June 25, I860.] CAPT. R. W. TORRENS' JOURNEY TO FORT SIMPSON. 227 



By dint of hard labour, as well as watcliing our opportunity, we 

 managed to reach a counter-current which brought us into safety. 

 The miners affirmed that " Eraser River" has no danger equal to 

 this, and thankful were we all when it had been overcome. 



Beyond this point we proceeded for 3 miles, when we were 

 brought to a standstill by a waterfall, over which our canoe could 

 not be carried. We therefore determined to go back to one of our 

 previous prospecting places, and there await the fall of the river. 



The country through which we travelled claims no attraction for 

 settlement, although patches of open lands occur upon the plateau 

 that once formed the bed of the river — some 50, some 100 acres in 

 extent — which will prove serviceable for the production of vegetables 

 in the event of an immigration taking place thither. Eighty miles 

 from the mouth of the river the Indians plant large crops of pota- 

 toes, and thereby a depot is formed, from which it would not be 

 difficult to extend the cultivation of one of the greatest essentials in 

 the economy of a mining camp. 



In this northern latitude the climate is so severe as to render it 

 doubtful whether cereals would mature. The transport of provi- 

 sions might be made easy, for the trails throughout the country are 

 already good. 



It is not improbable, moreover, that the waters of the Nass may 

 prove to be an easy and desirable medium of communication with 

 the interior. 



Abstract of Journal. 



VOL. IV. 



