﻿1848. RIVER PELLY. 169 



from Fort Halkett on the River of the Mountains 

 of three hundred miles, by the winter route, which 

 is usually as direct as the nature of the country 

 will admit. From Campbell's post to the Forks 

 or junction of the Lewis and Felly, where the 

 present fort is situated, the distance is reckoned 

 at two hundred and forty miles on a south-west 

 course. To retrace this length of way, the crew of 

 a light canoe are said to consume twelve days on 

 the tracking line, being at the rate of twenty miles 

 a day, which is generally considered as but an 

 indifferent day's work against the current. It is 

 probable, however, that the river is very tortuous, 

 and that there are many impediments in a stream 

 flowing through so mountainous a region. Of 

 these two branches, the Lewis is the westernmost, 

 and the river formed by their junction, which 

 retains the name of Felly, falls into the Pacific. 

 By observations made by Mr. Campbell on the 

 temperature of boiling water at Felly Banks, the 

 height of that post above the sea has been esti- 

 mated at 1314 feet. 



After the union of its two arms, the River of the 

 Mountains flows for a considerable breadth of Ion • 

 gitude on the 59th parallel, and near the middle of 

 this part, at the influx of Smith's River, Fort Halkett 

 stands. Fort Liard is situated lower down, after 

 the river has made a sharp turn to the north, in its 



