180 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



stream dammed up by beaver of this present time — a 

 work requiring large timber, and numerous work- 

 men ; yet we frequently met with the grass-grown 

 banks described, works of the golden age gone by, 

 stretched across what had been streams of thirty or 

 forty yards in width. 



At a place called Snake Hills, we again struck 

 the banks of the Saskatchewan ; and as the road on 

 the north side beyond this point was merely a pack 

 trail through the woods, we prepared to cross the 

 river, in order to follow the regular cart track along 

 the southern bank. We were at first rather puzzled 

 how to get over, for the river was deep and wide, 

 and we were unable to find any timber wherewith to 

 make a raft. But the ingenuity of " The Assiniboine" 

 was not long at fault. He built a slender framework 

 of green willows, tied together wdth strips of hide, 

 and covered this with a buffalo skin tightly 

 stretched and well greased at all the seams. This 

 frail canoe was but six feet long, two in breadth, 

 and about the same in depth. Baptiste acted as 

 ferryman, and transferred the baggage safely across. 

 Then came Cheadle's turn, and his thirteen stone, 

 added to the weight of the ponderous Baptiste, 

 sunk the light craft to the water's edge. A log of 

 wood was attached on one side to prevent the canoe 

 from capsizing, and the two pushed off on their 

 uncertain voyage. The slightest rocking caused 

 the boat to ship water, which also soaked rapidly 

 through the pervious skin, and Cheadle viewed 

 with some anxiety the gradual sinking of one of the 



