 other barriers further down were also then or 

 subsequently carried away, as the sides of the 

 valley retain their peculiar forms nearly to the 

 junction of the stream with the Elk River. I have 

 been informed that the country extending from the 

 high bank of the river towards Athabasca Lake is 

 a wooded, sandy plain, abounding in bison and 

 other game. 



In the evening we encamped on the Pine 

 Portage {Portage des Pins), which is one thousand 

 paces long. The name would indicate that the 

 Pinus resinosa grows there ; but, if so, I did not 

 observe it, the chief tree near the path being the 

 Pinus banksia7ia, named Cypres by the voyagers. 

 A very dwarf cherry grows at the same place ; it 

 resembles a decumbent willow, and is probably the 



